Tough Year Ahead – How Membership Helps

In these uncertain times why would you consider joining an Association such as Council for Aluminium in Building in 2021? What possible benefit would it offer your business?

The Council for Aluminium in Building (CAB) was formed in 1994 by the bringing together of three existing Trade Associations; the Architectural Aluminium Association, the Patent Glazing Contractors Association and the Aluminium Window Association. Its members include consultants, fabricators, installers, systems companies and many specialist product supply and manufacturing companies. CAB became a company limited by guarantee in January 2006. CAB is the only UK and Ireland Aluminium in Building Trade Association with over 130 Members across the supply chain, offering support in both the commercial and home improvement supply chains.

Carrying the badge of such a well established and well respected Association in the Construction Industry certainly helps when pitching for business but membership of CAB goes much deeper than this.

For a business looking to join CAB or any Association that represents their part of any supply chain there are possibly three main key considerations:

Recognition – For your company to be placed in a membership listing alongside larger and well recognised industry players immediately boosts your status within the Industry and adds credibility. With this comes the pride of being a member of a team and the ability to ‘Wear the badge with pride’.

Advocacy – Important for the member that they have the ability to voice concerns about the Industry and, with their input with other Members, bring about change. An ‘All for One and One for All’ call which is a cornerstone of why associations are forming in the first place. The power to change an environment is stronger than at the individual level. Associations, such as CAB, are the hub where individuals organise their resources, plan their strategy, and assign action plans.

Networking – Associations are the original social media network. Meet with like-minded professionals interested in the same issues as you, access content that enlightens and discover new connections that support your business. These are often not tangible reasons for joining an association, but by engaging within an associations’ network of members alliances can be achieved which could have tangible outcomes. The old adage rings true ‘You only get out what you put in’ when it comes to networking.

Very powerful reasons to join an Association like CAB who recognise these cornerstones of inclusivity for its Membership, but, membership goes much deeper still:

Access to Resources – CAB has long been recognised for its technical support within the Industry, the CAB Technical Team sit on many of the Industry decision-making committees and represent the Membership position on everything that influences the supply chain. These positions are gained within CAB Member Committees and Working Groups set up within the Association Membership and are open for any Member to attend. With CAB’s close involvement with UK standards and legislation comes the ability to be a single point of call for any Members questions when it comes to quotations or specifications.

Benefits – Being a Member does offer tangible benefits was well such as access to free support lines for HR and tax issues, free marketing opportunities with your PR copy appearing in the Association ezine ‘A Window Into Aluminium’,  also access to a Members Webinar Resource which keeps abreast of contractual and economic issues in the Industry. These are just a few of the benefits and key for CAB at the moment is to build more tangible resources for Members as the Association continues to grow.

Initiatives –  A further benefit of being a Member of an Association like CAB is to be able to become involved in leading edge initiatives such as CABs’ very own ‘Closed Loop Recycling’ initiative. Open for any member who handles both pre consumer and post consumer scrap to join, the initiative encourages more aluminium ‘grade’ awareness so that a window extrusion that could have a life of fifty years or more, can be recycled back into a further window extrusion with no loss in characteristics and virtually no waste. The initiative also aims to keep more used aluminium in the UK and encourages a cyclical product life cycle. Likely to become legislation at some point in the future, the initiative offers members a strong negotiating base when pitching for new business within the industry.

Training – Stepping beyond Membership and reaching out to the thousands of Curtain Wall Installers across the UK, CAB have just launched a route to obtain a CSCS Skills card which is seen by main contractors as a recognised measure of professional competency on site. Members of CAB benefit from receiving some of this training at reduced costs.

It is important to recognise that any Association belongs to its Members and the more influence that Members can bring into the Association, the further the Association will grow. The CAB Board of Directors is committed to grow the Association and continue to increase value for membership. With a new CAB Chief Executive shortly to be appointed to head up the dedicated CAB Team in Gloucestershire, 2021 will be a challenge but one the Association will rise to and ensure membership value continues to increase.

Despite the pandemic, it is business as usual at CAB and staff are on hand at the offices to answer any aluminium fenestration related questions. Information is regularly updated on the CAB website at www.c-a-b.org.uk. For Association Membership enquires please contact Jessica Dean at the CAB offices by email jessica.dean@c-a-b.org.uk or telephone 01453 828851.