ARUP – Thoughts
The best solutions can only come about by continually listening, learning and challenging.
That’s why Arup have created Thoughts – a place for experts, practitioners and enthusiasts to talk about the issues affecting the built environment now and in the future.
They invite you to join them.
CIRIA
CIRIA is the construction industry research and information association. As a neutral, independent, not-for-profit body, they link organisations with common interests and facilitate a range of collaborative activities that help improve the industry.
CIRIA website resources include:
• Free CIRIA publications
• Construction project case studies
• Video – seminars, presentations, interviews, animations
• Briefings – hot topics and issues in construction
BIM Blog
We really like this blog by Rob Jackson of Bond Bryan Architects.
#DEC students and teachers will find it very useful too.
B1M – The Definitive Video Resource for BIM
The B1M or ‘BIM one million’ is the definitive video resource for building information modelling (BIM).
Reading up on BIM is taxing and time-consuming. B1M want to inspire a million people with engaging video content that brings BIM to life.
BIMCHAT
An open forum for BIM users and implementers:
For all that wish to progress on the BIM journey, develop BIM knowledge, meet other enthusiasts, and share lessons with the BIM community.
BIMCHAT are keen to create an environment on BIMCHAT where students can learn from BIM personnel within the industry and ask lots of interesting questions.
Bond Bryan Architects Guides to BIM
Bond Bryan are a leading group of Architects, Building Surveyors and Property Consultants. They have produced these fantastic BIM guides which will help you and your students get to grips with BIM terminology.
Download them here…
BIM Dictionary BIM Acronyms BIM File formats
The Guardian – The ultimate climate change FAQ
Facts and resources about about climate change, covering science, politics and economics
The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)
CIOB is at the heart of a management career in construction. They are the world’s largest and most influential professional body for construction management and leadership.
They provide pathways to a professional career in the built environment though their qualifications, programmes and accrediting courses.
Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE)
The CABE is a leading body for professionals specialising in the design, construction, evaluation and maintenance of building construction.
Find out more about Building Engineer Careers on their website
Association of Project Management (APM)
The APM develops and promotes project and programme management. It has over 20,000 individual and 500 corporate members making it the largest professional body of its kind in Europe.
Their website gives an insight into project management with definitions, case studies and career guidance.
Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
RIBA champions better buildings, communities and the environment through architecture and its members.
Visit their website for information on qualifying as an architect in the UK as well as other resources from the RIBA Education Department.
British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM)
BIFM is the professional body for facilities management (FM). Supporting and representing over 13,800 members around the world.
Discover why FM as a career choice offers an interesting and diverse working life. And how it has a vital importance in keeping companies operating effectively and providing a safe, enjoyable and efficient working environment.
Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI)
RTPI is the UK’s leading planning body for spatial, sustainable and inclusive planning and is the largest planning institute in Europe with over 23,000 members.
Their website provides career information, advice and support and a “What is Planning” information sheet
Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE)
The CABE is a leading body for professionals specialising in the design, construction, evaluation and maintenance of building construction.
Find out more about Building Engineer Careers on their website
Engineers without Borders
Power for Everyone Everywhere
‘Power for Everyone Everywhere’ is a workshop designed to encourage pupils to explore the challenges associated with access to clean and reliable electricity for people around the world.
Pupils learn about the importance of electricity in our everyday lives and the role that engineering infrastructure plays in the distribution of electricity. Pupils design, build and test their own wind turbine as part of this workshop.
Engineers without Borders
Water for Everyone Everywhere
‘Water for everyone everywhere’ is a workshop designed to encourage pupils to explore the challenges associated with access to safe and clean drinking water for people all around the world.
Pupils learn about the importance of water in our everyday lives and the role that engineering infrastructure plays in the distribution of water. Pupils design, build and test their own water filter as part of this workshop.
The Institution of Engineering & Technology
For over 140 years the IET has been inspiring, informing and influencing the global engineering community.
Their website has areas for students and teachers, with a wealth of career information and curriculum-linked teaching materials, interactive games and quizzes.
Main website Student resources Teacher resources
The Institution of Structural Engineers
The Institution of Structural Engineers is the world’s largest membership organisation dedicated to the art and science of structural engineering.
Their website gives an insight into a career in structural engineering and the various ways of embarking on one.
Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)
ICE is the organisation that looks after over 80,000 civil engineers in over 162 countries. Their engineers work on some of the world’s most exciting projects like the Olympics and the Taipei 101 building.
The ICE Education Zone, is packed with career information for both students and teachers.
SummitSkills – Building Services Engineering
SummitSkills is the sector skills council for the building services engineering (BSE) sector, which represents the electrotechnical, heating and ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration and plumbing industries.
The website has links to their dedicated Good Day careers website and lots more.
Engineering Council
The Engineering Council is the UK regulatory body for the engineering profession.
Visit them online for information on accredited further education, work-based career routes and links to other useful websites.
The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE)
CIBSE promotes the career of building services engineers by accrediting courses of study in further and higher education, by approving workbased training programmes and providing routes to full professional Registration and Membership, including Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer and Engineering Technician.
Visit their website for the what, why, how and who of Building Services Engineering careers.
The Energy Institute (EI)
The EI is the professional body for the energy industry, delivering good practice and professionalism across the depth and breadth of the sector. They have over 16,000 individual and 250 company members in more than 100 countries.
Their dedicated Energy Careers website provides advice and guidance on how to get started in the energy sector.
Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE)
The CABE is a leading body for professionals specialising in the design, construction, evaluation and maintenance of building construction.
Find out more about Building Engineer Careers on their website
Construction Chat – Energy Use in our Homes
This article should hopefully open your eyes to show how much energy we consume in our own home. It contains handy formulas for estimating an appliance’s energy consumption.
For more in-depth information you can follow the link at the bottom of the article to energy.gov
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
RICS is the world’s leading professional body for setting standards in the surveying industry.
Surveyors measure, value, protect and enhance the world’s physical assets – from skyscrapers to football stadiums, festival sites to forests, shopping centres to the homes you live in.
Find out much more about this exciting career on their website.
The Survey Association (TSA)
TSA is a trade body representing the most important and influential surveying companies in the UK.
Their website provides loads of information on pursuing a career in surveying including equipment, CV’s of people within the surveying profession, and basic surveying terms and expressions.
The Chartered Surveyors Training Trust (CSTT)
The CSTT has been creating opportunities for young people to start a career in surveying for over 25 years. They aim to provide life changing opportunities for young people aged between 16 and 24 to become qualified surveyors regardless of their academic, social or financial circumstances.
Visit their website to find out more
Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE)
The CABE is a leading body for professionals specialising in the design, construction, evaluation and maintenance of building construction.
Find out more about Building Engineer Careers on their website
Property Needs You
Property Needs You is a site that aims to show you the range of career choices there are in the world of property and puts you in touch with the people that can help you get started.
Engineers without Borders
Power for Everyone Everywhere
‘Power for Everyone Everywhere’ is a workshop designed to encourage pupils to explore the challenges associated with access to clean and reliable electricity for people around the world.
Pupils learn about the importance of electricity in our everyday lives and the role that engineering infrastructure plays in the distribution of electricity. Pupils design, build and test their own wind turbine as part of this workshop.
Engineers without Borders
Water for Everyone Everywhere
‘Water for everyone everywhere’ is a workshop designed to encourage pupils to explore the challenges associated with access to safe and clean drinking water for people all around the world.
Pupils learn about the importance of water in our everyday lives and the role that engineering infrastructure plays in the distribution of water. Pupils design, build and test their own water filter as part of this workshop.
Supply Chain Sustainability School
The School website represents a common approach to developing sustainability competence in the supply chain.
Register for free – This should take no more than 5 minutes. Once registered you can access more than 600 resources through the School website, in 10 key sustainability areas (including events and workshops).
Visit Website Register for FREE
Autodesk Sustainability Workshop – Building Design
These free videos, tutorials and case studies will help you apply concepts like daylighting, passive heating and cooling, and energy analysis to your projects in tools like Autodesk® Revit®.
How to build a sustainable house
Building a new home from scratch is a great opportunity to customise your space and bring your design ideas to fruition. But the often overlooked benefit is that you can use green building materials to build a more eco-friendly home.
These days we have the advantage of knowing which materials are most environmentally friendly.
BSRIA – Illustrated Guide to Renewable Technologies
This publication is the ideal primer for understanding the wide variety of innovative systems that provide cleaner and less environmentally damaging ways of heating, cooling and powering buildings.
It covers the majority of technologies that derive all or some of their power from renewable sources of energy, such as wind and biofuel.
Improving My Home – Renewables
There are a range of opportunities to make energy saving improvements at home.
Find out about renewable technology (also called micro-generation and low-carbon technology) and how it can be used to generate your own energy, helping you to save money and reduce your carbon emissions.
Sustainable Development at Willmott Dixon
In 2014 Willmott Dixon produced some sustainability training which had a big impact on their staff.
This video is based on that training.
Pinpoint – UK Green Building Council
Your platform for sustainability resources in the built environment.
One of the main reasons the UK Green Building Council was established was to encourage the sharing of best practice on sustainability. One of their key aims is to provide a ‘first-port-of-call’ for any professional from across the building lifecycle or value chain to give them the best possible sustainability advice and guidance for their project, product or organisation.
Their new online platform – Pinpoint – provides a sustainability search function and allows users to apply further filters based on the part of the building lifecycle they are working on, the type of resources they are looking for and more.
The My2050 Schools Toolkit
This toolkit is a set of activities that can be used in the classroom to engage students in debates about climate change and energy.
• Background to climate change, curriculum links and learning outcomes for students.
• How to run a lesson using the My2050 simulation.
• Websites with further resources and suggestions for additional activities.
• Supplementary materials for lesson activities.
WRAP – Circular Economy & Resource Efficiency
WRAP is an organisation that helps businesses and individuals reduce waste, develop sustainable products and use resources in an efficient way.
They work with a wide range of partners, from major UK businesses, trade bodies and local authorities through to individuals looking for practical advice.
Their website provides useful information on resource efficiency in the built environment.
Growing Blue
Growing Blue was created to tell the important story of how water is as essential to our economic and social growth as it is to ensuring healthy ecosystems and our natural environment.
Growing Blue is a data rich resource that enables us to understand the challenges and identify solutions to our water future.
This site is a resource for credible, accurate information on water. It is also aimed at increasing global awareness of our water challenges and the need for thoughtful solutions.
Green Energy in Buildings Trainer
A resource that puts a model home into the classroom. The model eco-house is fitted with onboard sensors that via USB PC connection allows the analysis of energy use and other useful information on screen.
Users can investigate lighting technologies, insulation properties, glazing, and air-conditioning, in addition to green energy production and related topics.
Sustainable Development Commission
The Sustainable Development Commission, which closed on 31st March 2011, held Government to account to ensure the needs of society, the economy and the environment were properly balanced in the decisions it made and the way it ran itself.
Their site is still available as an archive and contains valuable information on sustainable development.
Building Research Establishment Energy & Environmental Assessment (BREEAM)
BREEAM is the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method for buildings and large scale developments.
It sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design and has become the de facto measure used to describe environmental performance of buildings and communities.
Visit their website for useful case studies on buildings that have undergone BREEAM assessment.
Centre for Alternative Technology
CAT is an education and visitor centre demonstrating practical solutions for sustainability. They cover all aspects of green living: environmental building, eco-sanitation, woodland management, renewable energy, energy efficiency and organic growing.
Their website is a unique and valuable practical demonstration centre, a living laboratory with an enormous range of live examples of sustainable solutions.
Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)
DECC was created in October 2008 to bring together energy policy and climate change mitigation policy.
It exists to take the lead in tackling these challenges, and reflects the fact that climate change and energy policies are inextricably linked – two thirds of our emissions come from the energy we use. Decisions in one field cannot be made without considering the impacts in the other.
BBC – Your Life On Earth
Explore BBC Earth’s unique interactive, personalised just to you.
Find out how, since the date of your birth, your life has progressed; including how many times your heart has beaten, and how far you have travelled through space.
Grasp the impact we’ve had on the planet in your lifetime; from how much fuel and food we’ve used to the species we’ve discovered and endangered.
EDUCATION for SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
A Manual for Schools
A manual to assist teachers delivering the 11-19 curriculum. It will be of interest to all involved in teaching Sustainable Development, Community Planning and Citizenship.
The RTPI believes that planning holds a unique position in relation to these subjects and this is an ideal vehicle to use and study in the classroom.
