1. Movers & Shakers -
Monthly property networking breakfast held at The Dorchester at 7.30am.
www.moversandshakers.uk.com #movers&shakers

2. Networth -
Monthly drinks for professionals in property and construction on the last Tuesday of the month.
www.networthclub.co.uk #networth

3. Be2camp -
Be2camp is for people interested in how the latest web applications and web design techniques could help build a better, more sustainable built environment and holds an annual unconference.
www.be2camp.com #be2camp

4. AEC Network -
The AEC Network is an informal, free of charge, global network for the construction sector, and holds occasional networking meetings.
www.aecnetwork.ning.com #AECNetwork

5. Chamber of Commerce -
The London branch of the Chamber of Commerce holds regular property and construction networking events including a breakfast club.
www.londonchamber.co.uk #cofc

6. Business Link -
Business Networking for the Construction Sector was recently organised by Business Link. They also offer non construction specific networking.
www.businesslink.gov.uk/london #buslinkcon

7. YEP -
Regular networking events for Young Entrepreneurs in Property.
www.yeplondon.co.uk #YEPLondon

8. First Friday Club -
Lunchtime networking organised by Property Week and held on the first Friday of every month.
http://www.propertyweek.com/section.asp?navcode=2899 #1stfriclub

9. Phase 1 -
Networking events for new professionals in construction, engineering and architecture.
http://www.building.co.uk/section.asp?navcode=2623 #phase1

10. RICS Matrics -
RICS have opened up many of their events to the whole construction sector as well as their members. RICS Matrics is aimed at surveyors who are fairly new to the industry.
http://www.rics.org/matrics #ricsmatrics

11. South London Business – Build South London                                                                                                                                               
Events aimed at subcontractors and suppliers who wish to meet Main Contractors http://www.southlondonbusiness.co.uk/build_south_london.php #buildsouthlondon

12. The Doyle Club – Lunchtime networking on the 1st Thursday of every month.  http://www.doyleclub.org/index.php #doyleclub

13. FuSE1 – Property Networking breakfasts based focussed on SE1. http://www.fuseone.co.uk/index.php #fuse1

 14. The Property Mermaid –  There are more property networking events here  http://thepropertymermaid.com/blog/events/ 

15. Business Junction (Built Environment) – Quarterly business breakfasts  http://www.businessjunction.co.uk/areanews/builtenvironment #businessjunction

16. Forum for the Built Environment - Monthly breakfast meetings http://www.fbe-org.co.uk/events.cfm #fbe

17. Corenet (NetWORK) – Connecting the corporate real estate industry  http://network.corenetglobal.org/CORENETGLOBAL/corenetglobal/Home/Default.aspx #corenet

18. Women in Property - One for the ladies! Property networking events for women http://www.womeninproperty.org.uk/events.aspx #wips

19.  Pall Mall Property Club – Evening drinks http://pmpclondon.com/ #pmpclondon

At the moment survival is top of the agenda for lots of companies. Seth begins by quoting the five ‘p’s and a few more, but he neglects to mention the service ‘p’s; people, processes and physical evidence which are most relevant to contractors, architects and consultants within the construction industry.

The essence of the book is that the Purple Cow is the new ‘p’ that every marketer should take notice of. So what is a Purple Cow? A purple cow is something new, fresh, different and most of all remarkable. It sets you apart from your competitors. He gives lots of examples which unfortunately are all American and I hadn’t heard of some of the brands.

I got to thinking of construction companies that offered a purple cow. Mace could be seen as a pioneer in offering consultancy and contracting. But there are thousands of contractors in the UK that appear to be exactly the same and offer exactly the same service. What differentiates them?

Seth introduces us to the term sneezers. Sneezers are people who spread the word about a new product or service that is remarkable. The sneezers for contractors would be architects and consultants who pass the word about a good contractor. They put you forward to project teams and recommend you to their clients. However do sneezers spread the word to their competitors? i.e. would an architect tell another architect about a great contractor they’re using? Probably not. Journalists can be sneezers but when was the last time you read some editorial in the trade press where a journalist recommended a contractor, or a contractor was reported to be doing something completely differently?

What exactly can contractors offer that would be a purple cow. For a start I am a female Business Development Manager I am a rarity in construction but by no means unique. No purple cow there then. Harmonix are called Harmonix to emphasise our desire to work in harmony with the project team. But many contractors claim the same thing. Look at any contractor’s core values and you’ll find them all very similar quality, integrity and openness all feature highly. Yawn, yawn!

What can we change about our service that makes us truly remarkable and different to all the rest?

Seth encourages us to produce a service that people will actually want to seek out. Well that would make my job a whole lot easier if the enquiries fell onto my lap!

Occasionally some of Seth’s advice bordered on the gimmicky. For example he thinks that all staff in an airport have boring uniforms and suggested that the ice-cream sellers wore coloured bow ties! Hardly a purple cow.

To conclude I feel that a purple cow is really your USP (unique selling point) that really is unique.

I would like to hear your thoughts from those in the construction industry on whether you feel your company has a purple cow…

The work comprised the design and build of a new office and self-storage facility on a brownfield site. The basement construction was completed by the groundworks contractor and two upper levels of mixed use areas with serviced offices, showrooms and training facilities were constructed by Harmonix Construction. This facility is the largest underground self storage facility in the UK with three basement levels.

The construction by Harmonix commenced once the RC basement and ground floor slab was completed. An overlap of 7 to 8 weeks was suggested by Harmonix in order to reduce programme.

As with most Access Self Storage projects the site is located in a residential area and between two busy roads. The local council requires the pavement that has been closed off outside the site to be re-opened for the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.

The Project Manager Graham Thompson sent letters to local residents to introduce the company and provided a contact number for residents who had concerns during the construction period. Harmonix also liaised closely with the Environmental health department.

Daily meetings took place between the groundworks contractor and Harmonix to ensure that close communication between the contractors was maintained during the handover period.

A phased handover was arranged with Access Storage in order that some of the completed bins could be handed over earlier.

Harmonix is considered to be the Market Leader in the UK for fitting out storage facilities and the team were able to bring their experience to the Wandsworth project.

Little Britain was my first time sailing in a race and any pre-conceptions I’d had of relaxing on deck cocktail in hand vanished as soon as we left port for our first race on the Thursday afternoon.

The sea was blue, the sky was blue and the air was certainly turned blue once we attempted to put the spinnaker up!
I was tasked with writing down the course as it was announced over the radio which was a challenge in itself when the boat was tipping at an 80° angle.

With Nick Foulkes of Colwyn Foulkes as helmsman and Giles Holder of Laxton Properties getting soaked on the foredeck that left Giles and Troy on the ropes while the rest of us had the most crucial job of weighting the boat.

After an afternoon of sailing it was swiftly onto the ale – ing part of the weekend. Ron Coll from Tweeds and Graeme Hodgkinson from Cushman and Wakefield joined us for the next two days of sailing.

We were pleased to collect our third place trophy and will be at Little Britain 2010 to reclaim our rightful position as winners.

Please see all the photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/harmonixconstruction/

J2EAU Sailing the High Seas

Clients and approach

• What sets you aside from your competitors?
• How can you stand out from your competitors
• Make sure you know as much as possible about you’re potential client before you call them (Knowledge is power!)
• Ask questions (especially open ones and get them talking), find out what they want! Make notes!
• ‘Law of Average’ you have to get a number of ‘No’s’ before you get a yes. Each NO brings you closer to a YES!
• SELL the benefits to the client. Why should they use you?
• Ask for referrals!!! Names? Anyone else in the industry they know about worth contacting?

I have published this list to help anyone attending Little Britain this                                                 year to focus their marketing efforts on the right people. 

 http://www.littlebritain.co.uk/web/code/php/main.php?section=home

Less Slacking - More Tacking

- Access Self Storage Wandsworth Phase 1 – June 09

- 37-39 Lime St, Bank – July 09

- Access Self Storage Stevenage – May 09

Hot off the press this is the official response from the government from the petition asking:

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to get Britain Building.”

“The Government is acutely aware that economic conditions are difficult at the moment and that the construction industry is finding this particularly challenging on a number of different fronts, and is doing all it can to create the conditions in which the UK construction industry can flourish and succeed.

The Government is aware of the proposals put forward under the “Get Britain Building” campaign. Ministers have frequent contact with the industry, largely through the Strategic Forum for Construction and the CBI Construction Council, which enables constructive strategic dialogue to take place on the issues which need to be addressed.

On 2 September the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) announced a package of measures to stimulate the housing market including, among other things:

an offer to housebuilders to buy up new properties that they are finding hard to sell;
CLG has also looked at investment in social housing and regeneration programmes – to support those projects which may be at risk. CLG has brought forward £400 million to invest in new social housing over the next two years; and
the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that, for a one year period, stamp duty land tax will not apply to purchases of residential property of £175,000 or less and this was extended in the Budget to the end of 2009.
More information on the packages can be found on the Communities and Local Government website at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/950558 .

On construction projects generally, in the Pre-Budget Report of November 2008, the Government announced that it would be bringing forward £3 billion of public expenditure to be spent on motorways, schools, GPs’ surgeries, flood defences, and improving the energy efficiency of the existing housing stock. In addition, the Government recently announced a scheme to help PFI projects, already in the pipeline but encountering difficulty obtaining finance, to access appropriate finance. This will ensure that £13 billion of public investment infrastructure projects will be protected.

The April 2009 budget itself also included nearly £600 million to help housing with the addition of up to 10,000 new homes. Of this, £400m has been allocated to assist stalled housing developments and development finance through reducing up-front costs; £100m to local authorities for energy efficient housing; and £80m for the HomeBuy Direct mortgage equity scheme. In addition, £50 million has been allocated for armed forces accommodation.

On the Olympics, The Olympic Delivery Authority, a non-departmental public body, are bound by EU public procurement rules which require that Olympic contracts are open to all suppliers irrespective of country of origin. That said 98 % of the 800 + companies that have won £3.5 billion worth of work directly supplying the ODA are based in the UK.”

 John Farragher, Harmonix’ Director says: ‘Harmonix Construction has grown over the last 10 years. It is therefore fitting that our market-leading reputation for hassle-free contracting, innovation and success is reflected in a new corporate logo that represents the company’s progress and even in these bleak economic times, confidence in our future’

As well as a new logo we have also launched our ‘less is more’ philosophy which really sums up Harmonix’ approach to business. We have put these straplines on everything from our business cards to our hard hats. A taster of our straplines follows, but there are many more:

Less opaque – More transparent
Less maybe – More definitely
Less hassle – More harmony
Less shirking – More working

WISE (Women into Science, Engineering and Construction) collaborates with industry and education to encourage UK girls of school age to value and pursue STEM or construction related courses in school or college, and to move on into related careers.

After completing a questionnaire about how she got into the construction industry and who her role models are, she now appears in their inspirational women section on their website.

Hopefully Amruta will now be an excellent role model to girls who are thinking about a career in construction.

See the full interview at http://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/