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IBP planning new induction training course

IBP is actively working on plans for a new Induction Training Course which would be designed to offer new entrants into construction, design and property journalism and PR a valuable basic grounding in the operation and practices of this complex industry.

The course will be created as a high quality, value for money product which would fill a perceived gap in basic training provision in the industry.Course content will comprise a detailed overview of the industry, its operations, its key role in the UK economy and its crucial contribution to the quality of life in the workplace and in the home. The second component would be an analysis of communications both within the industry and to the ‘outside’audiences.

“The underlying purpose of this course is to provide an opportunity, not available elsewhere, for new entrants, whether from university or from other industrial sectors, to receive concentrated grounding in how the industry operates and communicates so that they are well prepared to make their own contribution either as journalists or PR practitioners.“Specialised training provision of this nature will be a new departure for IBP and provides clear evidence of its intention continually to develop its services to all members and benefit the wider industry”, said Gerald Bowey, Chief Executive of IBP Services.

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Priorities for New RICS Director

Leonie Austin, the new Director of Public Affairs at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors spelled out three main priorities in her new role when she addressed the IBP AGM.

She intended to help the organisation to build on its relationship with government , punch up its dealings with the media and address its dialogue with its own extensive membership. Leonie Austin, who has joined RICS after a three-year spell as Director of Communications at the Cabinet Office and, before that, as Chief Press Officer at the Department of Trade and Industry, brings a wealth of top-level experience to bear on all aspects of her new work.

She will be able to influence RICS policy on government legislation, relations with the business community and the general public in essential areas like consumer protection. In particular she wants to raise the profile of the organisation both through the media and through promoting the profession to the general public which uses its services and as a career prospect, through education and training, to produce the surveyors of the future.

Certainly the effectiveness of her presentation to the AGM, her first public statement since taking up her new role, indicates a good move by the RICS. With 110,000 members based in over 120 countries around the world covering everything from major construction projects to surveying the seabed for minerals, from managing agricultural land to auctioning antiques or protecting the environment, Leonie Austin has a daunting brief and she is clearly determined to bring the whole weight of her experience to bear as quickly as possible.