IRPM goes from strength to strength

 I have reccently finished my period as chair at IRPM and handed over to Felix Keen from First Port who I know will continue to drive IRPM to further success and deliver yet more for our members.

Whilst I will remain as immediate past chair, for me it is the end of an era. I have been involved with IRPM from conception in 2000 and creation in 2002 and it has been close to my heart ever since. I believe that we have fundamentally improved the quality and skills of residential block management practitioners and this is confirmed by the many job adverts I see that mention IRPM as a desirable or necessary requirement.

IRPM would simply not exist without Janie Strange and Jeff Platt who nursed it through difficult growing pains, tight budgets and unforeseen obstacles in the early years. It is with regret that they too will be stepping down at the end of the year when we will be joined by our new CEO Andrew Bulmer. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank them for their relentless efforts to promote IRPM, to give us a real voice in the residential industry and to make IRPM the go-to qualification for leasehold (and factoring) managers. Their support during my tenure has been invaluable.

Excitingly, there are newer, younger, members coming forward to drive the agenda at IRPM and their efforts can be seen in the Resource Hub and other web led initiatives. Our membership is increasingly made up of under 35s who represent new smart ways of working, broader generalist approaches to management and are full of ideas that we are hoping to harness.

My thanks should also go to the working groups, all volunteers, who devote significant time and effort to delivering our promises to members.

We are all supported by Sarah, Aga and Dipti who have devoted their considerable talents to delivering huge changes in the last few years. The member database has been modernised, we have entered the world of social media and we have diligently managed our funds so that we can invest carefully in some great new initiatives including specific Build to Rent qualifications and Trailbazer Apprenticeships both of which launch in the new year. We have a small but incredibly hard working team serving all of the working groups and the executive. I thank them for keeping us on track and on time and delivering incredible value for members.

During my time as chair I am proud to have experience more than 10% membership growth year on year, testament to the continued value of our qualification and growth in all levels of membership.  I have hosted numerous road shows, training days, our free annual seminar and our fellows' day and spoken to many members on matters as diverse as Brexit, Scotland, LGBT voices and equality, MA/HA's and working together, the impact of mixed tenure, higher education and the skills gap.

IRPM will continue to work on delivering apprenticeships and the first PRS qualifications in the UK, as well as enhancing the Resource Hub so that it becomes the first area our members search when advice and information is needed in our complicated world. In recent years we have seen more emphasis on mixed use and mixed tenure schemes and the advent of the PRS build to rent sector further add to the skill sets that we need to prepare our members for. It is an exciting time for us and there will be many initiatives in the near future designed to broaden our offering, develop our members and attract new faces.

Education and continuing professional development is crucial to practitioners and it is important that we continue to promote our industry to schools and colleges as a valid career choice so that employers have a constant stream of new talent becoming available. These are the strategic matters that will fill the days of our new CEO and chair in the coming year. Janie, Jeff and I will remain available to assist where we can and we trust that we are leaving a great legacy.  

This article first appeared in The RPM magazine in August 2016