This Article was taken from Faith in Business, Vol.5 No.4 Winter 2001/2002
John Huxtable - The Small Firms Friend
a tribute by Richard Higginson
In the last issue of Faith in Business, I briefly paid tribute to Martin Jones, a wonderful industrial chaplain who faithfully visited the Vauxhall plant in Luton for many years. Martin was a great embodiment of faith in business. By a strange and sad coincidence, another fine Christian man who put his mind, heart and soul into making his corner of business a better place died within 24 hours of Martin, His name was John Huxtable. He died on 16 December 2001, at the tender age of 54, having collapsed from a severe stroke while working three weeks earlier. John was probably known to fewer readers of this journal than Martin, so I would like to tell you something of his story.
John was the founder and Chief Executive of the Confederation of Construction Specialists, which he ran with his wife Elisabeth in Aldershot, the town where they lived.
John was an economist by training, a graduate of Strathclyde University. If he had chosen, he could doubtless have pursued a successful career as a senior manager in the business world. From 1970-78, he worked as an economist, with Metal Box, British Road Federation and then for the National Federation of Building Trades Employers (now the Construction Confederation). This proved a very eye-opening experience for him. Although John would never subscribe to a view of the construction industry that carves it up simplistically into bad main contractors and good subcontractors, he came to the view that fault did lie much more with the former than the latter. Through working for FASS, the Federation of Associations of Specialists and Sub-Contractors, he also became convinced that organisations which claimed to represent sub-contractors were not sticking up for their members sufficiently strongly. In 1983 he set up a new organisation, the Confederation of Construction Specialists, as a campaigning body. He did this with the aim of exposing the extent of contractual abuse and demanding reform in the industry, thereby improving the business environment in which specialist companies operate.
John Huxtable's adoption of the title Construction Specialists was
itself innovative and highly significant. In one of his bi-monthly CCS newsletters, he wrote this:
'We are a Confederation of Construction Specialists, and we .seek always to accentuate the positive constructive role of Member Companies as Specialists, and as the firms which provide the real value-added input into construction projects. Specialists are real contractors, actually making and doing things: Main Contractors are often nowadays merely virtual contractors, pretending to do the work, but in fact relying on Specialists.'
'I am personally very wary of the negative and subordinate connotations which can be attached to the phrase sub contractors, and so - while functionally Specialists are often required to act as sub contractors - we deliberately downplay use of that label. Words are only words - sure - but they do come to affect attitudes, and we must seek to influence attitudes positively. (Many journalists and other opinion formers have learned that they mention that dreadfully disrespectful word subbie in my presence at their very distinct peril!)
'Subordination is a state of mind. Much of the rotten culture of our industry seems aimed at pushing
Specialists down into a subordinate way of thinking, and it has to be said that many Specialists seem to be willing accessories, and sink all too easily into an attitude of subordination and there's nothing we can do about it. In the words of Eleanor Roosevelt: "no-one ran mnke you feel inferior without your consent."'
John Huxtable developed a lawyers expertise in understanding the complexities of the various types of contract used in the construction industry. He had a razor-sharp eye for onerous conditions, burdensome and unreasonable provisions -sometimes stated blatantly in a contract, sometimes slipped in stealthily - which tilt the balance of expectation and entitlement unfairly in the interests of the more powerful party. Under John's editorship the CCS newsletter always contained an item identifying a particular firm and giving details of an onerous subcontract. He was unsparing in his time and energy into giving practical advice to specialists involved in disputes, and ran regular training seminars. Indeed, he originated, directed and acted as lead lecturer on a major programme of management education, including a Diploma accreditation scheme for construction specialist personnel. This bore fruit in the formation of a new Institute of Construction Specialists which was founded just before he died.
John was a supporter of the changes proposed by Sir Michael Latham in Constructing the Team, his 1994 report on the construction industry which was jointly commissioned by the industry and the Conservative Government. Latham produced a host of recommendations for changing the industry's practice and replacing its adversarial climate with a partnership ethos. But John never had any illusions that this change would be easy. Some of Latham's legislative reforms were watered down before they reached the statute book, and the concept of partnership too easily degenerated into big firms bullying little ones into doing what they wanted. The need for vigilance in watching what companies did -as distinct from what they said -remained. John Huxtable stayed as vigilant as ever until the day he died. In that sense, he was a true episkopos: the Greek word for leader which is often translated bishop but which literally means overseer. He exercised oversight over the construction industry.
I met John during the time I was preparing for the Ridley Hall Foundation consultation on Establishing Trust in the Construction Industry, which took place in March 1998. He was extremely helpful, and - even though he was unable to take part in the actual event - supplied me with many valuable insights and contacts. With Richard Noble, Ridley Hall's bursar, who himself used to work in the construction industry, I spent a memorable morning with John and Sir Michael Latham discussing the prospects for the industry's reform. John was a committed Roman Catholic, as is his wife Elisabeth, and the motivation and inspiration which his faith provided for his work was quite self-evident.
On 17 January 2002, a memorial service celebrating the life or John Huxtable took place at the Cathedral church of St Michael and St George in Aldershot. Several hundred people attended. It was a long service! 7 hymns were sung, and no less than 12 different people paid tribute to him.
Here is a sample of the things they said:
The editor of a business magazine:
'On first meeting, people were impressed by his obvious intellectual capacity - John had an extremely sharp mind which he used to great effectiveness. Indeed, throughout the eleven years that I knew John I was constantly impressed not only by the depth and breadth of his knowledge, but also at his ability to interpret and then speak wisely about a whole array of issues.'
'However, it is his work as campaigner that I will remember most clearly. John was outstandingly good at drawing attention to injustice or unfairness and then pushing for reform. He felt strongly about a range of issues both in and outside the construction industry and would pursue these subjects with considerable passion and energy. His work to highlight the innate dishonesty of late-payment or even non-payment by some main contractors in construction demonstrated this ability at its best. He had no problem with putting the culprits on the spot by exposing them publicly when necessary and did not shy away from calling some of the people in these organisations bullies and thugs, which many people were, and indeed, some still are.'
'Underscoring his campaigning work was a strong integrity, his morality and his faith. John Huxtable made a difference to the lives of many. He helped to make things better and he helped to expose the truth. I have no doubt that these achievements will be a lasting and substantial testament to his memory.'
A contracts manager:
John's vision will remain a major influence on my working life, which will be the poorer without his wit and wisdom. He will always be revered for his integrity, courage, tenacity, and his ability to destroy spurious arguments with clear incisive invective.
John truly floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee.
The commercial director of a concrete firm and a past chairman of the Confederation of Construction Specialists:
John supported me personally through an extremely traumatic period of my life when we were involved in a lengthy and nasty litigation with a major contractor in Scotland. Without that support I dread to think what might have happened.
John was unique. He had the knowledge, determination, guts and general wherewithal to fight the larger organisations, whoever and wherever they were, and to say what had to be said; to fight the injustices of the contracting world on behalf of the smaller entity; to fight for the servant, if you like, in the master/ servant world in which we operate. He gave us the confidence to fight for ourselves.
He made a difference. He changed our world for the better. He will be sorely missed but his legacy is the Confederation.
From the managing director of a window conservation firm and the present chairman of the CCS:
I have a theory that something good usually comes out of bad and in this instance the Confederation has at last got something It has always wanted. I think this must have been part of John's overall plan. We now have our own Guardian Angel.
Just imagine the main contractor arriving at those pearly gates. He asks are you Peter? And a voice replies, No, I'm John and where do you think you are going? I know all about your lot. I haven't forgotten. You tailed to comply with the Great Contract and accordingly you can head due south, and by the way, on your way down you can tell your mates to sort themselves out or they will he joining you.
Finally, from Richard Noble (a subscriber to this journal!):
Is there a greater thing that you can do with your life than stand up for a just cause? If you believe as I do that God sent Jesus into this messy world to show us how to sort it out then John was, without doubt, one of his helpers.