The aim of the debate is to engage young professionals with the future of the industry, as they will have to deal with the challenges before us during their working lives. We will also invite the establishment’ to listen to their suggestions if the next 30 years are to lead to a sustainable future, more than we have achieved in the last few decades. The idea has grown from a range of discussions and concerns in the past year including skills gaps, retention of professionals in London and other cities (housing costs vs typical salaries in the construction industry), attitudes to housing quality and building performance etc. Some of these issues have been put into even sharper focus post-Grenfell. All in all, how can we become a better-forming industry which is more attractive to someone driven by quality, innovation, and sustainability? 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.

Convened by Louise Clarke - Berkeley Homes and Julie Godefroy – Julie Godefroy Sustainability & the Edge

Chair:
Oliver Wainwright, Architecture and design critic, The Guardian

Speakers: 
Diana Sanchez, Socio-economist
Lydia Dutton, Co-Founder, Circular Economy Start-Up
Zohra Chiheb, Architect
Kavita Kumari, Sustainability, Health & Wellbeing Specialist
Ben Pritchard, Consultant
Nick Baker, Project Manager, Skanska

Responders
Ed McCann, Director Expedition Engineering & Vice President ICE
Jane Duncan, PPRIBA Chair of RIBA Fire Safety Advisory Group
Martin Gettings, Group Head of Sustainability, Canary Wharf Group
Tony Burton, Senior Partner Gardiner & Theobald

- See Oliver Wainwright discussing the debate here
- See Julie Godefroy discussing the debate here
- See Louise Clarke discussing the debate here
- See Ed McCann discussing the debate here