In his final year as RIBA East Midlands Chair, Sam Culling gives an overview of events in the region for 2019.
Happy New Year and welcome to another exciting and varied programme of events in the region for 2019. This is my final year as Regional Chair, as I will hand over to Barbara Griffin, current Lincolnshire Society of Architects President, in September. As you’ll see there are lots of activities for members to engage with across the East Midlands from now until the end of the year – here are just some of the planned highlights:
Our Core CPD programme which has previously included seminars in both Nottingham and Lincoln will now also extend to Leicester – see full East Midlands programme for details.
The 2019 RIBA Awards are already underway with entries open until 21 February. The RIBA East Midlands Awards celebration event will take place in early May showcasing the best architecture the region has to offer. Look out for details to book your place.
For the 2nd year running we will be holding an RIBA East Midlands Student Charrette as part of the work of the RIBA East Midlands Education Group. The pan-school design competition will take place on Wednesday 3 April at Nottingham Trent University with up to 60 students from across the region taking part. This project builds upon the very successful student mentoring programme, which is currently mentoring over 100 Year 3 students with 50 local practitioners.
Save the date! In celebration of International Women’s Day, we will be holding an event at New Art Exchange on the evening of Thursday 7 March – confirmed speakers include Kate Murphy, Partner at Foster + Partners; more information to follow soon…
Last year was a bumper year for branch activity and we hope that 2019 will prove equally successful; the Nottingham urban room is up and running and plans for developing a similar space in Lincoln are underway with support from the Local Initiative Fund. The Leicestershire and Rutland branch are also looking to build on their hugely successful Love Architecture festival last October, with plans for a series of similar events this year.
In addition to the outputs delivered by local branches, the region’s two member-led special interest groups are increasingly engaging with the RIBA’s strategic objectives at both a regional and national level. The RIBA East Midlands Education Group is at the forefront of practice, academic and student engagement, with representation from all the region’s Schools of Architecture, whilst the Housing & Planning Group is looking to deliver a number of exciting project this year, working with key partners across the region. If you would like to be involved in either group, please contact Regional Director Mike Baulcombe in the first instance.
