Welcome

Serving as CABE President is a great honour − I am grateful to you, my fellow members, for placing your trust in me. This is the first opportunity for me to officially announce the appointment of Richard Harral FCABE as CABE’s new CEO.

Previously, Richard has worked as an architect and a policy official, then as Head of Technical Policy in the Building Regulations Division of MHCLG. Richard first joined CABE’s Executive Team in 2018 as Technical Director before stepping in as Interim CEO earlier this year. As we welcome Richard, we also extend our gratitude to his predecessor, Dr Gavin Dunn, for his leadership during a challenging time for the industry.

It is an exciting time as we enter CABE’s centenary year in 2025 with a new CEO and dedicated staff at the helm. The first conferences in the Built Environment Series take place this month. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to book your place at builtenvironmentseries.com.

For those who don’t already know me, I have been a CABE Board Member since 2019 and had the honour of serving as Chair of CABE’s Membership and Professional Standards Committee since its inception five years ago. I have been in private practice since 1986, based in the Republic of Ireland, and am an expert in the area of on-site wastewater treatment. As a member of CABE since 2014, I have served on the Republic of Ireland regional committee and been a professional interview panel member for Chartered Membership along with the professional titles Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) and Chartered Engineer (CEng).

I bring a broad knowledge and understanding of our governance and management structures to my presidency, and will endeavor to represent CABE as a recognised leader in the built environment at every opportunity.

UK Engineering Council’s recognition of CABE as a licensed body has played a vital role over the past five years, including its support providing third-party oversight to the CABE Building Inspector Competence Assessment Scheme (CBICAS). CABE is committed to high standards and is the only professional body offering such a scheme. It is also pleasing to see staff and Chartered Members volunteering to fulfil the role of observers and assessors respectively. These volunteers have worked tirelessly over recent months to offer building control professionals the opportunity to demonstrate competence and the necessary evidence to register with the Building Safety Regulator before July’s deadline.

I wish to thank my predecessor Richard Smith for his wonderful presidential year and look forward to working with him as he moves into the Immediate Past President role as Chair of the management group. My best wishes to Joseph Birt, who has completed his four years as part of the Presidential Team, and I also welcome Paul Grinyer who, along with Zoe Cox, Richard Smith and I, make up your Presidential Team for the year.

Finally, my thanks to my wife Maeve and children James, Jennifer and Brian for supporting my journey to becoming President. I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can throughout the year.

Richard Flynn PCABE CEng CEnv C.Build E FCABE CABE President

Image credit | Sam Kerr