The Rural and Industrial Design and Building Association (RIDBA) celebrated its 60th anniversary with a special Gala Dinner at the Welcombe Hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon on 16 June. Industry guests enjoyed a fabulous three course meal and were entertained and amazed by ‘Card Ninja’ Javier Jarquin before finishing off the evening with music and dancing.

Formed in 1956 as The Farm Buildings Association, the organisation’s objective was to encourage all those involved in farm buildings to join together to improve standards and share knowledge. In 2005 it changed its name to RIDBA in recognition that construction practices in industrial and farm buildings were becoming aligned and many members were involved in both sectors. In recent years, RIDBA has been at the forefront of the industry working on key initiatives such as supporting its members to achieve CE mark accreditation.

RIDBA Chairman, James Anthony, welcomed guests and outlined RIDBA’s current priorities: to increase member engagement, to develop the profile of RIDBA and to review its governance and operation. Earlier in the day, members had met to determine the future vision for RIDBA and how they could help RIDBA to continue to grow. James confirmed that a new strategy would be produced to drive the association forward and address the key issues for members. Former Secretary Tony Hutchinson was also recognised at the Gala Dinner for his service to RIDBA over the last 16 years.

RIDBA Chairman, James Anthony said:
“I am incredibly proud to be Chairman of RIDBA during its 60th anniversary year. RIDBA has achieved a great deal on behalf of the sector and this work will continue during our anniversary year. With the secretariat provided by Build UK now well established I have confidence that the association will go from strength to strength.”

RIDBA would like to thank Gala Dinner sponsors: Joseph Ash Limited, Kingspan Insulated Panels Limited, Steadmans, United Roofing Products Limited and B&CE.

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Build UK is now managing the day-to-day running of RIDBA and led a successful Annual General Meeting (AGM) in February which was attended by over 40 members. The positive feedback received at the AGM was invaluable and RIDBA will be building on the constructive engagement generated at this meeting over the coming months.

Members welcomed the RIDBA strategy for 2016 designed to drive forward and maintain activity and impact over the coming year. It included the following key objectives: Increase Member Engagement; Develop the Profile of RIDBA; and Review the Governance and Operations of RIDBA. The strategy was set by the new RIBDA Board, led by RIDBA Chairman, James Anthony (M.D. Anthony) and the new Board will provide strong leadership on the key issues affecting members.

As well as focusing on delivering the new strategy, RIDBA will be organising a Gala Dinner to celebrate its 60th Anniversary in 2016 which will take place on Thursday 16th June at the Welcome Hotel in historic Stratford-upon-Avon. The Gala Dinner is a brilliant opportunity to celebrate the history and success of RIDBA over the last 60 years and offers an excellent networking opportunity for the sector. RIDBA is delighted to have welcomed on board its first premium sponsors, Joseph Ash Galvanizing and Kingspan and with over 125 expected industry attendees tickets are selling fast.

RIDBA’s dedicated Trade Association Manager, Natalia Plant, said:
“I am delighted to be managing RIDBA, leading its external representation and overseeing the implementation of the new strategy. Whilst new to the sector, I bring a range of customer service and event experience and will be supported by a committed Trade Association team. I look forward to meeting and working with the people who make RIDBA the leading Association that it is, driving the Association forward to achieve our objectives and celebrating with members at the Gala Dinner!”

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Farmers could be held legally responsible for building collapses, warns RIDBA.

Following the recent spate of bad weather, the Rural and Industrial Design and Building Association (RIDBA) has warned farmers to ensure their buildings are fit for purpose from both a moral and legal perspective.

The moral perspective would be living with the knowledge that an agricultural building that was not fit for purpose could partially or wholly collapse and injure or kill people or livestock or damage machinery and crops.

The legal perspective is farmers now being criminally liable, under new regulations, for Health and Safety on their land. The implications for them and the manufacturer or supplier of a poorly designed agricultural building are immense.

It has been drawn to RIDBA’s attention that more and more farmers are asking frame manufacturers to use the steel frame of a new building at the same size as an existing building but mostly this will mean that the new building frame is under-designed.

Design loads on buildings are being increased to ensure the structure will remaining standing in the increasingly extreme weather conditions brought about by climate change that a few years ago would not have been thought possible.

A typical example of this extreme weather is the extreme quantity of rain that fell in Cumbria and the North West of England and parts of Scotland earlier this month and the extreme snow fall that caused so many buildings in the north of England and Scotland to collapse a few years ago.

Because of this increased risk, standards such as BS 5502:22, which sets the design loads for agricultural buildings, have been amended to increase the design loads.

RIDBA advises that designing to old standards is not only a false economy because of the risk of collapse but also poses serious issues under the Construction Design and Management (CDM) regulations which have recently put increasing responsibility on the “principle designer” and any other designer.

The CDM regulations state the client/farmer has a responsibility to appoint a principle designer and ensure that everyone appointed to work on the project has the necessary capabilities to carry out the tasks required of them.

If the client farmer sets the steel sizes it could be argued they are the principle designer so under the CDM regulations they have responsibilities to identify and eliminate or control foreseeable risks during and after construction … and collapse caused by wind or snow load is a foreseeable risk.

If the client farmer is not the principle designer then it will probably be the frame manufacturer and so they would have the above responsibilities. In fact, the frame manufacturer will always be A designer unless they receive the full design from a qualified structural engineer. Then their responsibilities will be when preparing or modifying designs, to eliminate, reduce or control foreseeable risks that may arise during construction, and maintenance and use of a building once it is built.

So in the event of a collapse, both the client and the frame manufacturer could, RIDBA believes, be investigated by the Health and Safety Executive, and in the unfortunate event that there is an injury, both could be held legally responsible.

Yet another important issue in current agricultural building is one of insurance. RIDBA is aware that insurance companies are now taking a greater interest in correct design as well as CE Marking, marked most recently by a case where an insurer declined to insure a new building because it is under-designed and not covered by a CE Mark.

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