The debate will bring together two speakers, construction industry journalist Michael Willoughby who will be proposing, and Chief Executive of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) Alasdair Reisner who will be opposing the motion. The views of the debate participants, as well as the thoughts of our guest speaker, Howard Chapman, Editor at Building Talk, will be available for scrutiny at www.saint-gobain.co.uk/debates.
Visitors to the site will be encouraged to add their thoughts to the proceedings through a comments section, also having the option to cast their vote ‘for’ or ‘against’ the motion, based on which speaker has been most persuasive.
Richard Halderthay, Director of Communications for Saint-Gobain in the UK, Ireland and South Africa, said: "The recent media attention surrounding a potential prolific merger within the industry has sparked conversation about whether large acquisitions will be something we see much more of in the years ahead. However, many have spoken out about mergers, expressing concerns that it could be problematic and lead to redundancies in the sector.
"With two contrasting views on the topic of mega-mergers, it will be interesting to see the views of the speakers and the reaction of the public to this debate."
The Oxford-style debate will kick off with opening statements from the opponents on Monday, 3rd November, with the discussion continuing throughout the week, culminating on Friday, 7th November when the victor will be announced from the weight of the public opinion poll.
Saint-Gobain debates occur on a regular basis, providing an up-to-date and engaging insight into some of the key issues at the heart of industry and the built environment, with a view to moving onto more broad socio economic issues in the future.
For further information, please visit www.saint-gobain.co.uk/debates.
For up-to-the-minute news and updates, follow Saint-Gobain UK & Ireland on Twitter at @SaintGobainUK, search #SGDebate or like the Facebook page.