Vagdia and Holmes were very pleased to attend a recent Leadership Summit, hosted by the RIBA, and with Peter Hansford, Chief Construction Advisor to HM Government offering a key note address.

Introduced by RIBA President Stephen Hodder MBE, the Summit, hosted at St Catherine’s College in Oxford, brought together a number of high profile Practices across the country, with a view to considering and challenging the role of Architects moving forward.

Several of the topics included focused conversations around project risk, delivery, and the move of architectural and construction processes from analogue to the digital world.

The agenda included the wider topic of BIM (Building  Information Modeling), which can help Architects and constructors generally to visualise projects in virtual environments, before construction on site begins.

Director Dhiran Vagdia attended, and said;

“It is great to hear from Peter and Stephen, and to learn that the bar is set high in terms of expectations from Architects.  It is also good to hear how the Industry Strategy for Construction could now move towards an action plan, which includes Architects leading the industry to deliver construction projects using less carbon and digital technologies.

The programme outlined the significant challenges, as well as the vast opportunities, for Architects, including our critical role, in what is currently a transforming industry.”

Together with the subtle shift in emphasis from split design and construction to fully integrated project teams, the recently updated RIBA Plan of Works 2013 shows how Architects can lead broader project teams, working in collaboration with others to ensure focus on the delivery of construction projects.

Vagdia and Holmes looks forward to remaining connected and involved in further leadership discussions, and to translating the lessons learnt in those forums into reality, by deploying their skill sets in the best interests of their Clients.