The East Midlands welcomed RIBA President Elect Alan Jones to the region recently for the first stop on his ‘road trip’ around the country before taking office in September. Alan attended the East Midlands Regional Council meeting held at the Nottingham Urban Room and also took the opportunity to have a round table discussion with members from local practices – Leonard Design, Maber, CBP Architects, Julie Richards Architectural Design, Allan Joyce Architects and a representative from the School of Architecture at Nottingham Trent University.
A robust but conducive discussion was had during the round table meeting, with a myriad of subjects covered including evidence-based design, the value and role of the architect, fees, procurement, careers information, student engagement and social mobility, plus the retention of talent within the region.
The afternoon Regional Council meeting provided an opportunity for Branch Presidents and the chairs of the regional Education and Housing & Planning special interest groups to brief Alan on the work that they do. This ranged from the Love Architecture Festival in Leicester, to the setting up of Urban Rooms in Nottingham and Lincoln, whilst the two special interest groups' activities include engagement with relevant parts of the RIBA’s national objectives around student wellbeing, a more diverse profession, research & innovation, design in the planning process and housing, as well as locally based initiatives and stakeholder policy engagement. The ensuing debate focused on whether the RIBA should be about architecture or architects and some of the issues covered during the earlier round table.
Feedback from members in attendance at both sessions was very positive and summarised by RIBA East Midlands Regional Chair, Sam Culling: “It was great that Alan Jones chose the East Midlands as the first region to visit as President Elect and local members welcomed the opportunity to voice their concerns about the profession as well as listening to Alan’s plans for his presidential term. The regional council meeting in particular helped inform Alan about the great work being delivered by members in the East Midlands, often with the support of our hard-working regional office team.”
If you’d like to know more about or get involved in RIBA member led activity in the East Midlands, or the work of the RIBA East Midlands team, please contact either your local branch or Mike Baulcombe, Regional Director, RIBA East Midlands (tel: 07501 466643).
