CARES Governance and Board Update

CARES Governance and Board Update

Following a review of CARES’ ownership and Governance structure, the Board of CARES has agreed to a process of change to prepare for the future. This will entail the appointment of a new Chairman of CARES to replace Steven Brunswick who is leaving the Board after many years of loyal service.

There are also changes to the structure of CARES, which was first established in the early 1980s when the UK steel industry – and the bodies associated with the industry – looked very different to the post-Grenfell world of the 2020s.

At its formation the ownership structure for CARES was based on ‘Members’ made up of clients, professional institutions, manufacturing trade associations and construction sector trade organisations. The recent comprehensive review into this structure found, in particular, that it was no longer appropriate for Members’ of CARES to include manufacturing trade associations having powers over an ‘independent’ certification authority where CARES certifies manufacturing companies within their own membership.

At a Special Board Meeting, in December, UK Steel, the British Association of Reinforcement (BAR) and the Post Tensioning Association (PTA) were formally removed as Members of CARES as a result of the review.

However, given the extensive experience of individual representatives of these bodies, the Board felt it appropriate to extend invitations to selected representatives to attend meetings of the CARES Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) as appointees of the Chairman.

In addition, and following Mr Brunswick’s departure as Chairman, Alan Pickett a distinguished Chartered Civil Engineer who serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of CARES, has agreed to step in as Interim Chairman of the Board, pending a further announcement on Steven’s permanent successor, in due course.

Lee Brankley, CARES’ Chief Executive Officer, paid tribute to Mr Brunswick’s “tireless efforts” on behalf of CARES in many technical and supportive roles, as well as his long tenure as a Non-Executive Director. Steven replaced Professor Les Clark OBE on Les’s retirement in 2019. “Steven’s extensive experience in senior roles at various main contractors as a long-serving and expert structural engineer equipped him with tremendous knowledge of the workings of our industry,” he said.

As well as his role as Interim Chairman, Alan Pickett will continue to serve as a Non-Executive Director of the Board of CARES which he joined in 2012.

Alan has had a 40-year career in numerous aspects of the national trunk roads network. In his early years he was involved in strategic road planning for the national road programme; design; project management; construction and maintenance of road schemes. Later in his career he focussed on standard setting, research, and engineering policy. He held the positions of Head of Roads Policy in the Department of Transport, and Head of Bridges Engineering, Head of Civil Engineering, and Director of Safety Standards and Research in the Highways Agency.