This event is to bring together representatives from different organisations across the architectural and engineering professions, including outreach bodies, universities, professional institutions and industry, who all contribute to and influence the recruitment, education, development and retention of young built environment professionals. This conference will highlight the shortage of built environment professionals with sustainable design skills and debate how to significantly increase their number to substantially reduce the environmental impact of the construction industry.
We are pleased to confirm that the day will be chaired by Peter Bonfield OBE FREng, the Chief Executive Officer of the BRE Group of companies. There will be an open debate in the morning led by an Expert Panel, which we are pleased to announce will include:
- Professor Andy Ford, South Bank University, Fellow and Past President of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers.
- Jane Wernick CBE Structural Engineer, Director of Jane Wernick Associates, part of Engineering HRW and First Woman of the Built Environment 2013.
- Emilia Targonska, Graduate Mechanical Engineer at Hoare Lea and the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers Graduate of the Year 2014.
This panel discussion will fuel the afternoon workshops, which aim to make links across the different organisations and address the following issues:
- How can we increase A-level students’ awareness of ‘Building Physics’ and ‘Sustainable Design for the Built Environment’ and recruit them into Further/Higher Education?
- What are the key skills industry requires to deliver sustainable design and how can education providers help?
- How can professional organisations, accreditation bodies and industry work together to encourage and support courses that produce graduates with multidisciplinary understanding and skills in sustainable design?
- With less than 50% of Engineering graduates staying in the Engineering field and less than 50% of registering Architecture students achieving chartership how can we work together to retain graduates in this specific field?
- What CPD activities and research would bring about a significant improvement in the performance of our built environment to meet UK climate targets.
We very much hope that you are able to join us on the day to promote this important issue and contribute to the debate on how we address this challenge for the future of our built environment.