'The Icing on the Cake'

A cake, made by members of the office, celebrates the completion of the BFI Master Film Store in the New Year.

What has George Osborne done to the Construction Industry now?

The inter-disciplinary membership of the Edge (think-tank) http://www.edgedebate.com regularly debate current issues of substance, including the failure of our construction industry to fully embrace the opportunities offered by and our responsbilities arising from Climate Change. So agreeing a letter to send to the Chancellor of the Exchequer about his recent disastrous back-sliding was going to be hard work; coordinated by Simon Foxell, the letter was sent to Osborne on 9th Dec and the FT. President of CIBSE Andy Ford then suggested he and other Presidents should sign it and an abbreviated letter was circulated more widely.

The Daily Telegraph published it yesterday (15th Dec) signed by me as Convenor of the Edge and Presidents Andy Ford (CIBSE), Angela Brady (RIBA) and Prof. Roger Plank (IStructE) on http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/8956670/Raising-the-price-of-alcohol-will-not-tackle-the-culture-of-binge-drinking.html - please scroll down to the end of the letters to find it.


Hattie Hartmann later covered it in the AJ in her review of 2011 http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/8623845.article for subscribers and today Building wrote it up on http://www.building.co.uk/5029337.article?origin=bldgweeklynewsletter

The next question is how to build on this in support of the sterling efforts of Government Chief Construction Adviser Paul Morrell at BIS and the Green Construction Board, on which Edge members Lynne Sullivan and Sunand Prasad sit. Why not ask the President of your institution what they are doing to change the views of the Treasury as green construction is an essential part of the economic recovery we all need.