On her new appointment as RIBA South West Chair Elect, Sarah said:
I am delighted to be taking on the role of RIBA South West Chair Elect until August, and Regional Chair in September 2021, because of my work in raising awareness of the need to improve education, understanding, and action in the reduction of carbon in the construction industry and built environment as a response to the climate emergency. We need to act now, and swiftly, to make change happen if we have any chance of achieving net zero carbon by 2030.
The RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge sets a good "marker in the sand," and opportunity for architects to lead in the improvement of building performance standards, but there still seems to be too much uncertainty and lack of understanding about why and how we should do this.
In 2019, with the climate emergency declarations of the British Government and many local authorities across England, I was invited to several regional events as the then joint Chair of the RIBA Plymouth branch to discuss and debate what needs to be done, whether a “carrot could still be dangled” or if it was time to “get out the big stick” and tell clients and developers what needs to be done. I am not, and was not, convinced that we are really taking this seriously and acting urgently enough; and then Covid-19 hit the UK.
The global pandemic has been tragic of course, but it has also shown us we are very capable of acting urgently and changing our behaviour drastically and overnight if we really have to. Because climate change has been happening very slowly and is a long term disaster that isn’t affecting us too catastrophically or significantly right now, here in the UK, we are happy to "bury our heads in the sand" and hope that someone else will sort it out. However, the pandemic with its instant threat to human life has prompted radical and instant action.
With the Future Plymouth 2030 webinar series, we have attempted to break down actions, words, themes and topics relating to carbon reduction in the built environment into bite size chunks trying to make it tangible and comprehensible to all people. We have attracted students, lecturers, construction professionals, and lay people with an interest in understanding what we can do. We all use buildings; we live, work, shop and play in them (normally). We are not just focusing on the design of new buildings, but also the reuse and retrofitting of existing buildings too.
A strong theme of me being RIBA South West Regional Chair will be concentrating on getting this message out to our members that we all need to be doing more, better, and faster to reduce carbon in our designs and projects with the national target of 2030 to achieve net zero carbon looming ever closer. Nine years is not very far away.
As a profession, as a leader of construction industry design teams, as thought leaders, action provokers and trusted advisors to our clients, we have a duty to ensure that all architects are empowered and educated sufficiently to feel that they are capable of leading this charge. And with COP26 being hosted in the UK this year too, this presents our nation and profession with an even greater sense of responsibility and leadership.
I am looking forward to working alongside Jane Hamlyn with the RIBA South West branch chairs and team to build more momentum in this regard among our members and appreciate this opportunity to be the voice of conscientious and ethical architects, not just in the South West, but the whole world.
Current RIBA South West Chair Jane Hamlyn said: "Sarah’s work and focus in relation to the issue of climate change, the major challenge of our time, makes her the ideal person to lead the South West over the next couple of years. What she has already achieved in Plymouth in terms of raising awareness and engaging with a wide range of people is really exciting and I feel confident the region will be in safe hands. Congratulations Sarah!"
