After 8 years without a local voice, the South East region of the PDA relaunched in September and elected a new President, Steve Purdy. Steve is co-owner and working Director of TCL Group which started as a painting and decorating company and moved into general build as the company grew in size.

Steve has ambitious plans for his region and wants to make membership of the Association more relevant and worthwhile for those who join.

I know from experience how difficult it is for smaller companies to win contracts and grow in size, and I want to use the PDA to help them do this’, says Steve. ‘I want to invite speakers to the meetings who can give advice and guidance to members on the latest thinking in both paint products, legal requirements and also what clients are looking for to help them be more successful.

Steve has already decided on his first task which is to find out from the South East members just what they would like meetings to focus on so that he can make them more interesting and tailor them to fit their needs so, hopefully, get more people to come along. He would like  membership of the PDA to be seen as a quality standard which guarantees that its members are of a certain standard, and wants to encourage larger managing contractors to use it members when looking for painting and decorating supply chains.

Finally, Steve has a very keen eye on the upcoming work at the Olympics which could, potentially, bring a lot of work for members of the South East region.

Topcoat has been lucky enough to get on the approved list for the Olympics work but there were a lot of hurdles to jump through and I think it would be impossible for a smaller contractor with limited resources to qualify, even though they could probably do the work just as well. I want to lobby to get a higher percentage of the work kept locally and to also to set up supply chains so that smaller local contractors get a piece of the action. It is local business rates and local Council taxes that have paid for a lot of the Olympic work so it is only fair that local people and local contractors get to see the benefits as well.

Steve Purdy and Neil Ogilve The Acting Chief Executive of The Painting and Decorating Association at a recent meeting in London.