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Seminar 1: Sustainable construction materials - Environmental and thermal benefits

Part 1: Lime - Speaker: Chris Brookman, Back to Earth

· Lime - origins and applications

· Lime v. cement

· Environmental benefits of lime mortars/renders

· Earth as a building material

· Compressed earth/clay blocks

· Case studies and samples

 

· Unger Diffutherm wood - Fibre thermal insulation - Applications and benefits

Part 2: Hemp as a building material - Speaker: David Lacey, Back to Earth

· Tradical Hemcrete - Properties, applications and benefits

· Environmental benefits of Hemcrete

· Case studies of Hemcrete construction

· Thermoplan integrated block construction system

· Properties and benefits of Thermoplan

· Case studies of Thermoplan construction

· Open Forum

· A brief film demonstrating the application of Hemcrete on site

Back to Earth was founded by Chris Brookman in 1995 and initially concentrated on the renovation and restoration of old buildings mainly using cob and lime. Over the years the company began to experiment with new, sustainable construction materials that had all the advantages: excellent performance, cost effectiveness and adaptability to today's market where speed of construction is such an important consideration. With concern mounting over climate change and the measures deemed necessary to counteract it, based on an extensive knowledge and experience, the company now offers a range of bench tested sustainable building materials with the potential to deliver buildings that would be at the very least carbon neutral.

 

Seminar 2: Negotiating appointments and fees - Benchmarking your business performance

In the current economic climate, having a resource-based approach to fee setting and being able to demonstrate added value are key to sustaining your practice. Appointment agreements need to carefully define your scope of services and include provisions for protecting your cash flow in the event of non-payment. This seminar will consider the issues you need to address in negotiating your appointments and fee agreements and include:

 

· Getting the right fee: fee setting and negotiation

· Adding value: demonstrating how your service adds value for your client

· Why you need a comprehensive appointment agreement

· Defining the Appointment: RIBA Appointment Agreements 2007, including scope of services and fee schedules

· Letter contracts for very small projects

· Getting paid: strategies for getting paid and maintaining cash flow.

In the rush and push of day-to-day practice business development needs can easily be neglected. The RIBA has developed a business benchmarking tool which you can use to help analyze your business performance and compare your practice with the rest of the architecture sector in key areas such as financial performance, quality management, marketing and winning work and managing staff. The seminar will provide an overview of the benchmarking scheme.

Speaker: Adrian Dobson is a Chartered Architect and the current RIBA Director of Practice. Previous to joining the RIBA Adrian worked for NPS Property Consultants Ltd, where he was the Deputy Practice Manager of the Bedfordshire office with responsibility for a multi-disciplinary design team. His role at NPS also involved acting as a consultant architect and design advisor to the DCSF on the city academies programme. His architectural practice experience has been focussed primarily in the education and community sectors. He has taught in higher education and carried out research in advanced CAD and BIM. Adrian has served as a regionally-elected RIBA Council Member.

CPD record: 6 hours of formal CPD

RIBA Core Curriculum: Seminar 1: Professional Context: Sustainable Architecture

Seminar 2: Managing Projects; Engagement of an Architect and Practice Management; Marketing & Selling