Melville Gumbs takes the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering’s (CIPHE) national president role for a second year running, due to the disruption caused by the pandemic.
Melville will continue for a further year as president with Dr Henry Hung continuing his role as vice president.
While Mel’s original presidential year may not have gone as planned, there’s still been a number of highlights, including podcasts and interviews with various trade magazines, plus presiding on judging panels for the Screwfix Apprentice of the year and Screwfix Trade Person of the year, a statement said.
In his speech at the close of the AGM, he praised the way manufacturers had made the switch to online learning and how the industry had been using social media to connect, discuss projects, showcase work and highlight bad practice.
He said: “One feature of lockdown has been the rise of social media in our industry and the way plumbers and companies have used it to maintain contact with each other. There is a tremendous feel-good factor with plumbing and heating engineers on Twitter. As the lockdown continued, several key guys stood out to maintain and support fellow tradespeople.”
Mel is looking ahead at various issues affecting the sector. Of high priority is the road to net-zero. He said: “As we look forward, our industry is facing the prospect of a Green Revolution. With government pressure, we are entering uncertain times (with the introduction of) heat pumps, hydrogen and electric boilers. The modern plumber is facing learning a lot of new skills just to keep working and the CIPHE’s role in helping to up-skill the industry will be pivotal.”