announces new BIM2050 Group members

The BIM2050 Group of “future gazing” young professionals has handed over to a new generation, who will continue the group’s task of providing insight and research on how the industry should modernise.

The new members of the Group, drawn from around the country, met each other for the first time yesterday, at an event that marked the start of their two-year tenure.

The members of the new group, representing most corners of the industry from a broad cross section of specialisms, include:

• Tom Bartley (ICE) – a research engineer at WSP / Parsons Brinkerhoff
• Sarah Birchall – a sustainability engineer at BSRIA
• Bobby Chakravarthy (APS) – an associate at design practice Arcus Consulting
• Henry Fenby-Taylor (LI) (pictured above) – a landscape architect at Colour Urban Design
• Alex Lubbock (CIOB) –  a BIM manager at Carillion

The other members are Adam Golden (ICES); David Knight (IstructE), Alex MacLaren (RIBA), Mac Muzvimwe (RICS), Charlie Murray (CIBSE); Daniel Rossiter (BRE); Ryan Tennyson (CIAT). Will Hackney (CIOB) and Dwight Wilson (CIBSE) are stand-ins.

At the launch was the BIM Task Group’s David Philp, chair of the out-going group, who encouraged the new members to “challenge everything that’s out there and especially the current behaviours”.

Former vice-chair Neil Thompson ICIOB of Balfour Beatty will also act as the chair of the new group while it gets started, and Louise Clarke, chair of the 2050 Group, will work collaboratively with BIM2050 colleagues.

Speaking at the event, Dr Sarah Birchall, of BSRIA, said: “The CIC BIM 2050 Group offers an opportunity to make a change in the construction industry. We need to deliver better assets that are energy efficient, effective and reduce the amount of CO2 we are emitting into the environment. Being part of this group is an exciting challenge for me and I look forward to getting started.” 

“The thing that particularly struck a chord with me from the BIM2050 Group 2014 report was Neil Thompson’s statement on attracting the best people into the industry. As a university tutor I see young people full of inspiration and aspiration, being taught the ‘same old same old’ techniques in artificial silos of specialist courses. Their enthusiasm is dulled and they inherit protectionist ideas about defending their professional group. 

Meanwhile, Alex MacLaren RIBA/RIAS, who is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts said: “I want to see us educating teams, together, across disciplines, allowing students to learn from each other and building trust and cross-competencies for our future industry. And for me this change of perspective is essential to the success of UK plc in 2050. I think change will come very fast when we educate well. Those entering the industry with enthusiasm and the right tools for collaboration will be able to work with experienced senior colleagues to format existing knowledge in new shared-platform ways – and suddenly there we are – Level 3.” 

The group will meet in the coming weeks to plan its strategy and priorities going forward.