Energy Crisis?

The last few weeks have been pretty hectic, with meetings and seminars to attend along with day to day business, so its taken this long before I can sit down again and update you with what's happening in the Institution.

This month started with an executive board meeting and an update from our financial advisers, I will leave the complicated business of investments and the financial management to our treasurers a finance manager, but as with our membership numbers, we have turned a corner and are on the correct path to a better financial footing.

There was lots of discussion regarding regional committees and also the role that Councillors take within the region, they are your conduit for suggestions on policy, strategy or to raise issues or technical publication requests - please use them - they are your voice at National Level.

I also attended the Lighting Journal editorial board meeting this month, which is the annual strategy meeting with regard to trying to plan themes and articles for the forthcoming year, as well as a review of the magazine and its design. 

If whilst you are attending a regional technical meeting and view a presentation that you think is interesting and informative, then drop us a line via your Councillor or Regional Chair and we will then approach the presenter to create an article for the journal so that all of us can learn from the topic that spiked your interest!

On the 21st October I chaired the most recent Professional Industry Partners (PIP) forum, with the topic of sustainability. We had representatives from each of the PIP's, - WSP / Orangetek / iGuzzini, from the Lighting Industry Asociation (LIA), Recolight, Skanska, Building Research Establishment (BRE) and John Bullock. the whole event has been covered by the lighting Journal and will appear shortly. The event was to try and define "what is sustainability in the lighting industry" and although there was a huge amount of discussion and some agreed conclusions and targets for future discussions, i am not sure we have a conclusive statement. 

There's a good reason for that, sustainability means a lot of different things to different people, it is not easy to define. this has been shown again when this week we have had warnings of potential blackouts across the UK due to insufficient energy supply in the grid - what do we do? switch street lights off? build more wind farms? import more gas? start up the old coal fired power station? or all of these things?

it is not a simple solution, its very easy to say use less energy and turn street lights off, but is that a solution? - I would say no, there's far more energy wasted by shops and offices keeping their lights on all night. what we need is a comprehensive understanding of the whole issue and a genuine mix of all of these solutions to the energy crisis, along with education, technology investment and competent engineers and designers to assist clients and government to make informed choices.

contact me at:

markc@theilp.org.uk

twitter @mclight0112

the first of many?

My first post as the Institutions President - its been four days since the summit in Solihull and once again I would like to record my thanks to all of the staff at Rugby for the tremendous event they hosted last week.

During my address, I used a phrased that was immortalised by  Tony Blair "Education Education Education" this has to become the watchwords for the Institution and is my aim for for my term in office. 

I spoke often with many members during the summit regarding my plans for lesson plans and a toolkit to be produced so that you can sign up as a STEM Ambassador (more details here http://www.stemnet.org.uk/) to arrange to visit schools and talk to children about your life as a lighting engineer / designer, it is an extremely rewarding experience and I would encourage more of you to take up this challenge.

I also announced that there will be a vacancy for Vice President Events, as Alan 
Jacques has taken up the role as Vice President - Highways and Infrastructure, I wish him well in this new role, which has great importance in representing the Lighting Engineers of the institution and will play a huge role in promoting the institution into other areas of infrastructure with education and membership. If you would like to apply for the role of VP Events, keep an eye on the website https://www.theilp.org.uk/home/ and the weekly newsletters for more details shortly, please get involved!

I am very happy to have announced that we also have a new Vice President for Education, Stuart Green, although relatively new to the institution, has a wealth of experience in education and lighting http://staff.southwales.ac.uk/users/1948-spgreen and he has started developing his vision for the future with a number of short term tasks to accomplish within this demanding area, once again if you wish to have a say in the future of this core area area for the institution and can help out, please volunteer and get in touch, we will pass your details to Stuart!

I would like to finish this first blog, by once again saying how proud I am to be have been made President of our institution, Please feel free to contact me via email or via twitter @mclight0112 

I cannot thank enough, my employer iGuzzini for the support over the last year and also their ongoing support over this coming year, thanks again

Mark

August Update

Hi everyone.

Well as August draws to a close the Summit draws ever nearer, whereupon I will hand over to Mark Cooper.

For those not booked and still wishing to attend I urge you to get on line and book NOW!! I am informed we are now down to single figures for remaining full time delegate places.

All details can be found below:-

https://www.theilp.org.uk/events/professional-lighting-summit/

Ticket prices represent exceptional value with day tickets available to ILP members at just £130 per day (non member £230).

Better still, don't miss a minute of this event by snapping up a Special Residential Ticket: two days at the Professional Lighting Summit, overnight stay at the St John's hotel & networking dinner for only £390 (non member £685). Spaces are on a first come, first served basis. All prices + VAT.

Since June was my last posting I’ll just wrap up what has been going on and what’s to come over the next few weeks

1^st July saw an Executive Board meeting take place.

8^th July I attended a fantastic day hosted by the London and South Eastern Region at the IGuzzini HQ in Guildford. A great day, fantastic papers and all I have to say –it  had nothing to do with street lighting! We heard about the lighting of London Bridge Station from WSP, IGuzzini gave papers on intelligent innovative lighting and finally Pete Lummis (Immediate Past President) gave us an entertaining and highly informative paper on Airport Runway Lighting from a pilot’s perspective.

17^th July I travelled home to the Western Region (Bristol Rovers Football Club). Another fantastic day with highly informative papers covering Sports Lighting, Artificial Pitches, CE markings and LED Lighting.

On 21^st July I attended the formal launch of The Institution of Primary Engineers and the Institution of Secondary Engineers.

Hosted by Baroness Wall of New Barnet and supported by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and many other organisations, the event took place at the House of Lords, London.

Speakers were Terry Scouler CEO EEF, Archie Bethel Executive Director Babcock International, Mark Hunt President of the IMechE and Janet McKinlay Head teacher St Mary’s RC Primary Bolton Lancashire.

The launch of IPrimEng and IsecEng Press release here.

30^th July the Executive Board Strategy Day was held where we reviewed the Institution’s progress to date. Our 3 year plan will be produced soon and posted on the website along with recommendations for the future and possible changes  to be made to the Institution going forward. All this will be discussed at Council on 10^th September.
 
The results of the recent survey (Our ILP) have been produced and will be published in the near future. It’s great we had such a fantastic response and even more importantly ,you the members feel the Institution is doing the right things in the right way and long may that continue.

On matters more serious ,during the course of the last two months or so a number of disciplinary investigations have been ongoing. Below is a summary for your information:

1)    Misuse of Post Nominal letters

An individual was claiming to be an MILP, IEng .Upon investigation this was proved to be incorrect and indeed the individual was not and never had held either of these post - nominals. Under the Engineering Council Code of Conduct this is a serious offence. As a result the individual concerned no longer works for their employer and is no longer a member of the ILP.

To all you employers please please check the credentials of your job applicants with the ILP Membership Dept or Engineering Council. It’s free to do so and gives you peace of mind that you are employing competent / qualified lighting staff.

To all members I remind you- misuse of membership or registration status will not be tolerated. It will be investigated and action will be taken. Please be honest, if not you will get caught and you could loose your job!!.

There is no need to falsify your post nominals. The Membership Dept is there to help you upgrade your membership at anytime. There is a mentoring process in place and help all along the way to achieve the desired level of membership you wish to attain in a structured and straight forward way.

2)    Student misbehaving on the Exterior Lighting Diploma.

Sadly I have to report that this incident was an embarrassment to the Institution as a whole. In essence a student got exceedingly drunk and caused damage to a room at the Draycote Hotel, long time host to the Diploma Modules. The individual has been subject to disciplinary action from their employer, banned from the hotel and had a bill to settle.

To all potential students please remember that you represent your employer and the ILP and this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated. The Draycote Hotel now have the authority to remove and ban any student from the hotel should unacceptable behaviour be apparent. All such behaviour will be reported back to your employer for them to take action. If you are attending as a member of the ILP then action will also be taken under our Code of Conduct, which could end up in you being excluded from the ILP.

The above are isolated incidents but I felt it worth sharing with you all that these incidents do occasionally occur. Furthermore it is for your information that such incidents will be investigated and will be addressed.

In other news thank you to all those who applied for the recently announced Vice President vacancies and for the sustainability spokesperson. It’s fantastic to have had such a great response for the two VP positions. Both posts are integral to the Institution and it’s operation. Interviews are currently underway or being arranged for shortlisted candidates. Hopefully all positions will be announced at the Summit in September.

Events coming up in September are as follows:

1^st  Executive Board Meeting Rugby

4^th Midland Region 5 a side competition

9^th YLP Seminar at SSE Southampton also on the 9^th is Practical Street Lighting Course in Edinburgh

10^th Council  can ALL regions please ensure they are represented by their Councillor

11^th Western Region in Newport also North East Region in Spennymoor.

15^th -19^th Exterior Lighting Diploma Module 1

18^th Midland Region Back to Basics Day at SAPA Redditch

24^th-25^th ILP Summit, Solihull

30^th How to be Brilliant – At Diversity in Lighting at ACDC Lighting London

Full details of all events can be found on the website

https://www.theilp.org.uk/events/

I look forward to seeing all those attending the Summit in September.

My thanks as always must go to my employer Skanska (IS) for supporting me with the time required to fulfil the duties as your President. Without this full support it would be extremely difficult.

You can also now follow me  @mjrugby1968

Until next time

Mark

June

 

Hi All

Well June has flown by and I now have just under 3 months left in office!!! Where has the year gone!!

June was an extremely busy month. You, the members took part in the first vote (under the ILP banner) for your new SVP 2014/15. Thank you again to all those who voted.

I have heard comment about why stamped addressed envelopes were not used. Simply put this  down to cost. It was felt that to spend just under £1200 on stamps was not a wise use of members’ monies; a fact proven by only 186 votes being returned which  would have meant over  £1000 of your money being wasted. In real terms the cost of a stamp to have an input into the Institution’s future for the next 3 years was well worth £0.62p of my money (just a thought).

During June we held the Regional Officers’ meeting @Rugby followed by a Regional Chairmens’ workshop chaired by Richard Frost (I was also in attendance). All felt the workshop was very worthwhile and we had some great ideas . We will be holding one for Vice Chairmen soon so please: to all Regional Vice Chairs, do your best to attend.

Saturday  14^th was the Midland Region Summer Ball held in Stratford upon Avon. A great night was had by all. My thanks to Lee Burton and the Midland Region for inviting me to attend such a great event.

The evening of the 17^th saw myself and Richard attend the Engineering Council meeting to hear their new President’s Address.

The 24^th was the Community Lighting Event ran by Surveyor Magazine in London. My thanks to Jess and her team for making sure the day went well and to the Surveyor  team for organising the venue and speakers. I must also thank David Gibby for making the key note speech. Peter took up the post of President for the CIHT less than a week before the event and agreed to present at the seminar which was his first engagement in his new capacity.

And finally on the  25^th the Executive Board met with the VP’s to review the progress of their KPI’s for the first  6 months of the year.

Booking is now open for this year’s Lighting Summit (follow the link below for more details). The exhibition space has already sold out and delegate places are selling fast.Speakers have been announced so it’s all systems go for what should be another fantastic event. I look forward to seeing you all there.

https://www.theilp.org.uk/events/professional-lighting-summit/

July is normally a quiet month but this year would appear to buck that trend!

1^st July How to Be Brilliant on  Portfolios at AC/DC

3^rd Midland Region Golf Day

8^th L&SE Technical Meeting @ IGuzzini , Guildford

16^th Midland Region Technical Session, Derby

17^th Western Region Technical Session, Bristol

29^th How to be Brilliant  Daylighting

All details regarding these events are on the website so please take a look and attend where possible.

My thanks as always must go to my employer Skanska (IS) for supporting me with the time required to fulfil the duties as your President. Without this full support it would be extremely difficult.

You can also now follow me  @mjrugby1968
Until next time
Mark

May review

Welcome back and yet another month has flown by and apologies for the late posting .

Along with the attendance to the Scottish AGM and Lightscene, there was the LIA annual Presidents Address, Past Presidents meeting, Module 3 ELD, N/E dinner dance and finally the Irish AGM.

My thanks go to both the Irish and Scottish Regions and their respective committees  for making me welcome at both events, I am pleased to say Lightscene was a tremendous success with well over 130 people through the door with over 70 staying to the evening meal to support the Scottish Region and it’s new Chair David Black.

Once again the final AGM on the circuit was the Irish region and yet again another fantastic event and an extremely well supported day 9the weather even held off for the golfers and cultural tour.

In more general terms  it was pleasing for Rugby to receive the following words from a member in connection with our latest resource for members “The Grid”

Just a few lines to say how impressed I am with the ILP Grid resource. I recently wanted to look up one of the professional lighting guides and within one minute was able to access the guide I needed. It would have taken me longer to get up and get a hard copy from my employers technical library. Professional lighting guides is one of the strengths of the ILP and sets them on a pedestal above other institutions and kindred organisations. This service must rank very high in the benefits of being an ILP Member to both to employers and employees. It is fast, responsive, money saving and always up to date, brilliant well done the ILP.

Even more good news was the that the Institution hekld a ballot for the post of Senior Vice President 2014/15

Following the postal ballot of all eligible members concluded on 9 June 2014 at 12 Noon, the current Vice President Highways and Infrastructure, Elizabeth Thomas  has  been elected by the membership to the post of Senior Vice President.

In an extremely tight vote she was declared the winner  after a second check on the voting papers by the Institution’s scrutineers.

She will take up the post at the forthcoming  AGM at the Professional Lighting Summit in Solihull on 24^th September.

11% of eligible ILP members took up the opportunity to vote.

It was a close call and I congratulate both candidates. I am however deeply disappointed in the low turn out. During my time as President many members have given me the benefit of their views either in private, in writing, at AGM’s or in more social surroundings about the Institution, it’s new structure and the fact that they want a say in shaping and forming the Institution, it’s policies and it’s succession planning. Members were given the opportunity to have a say in the appointment of a key post which will have an impact on all these things for the next 2 years, having been given this chance to have a say in its future direction it’s a bit galling and saddening to the Executive Board and Past Presidents  and probably to other members who did take the time to vote and more importantly to the candidates who stood and wanted their support that so few actually took the time and trouble to vote.

I would personally like to thank all members who did vote, your support is appreciated and to both candidates for taking the time to prepare their candidate statements and congratulate Elizabeth on her success. I know myself and fellow colleagues on the Board look forward to working with Elizabeth and assisting her in her year as SVP and then as your President.

My thanks as always must go to my employer Skanska (IS) for supporting me with the time required to fulfil the duties as your President. Without this full support it would be extremely difficult.

You can also now follow me  @mjrugby1968
Until next time
Mark

April Review

Welcome back and yet another month has flown by.

Traditionally April and May are mad months for the President and this year that is no exception.

Having attended the L&SE AGM 25 March The CEO and myself were back on the road again for 3 days on the bounce

First up was the Midlands Region AGM 1^st April held at the new City Library in Birmingham. For those members who missed it what a fantastic venue, amazing building. Following the formalities of the day we were given a talk by a member of the Library staff about the new building and its contents. Followed by your very own SVP who presented his talk on SmartCities an interesting concept and not as far away as we all may wish to think!!

From there I travelled North and on the 2^nd April attended the Northern AGM meeting held in Leyland (just out side of Preston). Again another great venue the Wellington Park Hotel, the staff there looked after the ILP well and once again another extremely well attended AGM. The format of the day was great. We were treated to 3 excellent papers all informative and relevant to today’s issues surrounding the lighting industry and Local Authority budget constraints.

The following day it was off to Newcastle, the journey was a tad torturous with an unexpected 1.5hr delay in Carlisle due to no driver for the train!! but as is the British way eventually I managed to make it to Newcastle. Once again the region came up trumps with an amazing venue. As in keeping with the previous AGM’s the event was well attended we were also given a presentation in the Planetarium  regarding the latest competition to get a lunar robot to Mars!

The Executive Board met on the 10^th of April to discuss the normal business criteria and address issues raised by members and regions raised at Council.

 Then on the 24^th April it was off to the Western Region to Pengethely Manor in Ross – On – Wye. Again a fantastically well attended event in a spectacular location. The Chairman had organised a paper for the afternoon which was based around Stonehenge and the significance of it . The presenter (an actual druid) was entertaining and engaging and even managed to get regional members out on the lawn dowsing!! Even the sceptics amongst the group were impressed.

My congratulations go to all new Regional Chairs

Lee Burton

Jeff Lewis

Craig Prescott

Russ Pryce

To those members who received special recognition awards congratulations and well deserved to you all.

Once again my thanks to all the regional committee and there members for making myself and Richard feel welcome at their meetings.  Please remember the offers made to you all that assistance from Rugby is always available to you; just ask.

On the 29^th April in conjunction with ac/dc we hosted our second “How to Be Brilliant Event”. However the best laid plans could not allow for the tube strike that hit which meant numbers were lower than expected, however those in attendance had an informative and worthwhile evening.

May will be equally busy with Lightscene & the Scottish AGM in Glasgow, CIBSE and the LIA are hosting their annual events, Module 3 starts w/c12th, the annual Past Presidents meeting takes place, the North Eastern Region have their Dinner Dance 23^rd and finally the Irish hold their AGM at the end of the month. I will briefly review all events next month

My thanks as always must go to my employer Skanska (IS) for supporting me with the time required to fulfil the duties as your President. Without this full support it would be extremely difficult.

You can also now follow me  @mjrugby1968
Until next time
Mark

March 2014

March kicked off with the Events team attending Eco-Build

Unfortunately due to my day job commitments I was unable to attend on any of the days however Jess Gallagher has kindly reviewed the event :

“The CPD seminars and Exhibitor Showcases were very well presented

The launch of How To Be Brilliant was a great team effort between ILP and acdc staff,

All 150 Lighting Journals whizzed off the stand and it was great being able to give people such a well presented snapshot of what the ILP is all about.

We handed out 30 Defra leaflets, 100 LED Specs and 100 Light Pollution leaflets.

We signed up five new members

We launched Lighting Landscapes to an audience of 50 interested people – the panel discussion prompted lots of questions and comments from the floor, and there was a great buzz around the subject.

The ILP Twitter account was busy as ever and gained 26 new followers, and approx 200 retweets and favourites. One tweet led directly to a new member joining, who wasn’t physically at the show, but was ‘there in spirit’ via twitter.

I am enormously thankful for the hard work put in by Chantal, Jo and Guy”

I can only echo Jess’s comments and thank all involved; another great event.

Council met on 12^th March following the success of the VP Exec Board workshop day in February  Mark Cooper (SVP and Council Chair) used the same format to gain some ideas from Council. A number of points were raised and Councillors have taken some issues back to the regions for consideration over the next few months.

Keith Henry VP Technical is pleased to announce that, following an open invitation to all members, to apply for the vacated post of ILP CIE representative, Nick Smith has been appointed to the role. Well done and congratulations Nick.

On 6^th March I spoke at the APSE conference in Newcastle to a room full of Highways Engineers! It was interesting to hear some of their views with regard to lighting views that I hasten to add I attempted to put straight !!!!

The ILP were represented at the Lighting Design Awards on 20^th March,  both Mark Cooper and myself were asked to present awards; an honour not normally bestowed on the ILP and I hope a reflection of our growing membership and recognition of the Institution within the design community. The evening as always drew to a close with the award for Lighting Designer of the Year ;a prestigious award at the event .

I am extremely proud and pleased to inform you that this year’s recipient was non other than our very own Mark Ridler (VP Architectural). The award announcement was greeted with great joy and the room stood to applaud , the ILP logo was displayed behind Mark on the screen as he accepted the award and during the citation recognition of his work with the ILP was made. We really are incredibly proud of Mark, a huge congratulations from all ILP members.

On the evening of the 25^th March I attended the first of the regional AGM’s

I would like to thank Eddie Henry (London Borough of Southwark) for having such a fantastic year as Regional Chair and wish Colin Fish (WSP) all the best for his forthcoming year in the hot seat. It was great to see well over 100 members attend the event.

Going forward April is busy it all kicks off on 1^st April with the Midlands AGM, followed immediately by the Northern and then North East AGM’s. The Western Region have theirs on 24^th April so I’ll be putting in the miles to attend all these

My thanks must go to my employer Skanska (IS) for supporting me with the time required to fulfil the duties as your President. Without this full support it would be extremely difficult.

You can also now follow me  @mjrugby1968
Until next time
Mark

February Review

Another busy month kicked off with The Executive Board holding it’s monthly meeting. The meeting was attended by Jo Harding of Harding Consult  who presented her business case for improving the ILP’s communication and marketing requirements both internal and external. As an ongoing process of the board engaging with the YLP, Fiona Horgan YLP Chair was also present in an observer capacity.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend Lightschool however other members of the HQ team were present, Jess provided the comments below:-

What Happened at Lightschool, part of the Surface Design Show

Our experience at Lightschool reflects the progress that the ILP has made in the last few years in becoming the home for all lighting professionals. We had a top name designer declaring ‘I’ve been wanting to join – thank you for making it so easy’ and another told us ‘in the last two years the ILP has changed massively for the better’.

The speakers at Light School were described as ‘a who’s who of lighting design’ and every single seminar was packed out with students standing at the back, lots of questions and speakers staying to talk afterwards.

We were one of the top five twitter accounts for the show, as verified by Seen Feed. This means we reached a lot of people who weren’t even present at the show, a very efficient way of reaching new people. We had heaps of interest in the launch of the Lighting Landscapes book and the new How To Be Brilliant series.

Since the show we’ve been in touch with over thirty new contacts, whose projects, enquiries and interest include architectural practice, university studies, LED, art, lighting for older people, Phd information, seasonal decorative lighting… the list goes on. We’re keeping everyone informed and already seeing membership applications coming through too as a result of our activities at the show.

Massive thanks to Jo W, Jo H and Mark R who all did a sterling job on the ILP stand – much appreciated.

A very busy and successful three days

On 14^th February I made my way to Scotland and attended the Scottish Regional dinner dance held at Airth Castle. I would like to thank the Region and it’s Chairman Daryl Bullock for inviting me to the event. The weather was a touch inclement !!!! and the flight a little lumpy on the way up but the event itself was organised well and the venue was fantastic. An enjoyable night was had by all with great food, excellent company and one of the best live bands I’ve been entertained by in sometime. Having to be at the airport for my 10am flight was a challenge but nevertheless I made it

The build up to ECO BUILD is now underway, coupled to that is the eagerly awaited launch of the latest ILP publication “Lighting Landscape, A Guide to Implementing Successful Lighting Within the Public Realm”  Jo Harding (Harding Consult) our communications and marketing  consultant has commented as follows

“We have now launched the You tube videos on the ILP website and this will be announced in the latest newsletter, we have also launched the guide with images on Pinterest which should encourage the landscape architects and clients to view the fantastic images and pin the ones they like-all hopefully driving interest to the guide and launch”.

You tube links- https://www.theilp.org.uk/resources/lighting-landscapes/

Pinterest site- http://www.pinterest.com/theilp/

As the month draws to a close the Exec Board met with the VP’s. The meeting comprised of a general review and workshop for the VP’s to interact with each other and understand some common areas requiring assistance. Jo Harding was part of the meeting to assist with any communication and marketing requirements and indeed to assist in form some strategies with regards to new events and forthcoming PLG launches. During the workshops individual VP’s were invited to meet with the SVP President and CEO to review their business plans for the past year and to forecast their aims and targets for 2014 . Look out for amendments to their web-pages to reflect their new target and KPI’s over the next few weeks.

My thanks must go to my employer Skanska (IS) for supporting me with the time required to fulfil the duties as your President. Without this full support it would be extremely difficult.

You can also now follow me  @mjrugby1968
Until next time
Mark

January

Its been a while since my last update but life goes on and we all have a day job to do.

Another year has been and gone and here we go again. Already this year the Regional Officers have met at Rugby and been briefed some changes that we would like to see at all Technical seminars going forward. I’m sure the regional committees will all be briefed at their next meetings. In a nutshell ALL Regional Officers that is to say Councillors, RTLO’s and RMO’s are expected to stand up and deliver a short update on what is happening in the area of representation. The Executive Board and VP’s are now also going to be a lot more visible at Regional seminars to ensure our messages are being delivered as expected and tasked. Indeed I myself recently attended the London and South East Committee meeting and also the HEN on the Road Exhibition. My congratulations to Eddie Henry for another great session and some absolutely fantastic, young, first time speakers my congratulations to them all for talking about their journey into lighting or not as the case maybe. I feel that these young students are such an important group of people that we need to make more efforts to engage with them and bring them into our industry. The three speakers on the day are clearly talented and enthusiastic, we need more like them to replace us old codgers who have been here for years.

It is also my pleasure to welcome Jo Harding to the team, Jo is a professional marketing consultant with over 20 years of experience within lighting. Jo will be addressing a number of issues that have been raised by members in the past with regards to how we market ourselves to those who are aware and more importantly those who are not aware of the great work we do as an Institution. Jo will be responsible for all our strategic marketing needs and internal/external communication. Jo has been contracted for 12 months and will initially be assisting us for two days a month, however, this can be increased at anytime should the need arise, in order to deliver the services we require.

So what’s on the horizon for the next few months.

The Executive Board and VP’s will be holding a workshop to discuss business plans and objectives for 2014, along with a review of VP performance for 2013.

The website has been updated with useful documentation login to the members area (MYILP) go to Useful documents you will now find

·         Byelaws, Regional Rules

·         Code of Professional Conduct

·         Articles of Association

·         Business Case Template

·         Guidelines for Regional Operations

·         Regional Constitution and Rules

The Grid is also now live Elizabeth Thomas BSc(Eng) CEng MILP, ILP Vice President for Highways & Infrastructure, commends THE GRID: It’s an amazing resource. The ILP is all about bringing people together to share knowledge and help each other to provide better lighting. There are unique challenges facing those of us in highways and infrastructure lighting, and THE GRID is an invitation to all my public lighting colleagues to support one another in a friendly and supportive environment”. Why not go and take a look, contribute and assist Elizabeth.

Further existing Technical Reports and PLG’s will be available for free download in the very near future so keep an eye out.

Lightschool at the Surface Design Show on 4 – 6 February 2014, London. Launched in October in conjunction with the Institution of Lighting Professionals and the industry’s creative agency, Light Collective, Light School will be looking to educate architects and interior designers in lighting design and lighting products. For more information visit www.light-school.co.uk. It’s free to attend so please register and take a look.

The next intake of students will commence their Exterior Lighting Diplomas on 17^th February so good luck to you all. I hope to attend during the week to personally meet you all and offer some encouragement!

The Western Region have there Past Chairman’s dinner and the Scottish Region have their Dinner Dance at Airth Castle. I wish both events great success.

The YLP have a Committee meeting with the new Chair Fiona Horgan and a Technical day @ NAL.

The IALD have a Gas Light Street Tour of Westminster on the 6^th Feb 2014.

A guided tour of the historic gas London within Westminster, yes within London there still remains gas lit streets and the tour will take in some of the 306 within the City of Westminster. Your tour guides, from WSP-UK and Westminster City Council, will explain the history of the lighting within the street from the hand held torch to the candle and the development of gas from just a flame through to the latest 2012 developments recently implement by the Council to ensure that the lighting is as economical as possible. The tour will include some unique equipment such as the only operational sewer vent gas column and an original cannon column but will also look at local quirky facts and take you down some streets you might never know existed.

date + time : 6 February 2014 7.00 pm meeting 7.15 pm  leaving

tour starts :St. Stephen’s Tavern, 10 bridge street, Westminster,  London, SW1A 2JR

Thanks to our tour guides from Westminster City Council and WSP

Spaces are limited so secure your place  RSVP EMMA@IALD.ORG

My thanks must go to my employer Skanska (IS) for supporting me with the time required to fulfil the duties as your President. Without this full support it would be extremely difficult.

You can also now follow me  @mjrugby1968
Until next time
Mark