The CIOB’s first ever conference on design management takes place next week, and will explore the role’s increasing importance in the digital age.
Open to design managers, or anyone from the industry with an interest in the subject, the event will include several high-profile speakers, including Paul Hartmann of the Olympic Delivery Authority, architect Rab Bennetts, and Laing O’Rourke’s Gavin Maxwell-Hart, who will discuss design management from the perspective of client, designer and contractor respectively.
Mark Bew, chairman of the government’s BIM Implementation Group, will provide an overall picture of BIM in UK and the government’s strategy, and Rob Charlton, managing director of Space Group, will discuss the relationship between BIM and design management.
A key focus will be the impact of BIM on design managers’ careers, says the event’s organiser, John Eynon FCIOB, formerly of Wates Construction and who now offers BIM and design management consulting. “There’s some great BIM practice going on, largely fuelled by the government’s strategy to keep it going when the economic situation could have caused many firms to put it on the back burner. And design managers are ideally placed to move into BIM management or integration positions,” he says.
Attendees will learn details of the forthcoming CIOB Design Managers’ Handbook, due to be published in the new year, which includes information on design management strategies and processes, people and value management skills and innovation.
The event will also aim to create a better understanding of what a design manager’s job entails, says Eynon: “There are some wonderful examples of design management out there, but a major problem is the lack of understanding of what a design manager’s role is. Most organisations have a slightly different definition, so the duties of a design manager are often subsumed into another role like project manager, technical manager, or design coordinator. Our aim is to create some consensus,” he concludes.
The conference starts at 9am on Thursday, 11 October, at Skinners Hall, 8 Dowgate Hill, London EC4R. Tickets cost £99 + VAT.
