August 2020

Institute of Roofing Update
IOR CEO SPOTLIGHT: ONE YEAR ON
It’s been twelve months since Stuart Hicks became CEO of the IoR. Below, he explains
what the Institute has achieved during this time and what new challenges lay ahead.
At the AGM back in November 2019, I laid
out some ambitious plans to modernise
and revitalise the Institute, because I felt
the IoR needed to cement its place within the UK
roofing industry.
The global Covid-19 pandemic has had a real
effect on everyone’s day-to-day working and
personal lives. Yet, this hasn’t stopped us from
achieving what we set out to do at the beginning
of the year – we’ve just had to adapt, change,
and support one another.
Key goals
The Institute was established in 1980 to
encourage and support continual learning and
career development for those with supervisory,
management and ownership roles within the
roofing industry.
I think we needed to remind people at the start of
the year how important the IoR is
for individuals, so we’ve
delivered a strategy to boost
membership, increase
awareness of the Institute
and its benefits, and
create an influential voice
alongside other associations
and the wider roofing sector.
Developing our regional offering has
taken a hit during the Covid-19 lockdown, yet our
communications has improved as more people
started working from home, and we made
information, guidance and training more
accessible online.
Creating a voice for the IoR
Improving our marketing and communications
was a key goal for 2020. Our PR and social media
The IoR has initiated “a strategy to boost
membership, increase awareness of the Institute
and its benefits, and create an influential voice
alongside other associations and the wider
roofing sector”
Left: Stuart Hicks, CEO of the Institute
of Roofing.
has been much more
focused and consistent this
year, and we have
developed a new website
which was launched in
July.
The website is far more user
friendly with a wealth of training
available on a range of health and safety,
roofing and general management topics. The new
online learning courses are now open to members
and non-members.
There is also a new section on the site where
individuals can obtain guidance on what level of
CPD is expected of them, and what evidence
members should provide to show they have
continued their learning and maintained their
professional knowledge. We need to keep a track
of what CPD hours our members are completing
to ensure we maintain the highest of standards
within our industry.
We also have a new graphic identity re-design
under development which will not only give us a
Continued on page 20
18 TC AUGUST 2020