How can professionals meet the challenge of urban densification in a time of climate change?

An event hosted jointly with The Urban Design Group and the first in a series of debates entitled Cities, Climate and *Critical Urban Infrastructure.

The overall series explores the consequences of current practices in building, urban design, planning, regulation and policy on critical urban infrastructure. We will discuss how we can harness the often overlooked interactions of built form (the dimensions of buildings and their placement in relation to each other), urban climate and energy both in its natural expression (temperature/wind/sunshine) and those of building needs (cooling/heating loads), whilst addressing our collective responsibilities in this time of climate emergency to create net-zero carbon, healthy and resilient cities.

The intent of this series is to integrate existing knowledge across disciplines, identify gaps in current knowledge and practices, and explore solution pathways for policy and better practice.

This first event explores the ‘Critical Urban Infrastructure’ framework and asks whether it can support an interdisciplinary collaborative approach that promotes comfortable healthy environments and more sustainable urban practice’.

Convenor: Richard Lorch, Editor, Buildings & Cities
Host: Robert Huxford, Director, Urban Design Group
Chair: Rohinton Emmanuel, Professor, Glasgow Caledonian University

Speakers:
Gerald Mills, University College Dublin - Overview, Climate Responsive Urbanism
Asaf Din, Perkins&Will - Resilience in the Design process
Marialena Nikolopoulou, University of Kent - Urban Climate Change: Adaptation and Mitigation
Rachel Toms, Public Health England - Health & Wellbeing
Nicola Bacon, Founding Director Social-Life - Environmental & Social Justice

Venue: The Gallery, 70 Cowcross St, Farringdon, London EC1M 6EJ
Timing: Thursday 9th January 2020
Arrivals 13.30
Debate 14.00 – 17.10 pm
Networking -17.50
The Pub - The Hope, Smithfield

Please come and contribute to the discussion. To attend please register by each attendee’s name here.

*The Critical Urban Infrastructure Framework offers an overarching approach towards climate responsive urbanism that recognises that the components of urban systems are both highly integrated and interdependent. Whereas the traditional approach to the design, use, and environmental management of our cities focuses on green, blue and grey infrastructure, often in isolation, the critical approach accounts for the interdependencies between built form and function (e.g. the dimensions of individual buildings, their occupation patterns and urban layout), outdoor and indoor climates, energy demands and waste generation, etc. Critical infrastructure also includes the urban commons and the use, preservation and access to our collective shared resources (e.g. daylight, ventilation, air quality, etc.), to create comfortable healthy environments and encourage more sustainable urban practices.

Downloads:

Edge Debate 96 Climate Responsive Urbanism flyer

Edge Debate- Climate Responsive Urbanism series

What is the value of a T-shaped Education?

A debate hosted jointly with The Engineering Club looking at whether we need to reassess our approach to professional education to address the climate crisis.
Are we preparing the right sort of graduates for the modern construction industry? A T-shaped education has a broad grasp across all the disciplines and an in-depth knowledge of one. With the climate crisis influencing the education of future professionals, should this now become the norm? The challenge for professionals is to break down the silo-mentality to create a more integrated team and hence a more efficient industry. Some might argue that greater integration between design and construction is more desirable, add to this challenges such as climate change and understanding building physics, and the requirement for more ‘T-shaped’ graduates becomes ever stronger. Nonetheless the attraction of traditional courses persists due to the value attributed to the identity and culture promoted by the institutions that set the curriculum and accredit courses.
The specialist professional degree is something admired around the world and perhaps interdisciplinary education is better tackled at a post-graduate and practice level.

Are the new interdisciplinary courses a small, worthy, peripheral variation on the mainstream of construction education or a revolutionary model that should be encouraged by the institutions to grow?Or should we be creating a new construction discipline through which educational establishments can attract a new generation of graduates more attuned to the needs of the environment?

Chair: Jane Wernick EngineersHRW

Speakers:

1. Luke Olsen, Bartlett Engineering Architecture Design course leader

2. Maria Smith, Interrobang! Trans-disciplinary practice

3. Peter Roberts, Principal of the multidisciplinary engineering practice OR Engineers

4. Faith Wainwright, Arup

5. John Connaughton, University of Reading

6. Chris Stobbart, graduate of Sheffield architecture and engineering course

Venue: The Building Centre, 26 Store Street, London WC1E 7BT
Timing: Wednesday 16th October 2019, Debate 6.30 – 8.00 pm
Drinks and networking - until 9.00 pm

Please come and contribute to the discussion. To attend please register by each attendee’s name here

Downloads:

ED95 trans or trad flyer

Following the Edge Climate Action Round Table and agreement in June 2019 the role of leadership in meeting the challenge of the 2050 Net Zero carbon obligation has become a critical issue.
The Edge has arranged for a number of climate and energy experts at UCL who contributed to the work of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) on net zero to lead an expert seminar examining the contribution of the built environment to the UK’s carbon emissions, the expectations of the CCC for their staged reduction and actions that the leaders of the industry might be able to take.

The seminar will address issues including the following:
• The size and character of the built environment’s carbon emissions
• The CCC’s programme for carbon emissions reduction
• Historical successes and failures in reducing building energy use
• The complementary role of demand reduction and decarbonisation of supply
• The key barriers that need to be overcome

Speakers:
- Tadj Oreszczyn, Professor of Energy and Environment, UCL
- Robert Lowe, Professor & Director UCL Energy Instute
- Rokia Raslan, Bartlett School of the Environment
- Foaad Tahir, Element Energy

The seminar will be drawn from signatory organisations to the Round Table Climate Action agreement up to a maximum of 40 attendees

Venue: UCL, Institute of Education

Downloads:

1. Edge net-zero Expert Seminar flyer

2. T. Oreszczyn NZ Presentation 190919

3. R. Lowe NZ Presentation 190919

The UK Committee for Climate Change report UK Housing Fit for the Future? (2019) highlights the need for greater levels of inspection and stricter enforcement of building standards, alongside demands that ‘as-built’ performance of UK homes must be better monitored. Without these measures (and stricter penalties for non-compliance), the 1.5 new homes planned for the next few years and the 29 million homes to be retrofitted will not perform as intended.

The RIBA has recently recommended that all member practices should offer to carry out post-occupancy evaluation (POE) as part of their standard service to clients. This could have major consequences for the housing industry and the built environment project teams associated with it. A new sustainability overlay to the RIBA Plan of Work is also in development that will include, for the first time, a POE contractual procedure.

Several urgent questions arise as POE becomes mainstream:

How should built-environment professionals and policy-makers develop and deliver housing POE as an in-built part of housing procurement?Is it affordable? Who should pay for POE – the client or the design team?What are the key procedures that need to be put in place and should they be regulated?Should the acquisition of appropriate skills to undertake POE be taught in validated programmes in Higher Education or only as professional CPD?What must be done to ensure that POE becomes routine?Do Assured Performance schemes like EnergieSprong make POE obsolete?In the current climate emergency, POE offers the housing industry a real opportunity to reduce carbon emissions from housing - for good.

This debate will mark the launch of a major new book on POE implementation, Housing Fit for Purpose: performance, feedback and learning by Fionn Stevenson. Copies will be available for purchase.

Chair:

Andy von Bradsky, Head of Architecture, Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government

Speakers:

• Fionn Stevenson, The University of Sheffield and author of Housing Fit for Purpose: performance, feedback and learning (2019)

• Claire Murray, Head of Sustainability, Levitt Bernstein - Architect

• Katie Clemence, Max Fordhams, Chair of CIBSE Technology Committee - Engineer

• Oliver Novakovic, Technical and Innovation Director, Barratt Developments PLC - Housing Developer

• Emyr Poole, Homes England, Senior Projects Manager, Planning, Enabling and Development team - Government Policy Adviser

Venue: FCBStudios, 20 Tottenham Street, London W1T 4RG
Timing: Tuesday 17th September 2019, Debate 6.00 (for 6.30) – 8.30 pm
Drinks and networking - until 9.00 pm

This event is by invitation only. Please come and contribute to the discussion.
To attend please register by each attendee’s name on Eventbrite here

Downloads:

ED93 Housing Fit for Purpose flyer

On the 20th June 2019 representatives from 25 built and natural environment and other stakeholder organisations met with the Chair of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), Lord Deben, to discuss the need for action in the face of climate breakdown. The meeting accepted in full the CCC’s recommendations in their May 2019 report that the UK must and would be able to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and welcomed the Government’s announcement that this was shortly to be enshrined in legislation.

The following organisations* have now agreed to collaborate on an urgent and concerted response to achieving the 2050 target; to continue to work together to establish shared standards and practice; and to continue to develop professional resources, capacity and competencies within the sector capable of meeting that aim both domestically and internationally. The organisations have accepted the invitation of the CCC to co-operate on meeting the UK net zero carbon objectives.

• British Standards Institution (BSI)

• Commonwealth Association of Architects

• Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE)

• Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (CIAT)

• Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)

• Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH)

• Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH)

• Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE)

• Construction Products Association (CPA)

• Forum for the Future

• Good Homes Alliance

• InnovateUK

• Institute of Chartered Foresters+

• Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA)

• Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)

• Institution of Structural Engineers

• Landscape Institute

• Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)

• Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)

• Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI)

• Society for the Environment (SocEnv)

• the Edge

• UK Built Environment Advisory Group

• UK Green Building Council (UKGBC)

• University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)

+ Institutions added following issue of Press Statement

Downloads:

Edge Climate Action Round Table Press Statement 190701

Committee on Climate Change Net Zero report

UKGBC - Net Zero Carbon Buildings: A Framework Definition

The Challenge to Achieve Real Change

Are you ready for a paradigm shift to achieve and future and live in a world we want to live in?

As Kirsten Henson, sustainability consultant and speaker in this session, has written: “We are running out of time in our fight against planetary destruction…add to this the increasing frustration against the lack of opportunity for social mobility, unequal access to education and healthcare and it is not surprising that people are starting to call for a different type of leadership - new disruptive business and economic models are required to create a paradigm shift.”

A paradigm shift is certainly needed if we are to achieve a future and live in a world that we would want to live in.

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 by the Ecobuild Conference at Futurebuild together with Louise Clarke of Berkeley Homes and Julie Godefroy of Julie Godefroy Sustainability and the Edge

Chair: 
Professor Peter Guthrie - University of Cambridge

Speakers: 
Lowri Bond - Igloo Regeneration
Kirsten Henson - KLH Sustainability
Ben Smith - ARUP & National Park City
Omer Kutluoglu - Yes Recycling

More Than Houses

Land valuation, home ownership, family living: such historic and cultural practices are being thrown into question by the housing crisis.

Why have we still got a ‘housing crisis’ in the 21st century? ‘Solving’ this complex issue calls for more than a succession of government targets for numbers of new homes to be built each year; the industry also needs to raise its ambition and innovate. So how can we really ensure that we build the right homes in the right places at the right price for the right people? The government has scrapped the cap on how much councils can borrow to build new homes, which is welcome. James Brokenshire, as Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG), has expressed the government’s commitment to “building the right number of homes in the right places” and is appointing a ‘New Homes Ombudsman’, although this appears to encourage and support home ownership.

But many questions remain to be answered:
- Should anyone be ‘homeless’ in the 21st century? This may be an extreme expression of inequality, but we cannot escape the overall inequality of our social structure.
- Does our cultural attitude to home ownership suggest that renting your home is a sign of failure and so put pressure on the ‘need to buy’, despite unrealistically high prices?
- How are we addressing changing demographics with more single person households, and catering for groups such as elderly people, who may have varying needs for homes and place?
- What are our new housing models in today’s housing landscape of private developers, local authorities and housing associations?
- How can land be valued for the benefit of the wider community (including the provision of high quality social facilities) instead of being a lottery based on hope value and scarcity?
- How do we ensure that ‘affordable housing’ is affordable when the cost of housing seems to have become detached from earnings?
- How can we raise our ambition and ensure that all our citizens have safe and affordable housing in line with SDG 11, with access to sustainable transport and employment?
- Should we also improve protection for tenants, as is available in many European countries?
- How can we ensure quality both of building and place, not just quantity of dwellings?
- Do we need a comprehensive national and regional spatial plan?
- Is it time to rethink ‘housing’?

This session will explore the issues and we will invite the audience to contribute their own suggestions. 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: 
Jane Briginshaw, Director, Design England

Speakers: 
Paul Chatterton - University of Leeds & author of Unlocking Sustainable Cities A Manifesto for Real Change
Heather Cheesbrough - Croydon Council
Jon Sawyer - Manchester City Council
Susan J Smith - University of Cambridge

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

How can we enhance the environment in a post-Brexit world?

How environmental protections can and should be strengthened and enhanced in post-Brexit Britain.

There are some critical questions around resources, such as water and soil, which will be fundamental to future environmental sustainability and will need protection, conservation and improvement. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) Commission for Economic Justice report ‘Prosperity and Justice: A Plan for a new Economy’ stated that, “Environmental sustainability must be at the heart of economic policy.” So when the government makes the pledge, “to make ours the first generation to leave the natural environment in a better state than we found it,” there is a great deal at stake for the future of the UK. Will natural capital accounting help to protect the environment or should we recognise that we cannot value everything in monetary terms? When the Prime Minister launched the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan she confirmed that, “We will use the opportunity Brexit provides to strengthen and enhance our environmental protections – not to weaken them. The EU Withdrawal Act (2018) required the setting up of an independent ‘watchdog’ to hold the government to account, and this was debated extensively throughout the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) consultation on Environmental Principles and Governance. The government has now proposed an Environment Act, which should provide legal underpinning for the 25 Year Environment Plan. How can we influence the Environment Act? Is there the necessary cross-departmental support and resources to give the act the breadth it needs to be truly effective? This session highlights SDGs 2, 6, 13, 14 and 15.

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 and IEMA

Chair: 
Eloise Scotford - University College London

Speakers: 
Maddy Thimont-Jack - Institute for Government
Martin Baxter - Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA)
Alastair Chisholm - Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM)
Ece Ozdemiroglu – eftec & Member of the Committee on Climate Change

Delivering on the ambitions of the £420m Sector Deal

Applying innovative technology and techniques to deliver homes, major buildings and infrastructure and transform our industry under the Construction Sector Deal.

The Construction Sector Deal policy paper was published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) in July 2018. This stated, “The construction sector reaches every corner of the United Kingdom and touches each of our lives. We are in the early days of one of the greatest construction programmes in our history, from delivering more homes that people can afford, in the places they want to live, to major infrastructure projects…the pace of this change, and the size of this opportunity, demands a construction sector that is the best in the world.”

The programme is very ambitious with a joint sector-government budget of £420 million to invest in new technology and techniques. The Construction Leadership Council is building on the Sector Deal’s strategic principles of Digital, Manufacturing and Whole-life Performance through a series of cross-industry groups. The CLC’s ‘Procuring for Value’ report makes practical, long-term recommendations for both government and industry to facilitate change. This is a subject that should be central to the work of all those engaged in the built environment at a time when we need to restore confidence in the construction industry, and relates particularly to SDGs 9,11 and 12.

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: 
Andy Mitchell - Construction Leadership Council & CEO Thames Tideway

Speakers: 
Ann Bentley - RLB & Construction Leadership Council,
Sam Stacey - UK Research and Innovation (UKRI),
Peter Caplehorn - Construction Products Association,
Lynne Sullivan - LSA Studio, Good Homes Alliance & Green Construction Board,
Julia Barrett - Willmott Dixon

Programme

Expert speakers from academia, policy and practice will set the scene for open-ended round table workshops that touch on wider policy matters and point the way forward.

Chair: Ann Limb, CBE DL, Chair SE Midlands LEP

Speakers:

Peter Tyler,
 Professor in urban and regional economics in the Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge

Patsy Dell, Assistant Director Strategic Planning, Infrastructure and the Economy, Hertfordshire County Council and former Head of Planning at both Cambridge and Oxford City Councils

Christian Wolmar, writer and broadcaster and leading commentator on 
transport, author of Are Trams Socialist? Why Britain Has No Transport Policy

Jenny Raggett, Transport Campaigner, Transport for New Homes funded by 
the Foundation for Integrated Transport

Gemma Burgess, Acting Director, Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research (CCHPR)

Tom Holbrook, Architect, Director, 5th Studio, lead author of NIC Cambridge, Milton Keynes and Oxford – Future Planning Options Project Final Report

Rebecca Tunstall, Professor Emerita of Housing Policy, University of York

Charles Crawford, Board Director, LDA Design

Venue:

Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge

Organised in collaboration by Lucy Cavendish College and the Edge

Downloads:

Debate notes

Introduction: Richard Lorch, former Editor of Building Research & Information

Chair:  Professor Flora Samuel, University of Reading

Speakers:

Professor Rohinton Emmanuel, Glasgow Caledonian University

Professor Michael Hebbert, UCL

Professor Sue Grimmond, University of Reading

Professor Phil Steadman, UCL

Respondees:

Julia Thrift, TCPA

Euan Mills, Future Cities Catapult

Venue:

Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), London Campus, Room 1.2, 40 - 48 Fashion Street, Spitalfields, London E1 6PX

Presentations and Notes available for download:

• Richard Lorch

• Rohinton Emmanuel

• Sue Grimmond

• Phil Steadman

• Michael Hebbert

• Julia Thrift

• ED86 Debate Notes

How do we effect real change?

Despite numerous reports and considerable effort since 1945 and, more recently, after the excellent reports from Latham (1994), Egan (1998), Wolstenholme (2009) and Farmer (2017) effecting change in the construction industry has proved problematic as a result of a culture of (reckless) lowest first-cost procurement and serial risk-dumping, on the advice of the legal profession, among others. Yet doing it differently is seen by most public (and many private) procurement officers as the biggest risk of all.

Now we have a comprehensive report on the key activity of procurement by Ann Bentley, RLB Global Chair and member of the Construction Leadership Council.Procuring for Value was published by the CLC in July as an action plan in support of the Construction Sector Deal.

There have been innovations around procurement in the past, including the NEC contracts, PPC 2000 and the IPInitiatives programme, supported by the Edge. In the future our departure from EU will undoubtedly change procurement practice again, possibly for the better. But right now the Edge sees this report as the game-changer we have been waiting for and idiscussed how we might drive real cultural change and reform the expensive and extraordinarily wasteful processes that constitute public procurement today.

Chair: Dr Matthew Tulley, Development and Property Services Director, Great Ormond Street Hospital

Speakers:

Ann Bentley, Chair of RLB, Board Member of CLC and author of the Procuring for value report
Louise Lado-Byrnes, IPInitiatives, Collaboration without barriers
Kevin Murray, Deputy Director & Head of Property and Construction, Crown Commercial ServicesAlan Crane, Construction Consultant & Past President CIOB

Venue:

The Building Centre, Store Street, London WC1E 7BT

Downloads:

Event invite

Event presentation deck

Event handout

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

Responding to the consultation on Environmental Principles and Governance

The current UK government is committed to be the first generation leaving the environment in a better state than it inherited it.
Leaving the EU will create a gap in regulations and governance, and DEFRA are currently holding a consultation on the issue, which closes on 2nd August (https://consult.defra.gov.uk/eu/environmental-principles-and-governance). The consultation offers a rare and welcome opportunity to rethink the UK’s environmental framework.
DEFRA’s proposals to rework the principles guiding our environmental policy, including the precautionary and ‘polluter pays’ principles, could have long-term and far-reaching consequences for the delivery of environmental objectives set out in the UK Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan and beyond. The proposals also raise questions about future interactions between the UK’s devolved nations, collaboration across government departments, and the role of the planning system.
This event was organised by the Edge to encourage collaboration and debate among built environment professionals and inform responses to the DEFRA consultation. It included short presentations on the current environmental framework and possible options post-Brexit, followed by views from a range of professionals. A number of response points were proposed for debate by the audience, with the intention of developing a draft collective response to the consultation.

Chair: Professor Maria Lee, Faculty of Law and co-director of the Centre for Law and the Environment, University College London

Overview of Defra Proposals and options: Dr Tom West, Law and Policy Advisor, Client Earth

Respondees:
- Richard Blyth, Head of Policy, RTPI
- Ben Brown, Policy Manager, Landscape Institute
- Ant Wilson, Sustainability & Building Engineering, AECOM

Response summary: Julie Godefroy, Head of Sustainable Development, CIBSE and the Edge

Venue: 2nd Floor Lecture Theatre, UCL Energy Institute, Central House, 14 Upper Woburn Place, London WC1H 0NN

Downloads:
Edge Debate 83 flyer- Where do we stand?

Response to DEFRA consultation, submitted 2nd August 2018 - Edge submission to DEFRA on Environmental Principles and Governance-180802

We have all been to a lot of housing debates where it all seems a bit intractable. The Edge felt the need to try something different…
The last great housing crisis was after the war. More than a market solution was needed and we got the iconoclastic 1947 Planning Act.

We have another great crisis that does not look like it is going to get solved by market forces alone. What should we do if we really believe providing enough houses at prices people can afford is not just a priority but the basis of future prosperity and stability?

Our debate imagined that the PM asked this question and created a task force to go away think the unthinkable – what would be today’s equivalent of the 1947 Planning Act?
We had a panel of experts, led by Gary Younge of the Guardian and son of Stevenage. We know what the market solution is and we can imagine what an extreme position might be. What we wanted from our panel is something between, unthinkable in terms of today’s politics, but nevertheless possible at a stretch and perhaps even practical.

Gary played the part of the cabinet minister charged with preparing The Plan and the audience the experts convened to offer ideas and criticism for the emerging policy to be presented to the Cabinet. The debate asked not whether ideas are unthinkable, but whether they are not unthinkable enough, or are they just too unthinkable. The debate was about finding workable, if, for some, unpalatable, escape routes from our current predicament.

Chair:
• Gary Younge, The Guardian

Speakers:
• Matt Leach, Chief Executive, Local Trust
• Nick Corbyn, Senior Development Manager, Land Securities
• Stuart Andrews, National Head of Planning & Infrastructure Consenting, Eversheds
• Vicky Pryce, Board member, Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr)
• Tom Mann, Director Residential Development, Savills
• Andrew Screen, Managing Director, Trade Risks Ltd
• Frances Coppola, Sheffield University

Venue: 
Eversheds Sutherland
1 Wood Street, London EC2V 7WS

The debate was run by the Edge and Eversheds.

Downloads:

Event invite

Event report

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

Following the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower various investigative processes were set up and are still to report Without pre-empting the outcomes it would be fair to say that there appear to be some systemic problems in the construction industry and that it is vital that the industry responds with a serious look at how it can improve standards and quality of design, delivery, compliance and enforcement, accountability while overcoming the performance gap in use. This is not only as a collective professional duty, but also necessary to instil confidence in the building users. Quality in construction and the built environment has an impact across a broad spectrum from environmental performance and resource stewardship to human health and well-being. Have we abandoned too much red tape’? Do quality and regulations actually reinforce each other? How do we ensure that fit for purpose specifications agreed by the design team are delivered on site? How do we manage value engineering’? Are present procurement methods and costs a barrier to getting things right? Is it time for a quality campaign to bring back confidence in the industry? This session will explore the issues with a focus on housing, both new build and retrofit, for which the construction industry is now very challenged to deliver with long term quality and value. 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.

Videos:
- See Peter Caplehorn discuss the debate here

In collaboration with the Good Homes Alliance

Chair:
Jane Duncan

Speakers:
Lynne Sullivan - LSA Studio, Chair Good Homes Alliance & the Edge
Richard Cook - Head of Residential Lendlease
Paula Higgins - Founder and CEO, Home Owners Alliance
Peter Caplehorn - Deputy Chief Executive and Policy Director Construction Products Association
Robin Nicholson - Senior Partner Cullinan Studio & the Edge

The imbalances and inequalities of the housing market have been well documented. It is our collective responsibility to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 11 by 2030 to ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing. Are we ignoring the economics of housing? Are there more effective ways of providing for all, retaining quality and delivering quantity? Is the British dream’ of homeownership a chimera? Do we have responsible leadership to overcome the problems? This session will explore challenging and new solutions to the problem. 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: 
Jane Briginshaw - Jane Briginshaw Associates & the Edge

Speakers: 
Polly Toynbee - journalist and writer
John East - Strategic Director Growth and Homes London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
David Roberts - Director Igloo
Claire O’Shaughnessy - Director Deloitte Real Estate

12.00 - 13.00 Ecobuild Conference

The 2017 White Paper Fixing our broken housing market says:
“The housing market needs to operate differently to start to address affordability and deliver the step change in house building that is required. The Government proposes to support different parts of the market, including new entrants, to boost productivity.”

So, how realistic is it for new players to meet the government’s expectations and deliver a step change in production?
• Can new SMEs make a significant impact?
• Can local authorities build enough homes to solve the crisis?
• Are barriers to entry too great? How can they be overcome?
• Do the big builders restrain trade for new smaller companies?
• How can the terms of trade be made fairer for new SMEs?
• What is it really like to try to break into the market? What can we learn from that experience?
• Should we even try to rely on firms that aren’t big enough ride out a recession?

Chair:
Terrie Alafat CBE: CEO Chartered Institute of Housing

Speakers:
• Andrew Whitaker: Planning Director, Home Builders Federation
• Dr Janice Morphet: Visiting Professor, Bartlett School of Planning, UCL
• Janet Sutherland: Housing consultant for Pocket Homes & formerly senior housing officer at Lewisham & Camden Councils
• Stephen Hill: C20 futureplanners

Venue:
Sir Peter Hall Room (G.01)
Bartlett School of Planning, UCL
Central House, 14 Upper Woburn Place
London WC1H 0NN

The debate was run by the Edge and the Place Alliance.

Presentations:

- ED81 - Janice Morphet presentation
- ED81 - Janet Sutherland presentation

Debate Reports:

- Just get on with it! - Jane Briginshaw 26/9/17
- Edge Debate 81 New housing players: Debate notes

Nearly a year after UK Government mandated Level 2 BIM for its projects, is it getting what it sought and are the efficiencies promised in building delivery and operations being achieved?

The ambition for L2 BIM was to progress from 3-D spatial models to ones that also provide all of the information on a building, its components, assemblies, costs, operation & performance that any player might need to know at any time in its life cycle. The L2 model was intended to be built progressively by many parties into an holistic, up-to-date and factual representation of the building for multiple life-long uses.

Elegant in concept, the devil was always going to be in the detail.
This debate explored Level 2 BIM’s progress so far, how it affects different stakeholders and what, if anything, is needed next.

Chair:
Dr Anne Kemp: Director, Atkins; Chair of UK BIM Alliance, Chair ICE BIM Action Group

Speakers:
Les Copeland: Technical Director, WSP, Chair of CIBSE BIM Steering Group
Helen Taylor: Practice Director, Scott Brownrigg, Edge Member.
Karen Alford: BIM & GSL Programme Manager, The Environment Agency
Dwight Wilson: Digital Engineering Manager, Imtech, Member of dotBuiltEnvironment

Venue: Institute of Physics, 80 Portland Place, London W1B 1NT

The debate was a joint venture between the Edge and CIBSE Home Counties North East Region.

How should we value heritage’s contribution to our sense of place, well-being and identity?

Our historic built environment is under increasing and varied threat – from development pressures arising from economic and demographic change; from neglect and decay; from the impact of current environmental factors as well as from the need to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The NPPF requires us to identify the ‘values’ of historic assets so that these can be weighed against other public benefits of change; including regeneration, economic growth and sustainability.

This Edge Debate - Heritage Capital - explored whether it is desirable or even possible, in the interests of conservation, to assess the overall value of our historic built environment and, if so, how.

Chair:
Ros Kerslake OBE - Chief Executive, Heritage Lottery Fund

Speakers:
Chris Jofeh, Director & Global Buildings Retrofit Leader, Arup (Welcome)
Jonathan Schifferes - Senior Researcher, Public Services and Communities, RSA and lead researcher for “Heritage, Identity and Place”
Kate Pugh - OBE, former Chief Executive, The Heritage Alliance
Kate Brown - Group Director, Sustainability, Grosvenor
Ingrid Samuel - Director of Historic Environment, National Trust
Jason Eis - Executive Director, Vivid Economics
Martina Mazotta - Director Fondazione Mazzotta Living Archive

Venue: Arup, 8 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 4BJ

Downloads (presentations):

• Ingrid Samuel presentation

• Jason Eis presentation

• Kate Brown presentation

• Kate Pugh presentation

• Martina Mazzotta presentation

How can cities become more resilient?

A key challenge is creating resilience at the neighbourhood level - an often overlooked scale. Resilience strategies can enable local communities to thrive in response to rapid climate change and deal with uncertainty and disruption. However, the current emphasis of resilience planning remains relatively top down, with local authorities still producing strategies for local neighbourhoods rather than with them. With increasing resource constraints in the UK, local government can increase its leverage and impact by moving from the role of provider to enabler. At the same time, built environment professionals will need to develop new capacities to mediate between these authorities and their local communities.

The co-production approach shifts the power relationships involving built environment services and production. This helps to address the underlying social injustice and inequitable urban environments. To achieve resilience at the neighbourhood level, the co-production process seeks a genuine partnership between parties. Such a bottom-up approach allows local communities to engage directly with other stakeholders and also creates new resilience capacities within those communities. This emerging area was explored in the recent special issue, ‘Co- producing Neighbourhood Resilience’ in Building Research & Information, which examined numerous cases of co- production from an interdisciplinary perspective. It demonstrates the viability and benefits that arise from the co-production process.

This debate explored some implications and challenges of what co-production means for local government and professionals. Several questions were specifically raised:
• For built environment professionals - how can their role alter to accommodate the facilitation between governing bodies and local communities?
• Where are the specific challenges in co-production at the community level? How can they be overcome?
• What lessons can be learned for developing capacities, and demonstrator models?
• What are the politico-ecological dynamics that operate in this process? How is this used to empower communities through the production of resilient neighbourhoods?
• What are the research, practice and policy implications of neighbourhood co-produced resilience strategies?

These questions were discussed in relation to current practice and new initiatives with contributions from the invited panel and afterwards from the audience.

Speakers:

Chair: Janet Sharpe, Director of Housing and Neighbourhood Services, Sheffield City Council

Introduction: Professors Fionn Stevenson and Doina Petrescu (The University of Sheffield, School of Architecture) What is co-production and what have we learned?

Panelists:
Policy Speaker: Barra MacRuari, Director of Place, Bristol
Co-production and Resilience in the planning process / what can local authorities do?
Research speaker: TBC
Co-production with researchers / what can higher education contribute?
Practice speaker: Dr. Dorte -Rich Jorgensen, Sustainability consultant engineer, Aitkins Global
Co-production and teamwork / how does it work in practice?
Research speaker: Dr. Meike Shalk, KTH University, Stockholm, Sweden
Co-production on the Ground / how to set it up?
Client Speaker: Nigel Ingram, Director, Aurora Estates; previously Development Director at Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust
Co-production and the client/ what is the client role?

Venue: Room 13.18, Floor 13, The Arts Tower, The University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN

The debate is being run in conjunction with the University of Sheffield and Building Research & Information

Downloads:

Edge-University of Sheffield Debate Invitation

References:
Boyle D. and Harris M. (2009) The challenge of co-production: How equal partnerships between professionals and the public are crucial to improving public services. London: Nesta.
Maguire, B. and Cartwright S. (2008) ‘Assessing a community’s capacity to manage change: A resilience approach to social assessment’.
Petrescu D. and Petcou C. (2015) ‘R-Urban or how to co-produce a resilient city’ in Ephemera: theory and politics in organisation, vol. 15/1
Stevenson, F. and Petrescu, D. - guest editors (2016) Co-producing Neighbourhood Resilience. Special issue of Building Research & Information.

What sort of education can best tackle the challenges of sustainability in the built environment?

Learning in all forms, from the education of students to the continuing development of professionals, is key to a sustainable built environment. The issues explored in this debate were around general cross-disciplinary learning versus focusing on the specialisation of disciplines.

To deal with challenges of sustainability, is deep and narrow knowledge more beneficial or is shallow and broad knowledge more desirable? We know that collaboration between disciplines is essential, but so is detailed understanding of technical issues. The idea of ‘T-shaped’ people is becoming more widespread; how do we create graduates and professionals who have the skills and knowledge to create and maintain a built environment that is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable? Issues covered included lifelong learning for built environment professionals and feedback loops between learning and practice.

Speakers
Chair: Nigel Tonks, Buildings London Leader, Arup

Team Specialist:
Satheesh Jacob, Head of Excellence, Building Services, Ramboll
Alex MacLaren, Assistant Professor – Architectural Design, Heriot Watt University

Team Generalist:
Paul Tymkow, Director of Learning and Knowledge, Hoare Lea
Robert Schmidt III, Senior Lecturer, Loughborough University

Venue: The Clarence Centre for Enterprise and Innovation, London South Bank University, 6 St George’s Circus, London SE1 6FE

——————————————————————————
This debate was the last in the Built Environment Exchange Series 2016. A series of multidisciplinary debates jointly organised by the Sustainable Communities Institute at London South Bank University (LSBU), the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineering (CIBSE) and the All-Party Parliamentary Sustainable Built Environment Group (APSBEG) to bring together built environment professionals, students, business leaders and clients to address challenges of sustainability in the built environment.

Organised by: London South Bank University, CIBSE, the All-Party Parliamentary Sustainable Built Environment Group and the Edge.

What is the future of R&D in Construction?

Can we even define what it is and where it is happening? Major issues around economic performance and productivity, housing, climate change, population growth and scarcity of resources are throwing up challenges and opportunities both at home and abroad. Construction is one of the largest economic sectors in the UK, but it is fragmented, doesn’t have a coherent model of R&D, finds it difficult to innovate and at best follows a step-by-step model. Industry and academia are disconnected; design and construction often have different agendas, Government (even before BREXIT) doesn’t pay significant attention to the sector and the media considers it un-sexy. But the potential for innovation in the sector is huge and the impact of innovations in design tools, materials, ‘smart’ buildings, digital collaboration, and offsite manufacturing could be immense.

Is now the time to come up with a new model for R&D (with the emphasis on the “D”) in construction?

Chair:
Nico Macdonald - Chief Executive, R&D Society

Speakers:
Elspeth Finch – CEO & Founder, Indigo&; Chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering Innovators’ Network and formerly Director of Innovation, ATKINS
Paddy Conaghan, Edge; Consultant at Hoare Lea; Vice President CIBSE
Annabel Filer, Creative Director and Founder of SCIN Gallery
Mike Moseley, Knowledge Transfer Manager (Construction), KTN

Venue: Hoare Lea offices, Granary Square, 12-13 Stable St, London N1C 4AB

A joint R&D Society / the Edge debate

Collaboration for Change – rising to the challenge

“In May 2015 the multi-disciplinary Edge ginger group launched ‘Collaboration for Change’, the report from the Edge Commission on the Future of Professionalism, chaired by Paul Morrell, the first Chief Construction Adviser to Government.
The Commission concluded that the pressures for change that the professions face are real and profound but with an equally powerful conviction that there is an opportunity to find a new position for themselves that captures the best of the values of their past, while being relevant to the 21st century challenges we face.
Core Edge members Simon Foxell and Robin Nicholson will report on progress to date and discuss how the North-West might rise to Morrell’s challenges.”

Venue: Trowers & Hamlins LLP, 55 Princess Street, Manchester M2 4EW

Closing the Performance Gap

On 28.04.16 Paul Morrell made a presentation to Constructing Excellence Oxford, concerning the Inquiry into the future of professionalism in the built environment/construction industry. Paul chaired the inquiry, and was assisted by a multi-disciplinary Commission Panel of five professionals who debated the issues with ten leading industry institutions. The report explored the key issues facing professionals and their institutions at this ‘moment for change’, a moment arising from globalisation, agglomeration, the ageing industry and a degree of disaffection from the newly qualified.

In collaboration with Constructing Excellence Berkshire and hosts Peter Brett Associates, we are delighted to invite you to the 11th event of our 2016 calendar to discuss the Performance Gap and listen to The Edge update members on the progress made and then hear first hand Constructing Excellence Oxford’s working groups progress on this key challenge for our industry. A short workshop will follow to cultivate ideas and encourage some debate:

Speakers:

Robin Nicholson - Speaker of Cullinan Studio, Convenor of the Edge

Simon Foxell - Speaker from Edge Consulting and The Architects Practice speaking about Innovate UK funded BPE project and the findings from non-domestic projects.

Constructing Excellence Oxford - Task Group Update.

Graham Clarkson - Workshop facilitator and Clarkson Alliance - http://clarksonalliance.com/

Venue: Peter Brett Associates, Caversham Bridge House, Waterman Place, Reading RG1 8DN

Would new national policies for the built environment work? Could a Chief Government Adviser deliver them?

In February 2016 the House of Lords published Building better places, the Report on the findings of the Select Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment to which the Edge gave evidence.

The Committee sought ‘a coherent set of responses’ to the many complex challenges facing decision-makers, and ‘to consider the development and implementation of national policy for the built environment’.

Committee members came from all main political parties and the cross-benches. They took evidence from practitioners, professional bodies, development interests, academics, amenity societies, central and local government politicians and officials. The Committee concluded that ‘as a nation, we need to recognise the power of place and to be much more ambitious when planning, designing, constructing and maintaining our built environment. Failure to do so will result in significant long-term costs.’ As of mid-May 2016 the Government had yet to respond.

The Committee made key recommendations to improve the quality of lives and places:
• Better co-ordination of built environment policies across government
• Appointment of a Chief Government Built Environment Adviser
• Taking better account of design impacts on work, health and the environment
• More attention on building for sustainability and resilience
• A strategy for long-term management of the historic environment
• More sustainable communities through long-term rented housing
• Increased support for local planning and place-making capacity
• More dynamic and co-ordinated plan-making
• Simplified neighbourhood planning
• … and much more

Can the Committee’s recommendations be delivered? Would a Chief Adviser have the clout and connections to deliver them? Would they make a positive difference if they were put into practice?

Chair: The Baroness Whitaker (Select Committee Member)
Speakers: The Baroness Andrews OBE (Select Committee Member)
Prof. Matthew Carmona, The Bartlett, UCL (Select Committee Adviser)
Ben Rogers (Director, Centre for London; ex-Cabinet Office Policy Unit)

Venue: Committee Room G, The House of Lords

The Debate was being held in collaboration with The Place Alliance.

Downloads:

Edge Debate 74 flyer

Event Speakers

Event transcript

Event notes

The EU Referendum is a once in a generation event, the outcome of which will ultimately be driven by the vote of UK citizens. It has brought an opportunity to reflect and act on Britain’s standing within the EU and our relationship with it. It can remind us where Britain was before we joined the EU, what we have accomplished as full members with other EU nations to arrive where we are now, and what made Britain want to renegotiate our relationship with the EU. The key question that the referendum raises is:
How has the EU membership affected the UK and what might change in the event of a vote to Remain or Leave?

One important aspect that deserves examination is the consequences of the different referendum options for Britain’s environmental & climate change legislation and practices in the built environment. This has not been given much discussion and limited information exists for what this means. This particular event focuses on the environmental and climate change consequences for the built environment - our cities, buildings and infrastructures.

The purpose of this event is to provide objective, factual information. It does not take a view on whether to remain or leave, but presents a clear set of descriptions and observations about the current EU environmental and climate change directives and what options arise from their withdrawal.

Topics discussed include:

• Sustainable development assessment

• Climate change, energy efficiency & low carbon buildings

• Decarbonisation of the energy supply

• Resources, recycling of materials and waste generation

• Planning

A panel of experts was asked to provide a background on historical and current legislation and practices, along with objective information on what the different scenarios mean:

• A UK vote to remain in the EU (the ‘reformed EU’ option

• A UK vote to leave and become a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) - the ‘Norwegian option’

• A UK vote to leave and negotiate free trade deals with the EU - the ‘Free Trade’ option

Chair: Antony Oliver, Antony Oliver Consulting

Speakers:

• Dr Charlotte Burns, (Univ of York) - what are the different scenarios and their implications?

• Dr Janice Morphet, (School of Planning, UCL) - how EU shapes planning policy

• Professor Michael Grubb, (UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources) - Climate change and energy

• Dr Robert Cohen, (Verco) - EU legislation and building energy reduction

• Dr David Greenfield, (Social, Environmental & Economic Solutions Ltd) - EU policy and the circular economy

• Rob Lambe, (Aldersgate Group / Willmott Dixon) - what does this mean for business?

The Debate was held in collaboration with the UCL Energy Institute - see here for their page on the debate.

Venue: UCL Darwin Building Lecture Theatre

A film of the event is available on the UCL-Energy Youtube Channel here.

References:
Baldock, D. Farmer, A. and Nesbit, M. (2016) Brexit - the Implications for UK Environmental Policy and Regulation. A special independent report commissioned by the all-party parliamentary environment group.

Burns, C., A. Jordan, V. Gravey, N. Berny, S. Bulmer, N. Carter, R. Cowell, J. Dutton, B. Moore S. Oberthür, S. Owens, T. Rayner, J. Scott and B. Stewart (2016) The EU Referendum and the UK Environment: An Expert Review. How has EU membership affected the UK and what might change in the event of a vote to Remain or Leave? Executive Summary

Potential impacts of the EU referendum on green building policies by UK Green Building Council, April 2016

In the months since the Edge Commission Report on the Future of Professionalism Collaboration for Change, was published it has become essential reading for all those leading the professional institutions and for every built environment professional and educator interested in the future of their industry.

Come and hear the author of the report, former Government Chief Construction Adviser, Paul Morrell OBE, talk about the challenges facing the construction and property industries and the recommendations made in the report, Collaboration for Change, to ensure that the professions collectively take hold of the opportunities available to them.

Date & time: 6.00 pm, 28th April 2016.

Venue: The John Henry Brookes Building,
Oxford Brookes University, Headington, Oxford OX3 0BP

Programme:
6.00 - 6.30 Arrival with light refreshments.
6.30 Introductions from Clare Deakin, Chair Constructing Excellence, Oxford and Business Development Manager with Kier.
6.35 - 7.05 Paul Morrell, Principal Author of Collaboration for Change.
7.05 - 7.20 Questions
7.20 - 8.00 Response and action plan. Open discussion facilitated by Graham Clarkson, former CE Oxford Chair and Managing Director of The Clarkson Alliance.

Bookings should be made via Constructing Excellence Oxford’s Eventbrite page

Downloads:

Oxford CE Event Flyer