Think Tank ‘Edge’ has released the results of a commission inquiry relating to the fields of the built environment and construction, highlighting the need for cross-industry collaboration and a forward thinking attitude to professionalism to avoid silo mentality.
In 2014 the Edge invited Paul Morrell, Government Chief Construction Advisor from 2009-2012, to chair a Commission of Inquiry into the future of professionalism in the built environment/construction industry. The resulting report explores the key issues facing professionals and their institutions at this potential ‘moment for change’.
The Commission heard evidence from chief executives, presidents and other senior representatives from some of the key professional institutions in the construction industry including; CIBSE, CIOB, ICE, IStructE, LI, RAEng, RIBA, RICS, RTPI and SocEnv, as well as, in a collective capacity, the CIC and a range of other informed parties.
The report analyses some of the threats and pressures for change that the professional institutions and their members face, which ‘if not yet existential, are real and profound, and demand change ‘ and makes a series of recommendations to the institutions on actions on ‘which it is both necessary and realistic to collaborate ‘. These include:
- Ethics and the public interest : Develop and standardise a national code of conduct/ethics across the built environment professions, building on shared experience in the UK and internationally.
- Education and competence : The built environment institutions to commit to a cross disciplinary review of the silo nature of the education system
- Research and a body of knowledge : Establish a joint think tank that could pool the resources of the Institutions to conduct research and develop policy for the industry – a King’s Fund for the built environment.
- Collaboration on major challenges; including industry reform in the interests of a better offer to clients, climate change and building performance.
The Edge is a multi-disciplinary think tank that works on issues that impact on the built environment as a whole, including its professions and institutions, promoting collaboration.
Find out more about the report and view summaries of issues raised
