CONFERENCE ECOBUILD
GREEN CHALLENGE CIBSE/IET debate: Forging collaboration
Will all new homes really be zero carbon from 2016? Can the existing building stock become significantly more efficient? These and other key issues were debated at this year’s Ecobuild event in London. Reports by Bob Cervi, Carina Bailey and Katie Silvester
How can professional institutions in the built environment share knowledge for the benefit of the whole sector? In a discussion panel organised by CIBSE and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), representatives from several bodies came together to look at how more sharing could be brought about. CIBSE president Andy Ford, who chaired the panel, opened the discussion with the question: ‘What is the knowledge that we should be sharing.’ Architect Alan Shingler, who chairs RIBA’s sustainable futures group, said: ‘For us to collaborate, we need to align our targets. We’re having to produce low carbon buildings at lower cost – and so sharing needs to be put in this context. And this means involving contractors in the project as early as possible.’
Ford raised his concerns that in general engineers are not terribly good at talking to architects, and ‘contractors I meet don’t seem to have the knowledge of how to interact with early stage design’. This was partly due to ideas instilled a university level which failed to teach design as an interactive team effort and reinforced existing prejudices.
‘It begins earlier than that, at school,’ said Anne King of research body BSRIA. ‘Let’s have integrated design courses in schools. David Warriner, who chairs the construction and building services division at mechanical engineering body ImechE, added: ‘But all of us here represent a different professional body – we have already parcelled it all up. So we need people who can work across the professional disciplines.’
‘People are aligned with their company and have commercial secrets to protect,’ said Bruce McLelland from the IET. ‘But when they come into an institution they are keen to talk about what they are doing. Achieving this sharing of knowledge is about getting professionals in a place where they can network and share best practice.’ But what about taking that sharing to the level of contracts and procurement, an audience member asked. Johnny Dunford of surveyors’ body RICS agreed: ‘Yes, procurement needs to change before collaboration can improve.’ Shingler added: ‘I have worked on projects that have worked very badly, even with integration at Stage B. The problem is that quantity surveyors, contractors, and so on, have different goals. For a successful integrated team we need an “intelligent
Andy Ford, CIBSE president, chaired a panel discussion on institutional collaboration. The event was jointly organised by CIBSE and the Institution of Engineering & Technology
10 CIBSE Journal May 2012
www.cibsejournal.com
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