星空传媒

Occasionally our past flashes before our eyes, which happened to me on Monday 27th February. I was on a three-day selling trip to the south of England, my first call being Swindon where I spent the early part of my career.

The journey from the railway station to the first meeting took me past Rover's factory complex where in the early 1960s I was the onsite QS for Wakemans. Holland Hannen and Cubitts was the contractor involved in constructing factories for making motor body parts for British Leyland. The procurement system was target price with cost reimbursable, employing a gain share/pain share mechanism. They do say that there is nothing new in this world which helps prove the point. In keeping with our industrial decline I noted that the buildings on which I cut my QS teeth were in an advanced state of demolition, which enabled me to experience the full life cycle.

My companion for the three days was Richard Hawkins, the director responsible for our Winchester office. During the three days we attended meetings in Oxford, Southampton, Portsmouth, Poole, Christchurch and Ringwood. The object of the exercise is to secure work but as a spinoff it is good for information gathering as to what is happening in the industry. Our 11 meetings (one cancelled) involved contractors, subcontractors, local authorities, housing associations and further education bodies, which provided a good cross section from the industry. It became obvious from our meetings that on many projects partnering is being attempted on a trial and error basis. Supply chain management is a distant dream and the further down the chain the more distant the dream. My two nights were spent at a hotel in Winchester, parts of which seemed to date back to the Civil War. It was one of those hotels where the floors boards creaked and the bedroom TV looked like a John Logie Baird model.

I intended to journey home via Southampton Airport flying to Manchester and then a short taxi ride back to Knutsford. Unfortunately on arriving at the airport I was informed that due to the discovery of an unexploded Second World War bomb there was a delay. Fortunately the railway station is just outside the airport and there was a handy train to take me to Crewe with a change at Birmingham New Street. Having travelled extensively I have come to the conclusion that the taxis that stand at the rank at Crewe station are in worse condition than any of my acquaintance. My journey from the station to home was in a transit van masquerading as a taxi.

Taking all into consideration it was a successful trip as we secured some work.