At the age of 39, the new director of the British Woodworking Federation Richard Lambert is a young man in a very demanding job.
He took over in June from Kevin Cubbage, the man largely responsible for shaping the BWF into its present modern-looking and healthy position.
Unlike his predecessor, Mr Lambert is not from a woodworking industry background. As a former parliamentary civil servant, much of his experience is in the workings of government, something which could prove valuable to the BWF in the years ahead.
His first job in the House of Commons was as a clerk on the agriculture select committee, while the second was on social services where he wrote the first major parliamentary report on the AIDS crisis. He then went into the journal office before working on the international section, which involved frequent trips to eastern bloc countries as they opened up to the west.
He said: “One of the things you do learn from that kind of job is the ability to move from subject to subject with relative ease.”
After 10 years working in the Commons, with daily contact with MPs – many of whom had been or went on to become ministers – he left in 1994 and worked for a lobbying consultancy covering energy/environment and charitable issues.
Understanding associations
And it was at his next job at the British Property Federation where his understanding for trade organisations grew. He examined what the government was doing, its policy development and formulated the industry’s response.
“It gave me an understanding of how trade associations worked and how they can be most effective,” he said. “Trade associations vary between the lobbying voices and those which market their industry. The BWF interested me because I had not been involved with a marketing-based trade association before.”
He said many associations ran into trouble in the mid-1990s and had to try to reinvent themselves. But he added: “The BWF has done such a super job in making itself into a much more modern trade association. My role is to support the industry and help try and make the market conditions become as favourable as they can.”
Mr Lambert will look to his government experience to help achieve this. Whitehall has opened up more to outside organisations in the past 15 years – which he translates as an opportunity for the woodworking industry.
“Government sets the strategic parameters and industry tries to see if it can get the parameters set as favourably as possible.”
The BWF Council gave Mr Lambert a remit to to look at everything in the organisation and he submitted his recommendations on July 26.
He said he has excellent foundations on which to build and that the BWF has reached a point where it can now push the development process on.
“There are three things in my mind. If it isn’t broke don’t fix it; there’s nothing that works so well that it can’t be improved; and something Kevin said to me: ‘I would be disappointed if you did not change anything and sad if you changed everything’.”
What is clear is that the BWF Certifire Fire Door and Doorset Scheme and the Timber Window Accreditation Scheme will remain key, with promotional work continuing to architects, builders and increasingly the public. And he hints that the window replacement market will be looked at in the future.
Also, he intends to generate publicity for BWF activities in the round. “There is a criticism that sometimes we focus too much on the two accreditation schemes and not enough on activities as a whole.”
Another priority is recruiting members, which are after all the lifeblood of any organisation. He is concerned that, while it gains new members every year, it still loses about 40 from a membership of over 400. Attracting more window manufacturers is a particular target as demand for BWF-accredited windows is such that supply cannot always keep up.
“I also want to make sure everybody gets value for money whether they are bigger or smaller. The BWF has done a really good job at promoting itself to the wider market but needs to make sure it does that to its internal membership,” said Mr Lambert. “I want to try and make the BWF better for its members and if they have ideas I would be really interested to hear them.”
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“My role at the British Woodworking Federation is to support the industry and help try and make market conditions become as favourable as they can. |
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Richard Lambert: |
He also intends to avoid the risk inherent in any trade body, that the organisation becomes an end in itself.
“I am very conscious that trade associations exist to provide services for the members’ benefit. They do not exist for their own good.”
Hammers not nails
On the personal side, Mr Lambert lives in East London with his partner and two young children. In his younger days he worked in a DIY store, but confesses that he’s not a DIY expert and, rather than doing odd jobs round the home, would rather be making the most of his Upton Park season ticket watching his beloved West Ham United.
Looking at the bigger picture for BWF members, he believes from his experience of the housing market at the BPF that there will “probably” be a slowdown in house price inflation, which he sees as driven to date by a shortage of supply, especially in the south-east.
From the viewpoint of the woodworking industry he expects general home improvement and joinery work to do well, fuelled by the large demand for new housing and commercial property.
Meanwhile, back at the office Mr Lambert is cutting his BWF teeth at a very a busy time. Its various initiatives are generating a lot of work for the seven full-time staff. The Part L fact card, published in April, alone created over 2,000 responses and the technical officer receives on average 16 calls a day, and consequently a second is being recruited. And another task for the new director is to start to plan the BWF’s centenary celebrations for 2004.
But Mr Lambert is clearly relishing his task and feels his career path has crossed with the federation at the right time.
“I’ve inherited an extremely forward looking, well-run organisation with extremely committed members who respond well to what the organisation does and I think it’s ready to move onto the next stage.”
