Riba guerrilla portrait

09:00–10:30 Russell Smith/ Peter Rickaby Retrofit Coordinator: the new professional role for architects in retrofit

Koko Udom/Stephen Hamil The new RIBA Building Contracts – 5 reasons why small practitioners need to be using them

Dr Peter Rickaby (Rickaby Thompson Associates Ltd.) will introduce the role of Retrofit Coordinator, one of three new roles developed at the Centre of Refurbishment Excellence (CoRE), and the business opportunities for architects. Russell Smith (Parity Projects, RetrofitWorks Ltd.) will then outline a new business model to allow all retrofit projects rigorous design and installation oversight. He will demonstrate how it can achieve successful collaboration to achieve retrofit at scale.

There has long been a need for building contracts that are simple and clear to both the client and the contractor which the RIBA has addressed through new contracts for domestic and concise building projects. Be one of the first to see the new contracts and benefit from a demonstration of the online tool in this session from lead author Koko Udom and Dr Stephen Hamil, director at NBS.

Climate: sustainable architecture

Jarvis Hall, Lower ground floor

Cany Ash Architectural practice or architectural business or both External management

A race through corporate structure options, compatibilities of personalities, a plan of work to shift a practice, practices in graphical form and business planning horizons. The speaker will arrive with experience, research and pragmatic enthusiasm.

The delegates will leave entertained, wiser and worried.

Procurement and contracts

Stirling Room, 4th floor

Nicola Mathers The beginner’s guide to inclusive design Access for all

Learn about the essentials of inclusive design from Nicola Mathers and have a go at using the latest interactive resource from the Design Council showcasing latest policy, guidance and best practice.

Lasdun Room, 5th floor

Tim Bailey Tomorrow’s World: Future thinking today Designing and building it

Architects work in the future, they want to know about and fashion the future, they draw, advise on and contemplate the future. Do they have the time or the inclination to consider their own future? Through provocation and discussion the session will set out a maximum of three steps for small practitioners to address tomorrow’s world.

Hawksmoor Room, 6th floor

Ian Greenaway Flexible working – a threat or a way of creating a more agile business?

Compliance

The opportunity for all employees to request flexible working came in recently. Is this a step too far by Government and a threat to business efficiency or are there ways in which you can use flexible working arrangements to make your business more agile and responsive? This session from Ian Greenaway looks at the importance for small practices.

Wren Room, 6th floor

Lutyens Room, 2nd floor

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11:00–12:30 Irena Bauman Climate Change Manifesto: Design as if you give a damn Climate: sustainable architecture

Climate Change is impacting on how and what we design and how we practice. In this interactive workshop, Irena Bauman will use her research case studies to illustrate some design responses and facilitate reflective discussion on the role of architects in mitigating and adapting to climate change impacts.

Jarvis Hall, Lower ground floor

Judit Kimpian What can architects do about the building performance scandal?

Climate: sustainable architecture There is important evidence emerging that buildings often do not achieve the performance improvements expected at design stages. This session will share the findings from recent studies and discuss what architects can do to address these in the context of recent changes to the RIBA Plan of Works.

Lutyens Room, 2nd floor

Fin Garvey Demystifying public procurement – how to compete with the big guys

Flora Samuel Because you’re worth it – communicating the value of architects

Publicly funded work can be a very important part of any practice’s portfolio. In the light of the new European directive and the forthcoming regulations, Fin Garvey, architect and public procurement specialist, seeks to draw back the curtain on the ‘dark arts’ of public procurement through a participative and interactive session.

The value of the architects’ skill set is not widely recognised. Indeed it seems that quite a lot of the public don’t even know what architects’ do. This session from Flora Samuel of Sheffield University will present findings from a recent research project, www.culturalvalueofarchitecture.org that will help you to communicate to potential clients the value of your services.

Procurement and contracts

Stirling Room, 4th floor

Nigel Ostime Improving your bottom line: strategies for increasing efficiency and winning more work Internal management

Small practices often struggle to make a reliable level of profit. Nigel Ostime, principal of whiteroom architecture and author of the recently published RIBA Small Projects Handbook and the forthcoming free-to-use RIBA quality management web tool, ‘QM+’, outlines strategies for efficient practice and project management in conversation with successful practitioners and the audience.

Lasdun Room, 5th floor

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External management

Hawksmoor Room, 6th floor

Ruth Reed Success in the planning jungle Where people live

Follow the trials and tribulations as our intrepid architect engages with the planning system for a small housing development. Within this scenario, there are tips for success and disaster management. The talk by Ruth Reed will be followed by a planning surgery based on problems submitted in advance.

Wren Room, 6th floor

13:30–14:30 Janie Price How to benefit from the changes to heritage protection legislation

The historic environment and its setting This session will offer food for thought about how changes to the planning system and English Heritage could open doors for small architectural practices to pick up work in the heritage sector, followed by a discussion, led by Janie Price of Kennedy O’Callaghan Architects.

Jarvis Hall, Lower ground floor

Anna Whitehead Why green isn’t always green

Dieter Gockmann Confessions of a mentor: insight and observations on the advantages of professional mentoring Access for all

Responding to unprecedented access to professional mentoring programmes for architects, in this interactive session, Dieter Gockmann of EPR Architects, programme co-ordinator and mentor for the RIBA’s Fluid Diversity Mentoring Programme, explores the history and approaches to mentoring and how being a mentee or mentor can benefit you, your practice and your professional development.

(Climate: sustainable architecture)

Stirling Room, 4th floor

We currently do not consider the environmental footprint of interior environments with the same level of scrutiny as the building envelope. But what if we did? This presentation from Anna Whitehead highlights the often complex maze of information and contradictory standards designers face when advising clients in specifying holistically sustainable strategies and products.

Anne Dye/Flora Samuel Demystifying architectural research

Lutyens Room, 2nd floor

Internal management

Why integrate research into your working life? The most compelling reasons are the business benefits that research brings. But research is also an integral part of being a skilled professional, and a welcome respite from the mundane day-to-day tasks of our working lives.

Come and hear from Anne Dye, Head of Technical Research, at the RIBA and Flora Samuel of the University of Sheffield, how practices benefit from research – and how yours can too.

Owen Luder Keeping out of trouble with the RIBA and ARB Compliance

This session from Owen Luder will consider what to do if you are the subject of a complaint of unprofessional conduct or “serious professional incompetence” and how to avoid complaints in the first place.

Loss of RIBA membership and right to use the title “architect” damage your reputation and your practice so come to this session to learn how to stay compliant.

Hawksmoor Room, 6th floor

Alan Dempsey Practice: In the making Designing and building it

Can the design of a practice have a greater impact on the kind of architecture it produces? What are the opportunities in embracing innovative design and digital fabrication techniques and technologies in small practice? Through an exploration of his studio’s structure and approach, Alan Dempsey, Director of NEX, will examine how innovation is changing the future of architectural design and production.

Wren Room, 6th floor

Lasdun Room, 5th floor

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14:30–15:30 Adrian Dobson 21 things you won’t learn in architecture school External management

Adrian Dobson, RIBA Director of Practice, will outline some of the ideas from his new book which takes a realistic look at the communication and business skills needed to succeed in architecture.

He will draw from elements of psychology, sociology, marketing and economics that are essential to surviving and thriving in the world of architectural practice. Adrian is joined

by Tim Bailey, Marianne Davys and Shankari Raj Edgar, interviewees from the book, to learn lessons from their own journeys in developing three very different and highly successful small practices.

Jarvis Hall, Lower ground floor

Tomas Stokke/Scott Grady Spread your wings – how fledgling practices can thrive abroad External management

Tomas Stokke and Scott Grady of Haptic architects will talk about the benefits of working internationally for small practices. By spreading your wings, you become less vulnerable to market swings (economic cycles vary from country to country) and you can get valuable experience in sectors/ projects not normally available to young practices, but there are pitfalls.

Tomas and Scott will discuss their experiences in a lecture followed by a Q&A/workshop.

Lutyens Room, 2nd floor

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Keith Snook/Lee Smith BREEAM projects beta: the first step for better integration with design processes Compliance

BREEAM Projects Beta is the first in a programme of software developments improving the way architects and designers can interact with environmental assessment and certification. This session introduces BREEAM Projects Beta in detail and previews plans for further integration of BREEAM processes and regulation compliance checking with normal design activities including BIM. Stirling Room, 4th floor

Robert Klaschka/ James Anwyl BIM in Small Practices Designing and building it

In this session, Robert Klaschka will use his new book ‘BIM in Small Practices’ to inform delegates on how using BIM can be beneficial for them. He will be in conversation with James Anwyl of Eurobuild, a company who specialise in the design and construction of Passivhaus buildings and who have studied the cost benefits to their business through using BIM. Lasdun Room, 5th floor

Sam Brown Self-Build Signpost Where people live

Sam Brown’s ‘Self-Build Signpost’ will give a broad overview of the state of contemporary self-build in the UK, including the opportunities for architects in ‘custom build’ and an overview of relevant public policy, pioneering and precedent projects.

Hawksmoor Room, 6th floor

Charlie Peel From Toolbox to Workshop: re-expanding the role of the architect Designing and building it

Farrell Review co-author Charlie Peel will discuss recommendations from the Review alongside a personal belief that architects would do well to adapt.

Designing solutions to urban problems is a shared goal for many architects and Charlie simply advocates that we could be as adept at designing enterprises as we are at buildings. BikeBox, a social enterprise founded in 2011, is explored as a case study.

Wren Room, 6th floor

16:00–17:00 Tom Taylor Architectural practice or architectural business or both?

External management

A race through corporate structure options, compatibilities of personalities, a plan of work to shift a practice, practices in graphical form and business planning horizons. The speaker will arrive with experience, research and pragmatic enthusiasm. The delegates will leave entertained, wiser and worried.

Jarvis Hall, Lower ground floor

Basil Sawczuk Creating winning bids and proposals: what the big firms don’t want you to know!

External management

Winning by numbers 30 things to know before the documentation is received 11 reasons why bids fail 7 must have elements for your proposal 3 part method to structure your text 1 expert, Basil Sawczuk, with over 25 years’ experience …oh and a magic formula 3C + R

James Ritchie Have you got what it takes to be the Principal Designer?

Gus Zogolovitch How to set up and run an urban custom build project

In this session, James Ritchie of the Association for Project Safety will discuss the new CDM legislation and how it will affect small practitioners.

Particular focus will be on the role of the principal designer and what this means for architects.

Learn the trials and tribulations of urban custom build from one of the leading experts, Gus Zogolovitch, who runs London’s first custom build enabler. Hear him speak about his experiences of what custom build really means on the ground and the role of the architect.

Being safe: health and safety

Stirling Room, 4th floor

Lou Williams/Parag Prasad Discounting fees – the fastest way to kill your practice?

Internal management

Achieving practice growth can often feel overwhelming. Lou Williams, Growth Manager and Parag Prasad, Growth Coach from GrowthAccelerator will help you take a step back to see the business opportunities and develop a focused growth strategy which will drive the performance of your practice.

Lasdun Room, 5th floor

Designing and building it

Hawksmoor Room, 6th floor

Neil May Responsible Retrofit: A new approach to traditional buildings and sustainability in theory and practice

The historic environment and its setting What are the risks and challenges of retrofitting traditional buildings?

How can architects help to deliver real sustainability in this sector?

What does real sustainability mean, and what tools and skills do architects need? Neil May, of STBA, UCL and NBT will lead this session.

Wren Room, 6th floor

Lutyens Room, 2nd floor

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