Connecting education, research, practice and professionalism.

Reinforcing the connections between education, skills, research and professional standards to develop the future workforce we need.

If we want a sustainable built environment we need to ensure that we can deliver this through a competent, and especially environmentally competent, workforce. We need a positive vision to attract a workforce for the future. Education, skills, research and professionals standards are, or should be, closely interwoven. We need to inspire in our courses from professional education to skills training and apprenticeships, disseminate relevant research to provide an evidence base for decision making and ensure that our professional standards are taken seriously as an asset, not an obstacle. This session will explore these challenges to see how we can do better.

We will invite the audience to contribute their own suggestions and by the session end we will identify three key recommendations as the most universally applicable.

This session was developed with the Ecobuild Conference at Futurebuild.

Chair:
Sunand Prasad PPRIBA – Penoyre & Prasad

Speakers: 
Flora Samuel - University of Reading & Vice President for Research RIBA
Dr Emma Wilcox - CEO Society for the Environment
Simon Foxell - The Architects Practice & author of Professionalism for the Built Environment
Alexander Wright - University of Bath

The Future of the Built Environment Professions

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is 200 years old this year and the RICS 150. The RIBA will hold its bicentenary in 2034. All three institutions are rooted in the nineteenth century but have been undergoing continuous change since the day they were founded in necessary response to social, political and economic realities. All three are undoubtedly survivors, along with the professions they represent, yet there are now ever more voices questioning their future as social upheaval, automation and the impact of unbridled capitalism take their toll.

The Edge has been exploring the future of the professional model in the construction industry for many years; through its involvement with the proposals for a New Professionalism published in Building Research & Information in 2013, the subsequent Commission of Inquiry on the Future of Professionalism in 2014 and the publication of the Commission Report Collaboration for Change in 2015. Now, with the publication of a major new book, Professionalism for the Built Environment by Edge member Simon Foxell, the subject is back on the agenda.

How should the professions act to shape and secure their future, maintain and raise their standards of performance and extend their influence?  What must be done to meet emerging needs and circumstances? If the challenges are considerable, then so too are the opportunities.

The debate marked the launch of Professionalism for the Built Environment. Further details are available from Routledge here. A flyer giving a 25% online discount (=£26.24) can be downloaded here.

Chair: Stephen Hodder, Deputy Chair, Construction Industry Council

Speakers:

Simon Foxell, The Architects Practice and author of Professionalism for the Built Environment (2018)

Ed McCann, Expedition Engineering and ICE Vice-President

Caroline Buckingham, caroline buckingham architects and RIBA Vice President Practice & Profession

Louise Clarke, Berkeley Group

Venue:

FCBStudios, 20 Tottenham Street, London W1T 4RG

In the report, ’Collaboration for Change’ (2015) which was the outcome of the Edge inquiry into the future of the professions led by Paul Morrell, former Government Chief Construction Adviser, one of the key recommendations was on Ethics and the Public Interest and a Shared Code of Conduct’. While the professional institutions all require members to adhere to a code of ethics and have an obligation to serve the public interest, what this means in practice is not entirely clear. Since the report was published there has been increasing interest in this topic. Has the time come for a shared code of conduct across all our professional institutions working in the built environment with the obligations and responsibilities of both those commissioning and those providing services set out clearly? Is this a critical first step in ensuring that the built environment works as well as possible and in the interests of all, with a primary concern being the wellbeing of the wider world and society? We will invite the audience to contribute their own suggestions and by the session end we will identify three key recommendations as the most universally applicable.

Chair:

Rowan Moore, architecture critic

Speakers:
Simon Foxell, The Architects Practice and The Edge
Paul Nash, PPCIOB
Liz Male, Liz Male Consulting
Philippa Foster Black CBE, Director, Institute of Business Ethics