West Midlands

The West Midlands Branch is situated at the heart of the country’s transport infrastructure network and covers the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and West Midlands.

It is one of the larger branches in the Institution with a membership approaching 1000. The branch was formed in 1959 when the Midland branch was divided into smaller more manageable areas.


Presidential History
The Branch has a strong history of providing Presidents of the Institution and has provided 5 in the Branches 50 year history. These are:

•    Jock Thompson, President 1962-1963
•    Ron Bridle 1981–1982
•    John Cox, President 1982–1983
•    Alan Onions, President 1985–1986
•    Cameron Johnston, President 1991–1992
 
The branch has also provided two National Treasurers.
 
•    John Garner, National Treasurer
•    Stuart Wollaston, National Treasurer
 

Branch Committee
The branch has always managed to attract a lot of support for the committee and currently has a membership of 21 with 1 co-opted member. This includes 6 officers whose portraits can be found in the 'Whos who' section.

The Branch has always been well represented on IHT’s Council and very much involved with the work of the Council’s Boards. There are 4 members of the Branch Committee currently holding Council positions.


Branch Meetings
The Committee organises a full programme of technical papers to cover a range of topical and interesting subjects. Meetings are held mostly in Birmingham – the centre of the area – but also across the Branch area. Site visits to interesting local construction projects are organised. These have included rail freight terminals, airports, major redevelopment schemes, as well as road construction projects. Please see the:

West Midlands Branch Programme  

Reports from recent events are available in the section 'Event Reports'.

For other upcoming events in your area from a variety of Institutions including CIHT, please also see the:

CIHT West Midland Combined Calendar 2010-11  

The calendar is updated regularly, so please also see the website for more information

If you require more information please contact one of the Branch Officers below.
Howard Bold
Steve Pate
John Sunderland

The highlight of the Branch calendar is the Annual Dinner, held in Solihull and preceded by the AGM. The event provides entertaining speakers, is always well attended and remains an event to be seen at!

For over 20 years the Branch has organised the Alan Brant National Seminar. It has traditionally been held at the Spa Centre in Leamington Spa and attracted good attendance from across the UK. The economic climate, combined with greater competition in the conference market has seen this event struggle in recent years. The branch is now looking to keep the Alan Brant tradition alive by trying a different format.

A Branch Golf Competition is held each year and provides a competitive day out. A team is entered each year into the National Locan Cup Competition.


Young Professionals Group
The branch has an active Young Professionals Group that organises a couple of events each year including a social get together and the very successful Meet the President event at Birmingham University.


Committee Meetings
The branch AGM is held on the same evening as the Annual Dinner in late March or early April. There are normally five committee meetings and these are on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening in May, July, September, December and January. The majority of meetings are held at Arup Campus, Solihull.