Meet the members: the BIM evangelist, the ambassador and the architectural technologist

One is a BIM evangelist, one juggles an onsite day job with a BSc and being a construction ambassador in schools, and one is encouraging fellow architectural technologists to join the CIOB. Construction Manager meets two incorporated members and one student on the road to full membership. 

Amy Griffiths, assistant site manager, Kier Construction

Meet Amy Griffiths, a 23-year-old assistant site manager at Kier Construction, who is juggling her coordination role on the refurbishment of a grade II-listed lido in Pontypridd with a part-time degree in construction management, as well as responsibilities as chair of the Novus Wales network and a schools ambassador for the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB). 

Griffiths was an accidental recruit to construction, after teachers and careers advisers at her all-girl comprehensive school failed to highlight the roles on offer in the sector. She originally applied to do a degree in business studies at Cardiff University, but then came across an advert for a management trainee position at Kier, applied and was accepted in 2010.

So Griffiths’ dissertation topic, “Has the construction industry made valid efforts to encourage young female applicants into construction related roles?” is apt.

“There are still barriers to women taking site roles – the main one being awareness of the different career options in construction. Teachers and careers advisers still see construction in terms of physical trades and not for the academically inclined, or the management side of things.”

Women who establish a position in construction can face issues further down the career path: “When women have families and then return to their jobs, site working doesn’t lend itself well to flexible or part-time working hours. There can be pressure put on them when they have to take days off or change their hours.

“When women are more flexible, they don’t get thanked for it, or then they get pressured to do it more frequently.”

Nevertheless, she does not feel she has been treated any differently from a man on site, and is able to combine professionalism and femininity: “In construction you have to have a certain type of character to be able to work on site, regardless of gender, and not take any comments to heart. That’s not to say people are rude – it’s just a rough-and-ready type of environment.”

Kier is now funding her part-time BSc, carried out as week-long block release sessions at Sheffield Hallam University, with coursework and assessments fitted in with her work on the £6.2m regeneration of Ynysangharad Park lido (pictured below). She is tasked with the refurbishment of the ticket office and changing block, and works with specialist timber restorers and other traditional tradesman, who use historic finishes such as lime mortar and lime render.

With such a hectic schedule of work and extra-curricular activity, she has little time to pursue her interest in cooking, although she is a keen viewer of the Great British Bake Off and sometimes bakes for the site team. She completed the Three Peaks Challenge in 2013 and can often be seen working out in the local gym.

Griffiths is a student member of the CIOB, but her passion for improving opportunities for graduates in Wales persuaded the local branch manager to make her chair of Novus Wales. That decision came after she wrote a long letter to express her opinion that there were not enough students putting themselves forward for chairmanship and the network could benefit from a fresh perspective.

“My plan was always to become chair at the earliest opportunity. They decided to treat it as a rare case because of the length of my course – four and a half years – the fact I already have a lot of practical experience on site, and I had already spent two years on the Novus committee,” she says.

The aim now is to enhance and promote the Novus Wales network to young construction professionals. One issue has been boosting attendance at networking events, so she wants to get feedback to adapt them to people’s needs. She also plans to work with universities to help students understand the importance of networking, especially in Wales, where the pool of construction professionals is relatively small.

Her role as a CITB ambassador takes her to local schools to raise awareness of construction among children up to 16 years old. She says the secret to engaging younger children is to get on their wavelength with things they know and understand, such as Bob the Builder cartoons or Lego.

“With older children, I highlight opportunities for management roles and I try to get across that as a girl you don’t have to be a tomboy to get into construction. You can still do your hair and nails. At the end of the day, it’s just a job and you can retain your outside interests.”

Stephen Cousins

Alex Naraian ICIOB, associate director, Adam Architecture

Alex Naraian ICIOB, 46, is an associate director at Adam Architecture – a practice that combines Prince of Wales-approved “classical” design with a commercial, business-like approach. In its work with traditional materials, vernacular styles and classically inspired motifs, the firm thinks of itself and its portfolio of conversions, renovations and historic redevelopments as working at the time-honoured foundations of architectural practice.

Naraian also believes it is essential for architects and designers to have a technical understanding of how their projects are built, and backs that up with his qualification as a chartered architectural technologist (MCIAT) and incorporated membership of the CIOB.

He is also committed to keeping close relations between architecture and construction. As chair and national councillor of the south-east region of the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (CIAT), he is keen for more collaboration between professions within the built environment, and shared qualifications are part of this.

“The tension between architecture and construction will continue if we [architects and architectural technologists] don’t make a real effort to learn about what is happening on the ground. Architects and technologists need a practical understanding of what physically happens, as often something designed is too complex and a simpler solution can be found,” he says. For this to occur, Naraian believes architects and technologists “need more exposure to the site” and to be “prepared to listen and learn to the guys that are on site”.

The ICIOB designation is being phased out – although existing holders will be able to use it until 2025 – so Naraian plans to gain full chartership: “Having this title gives you more respect in the industry, especially when dealing with contractors. Chartership is about saying that you have reached a standard of professionalism and will continue to work at that level.”

Along with membership of CIAT, Naraian wants colleagues at Adam Architecture to consider joining the CIOB, citing the benefits to the practice and of learning about the wider industry.

“I’m encouraging colleagues who have recently achieved chartered status with CIAT to do the same with the CIOB. Membership often works well for architectural technologists, as we are on site more and are often in contact with contractors.”

Naraian also makes time to teach the next generation of designers. Although he does not get the chance as much as he used to, he sets a brief based on a real Adam Architecture project for students each year at Solent University.

“British universities don’t teach classical architecture. They always have a modernist agenda,” he argues. As an architectural technologist working in the classical style, he is careful to present alternatives that may be less known to students schooled in the modernist tradition.

Creating classical architecture that echoes our heritage and regional vernacular styles means Adam Architecture tends to specify traditional construction methods and employ specialists. Although Naraian believes the skills are still available, he worries that only a “handful of contractors can do the work we do”. Tasks such as stonework and brickwork are increasingly provided by overseas labour, which he links to “lost skills in the digital generation, where children don’t learn from their parents and don’t do handiwork”.

Richard Green Gallery in London’s Mayfair is an example of Adam Architecture’s neo-classical design approach

Encouraging people to choose careers in construction necessitates a change in the way the industry is marketed: “We need to make sure that we hit youngsters at a right time, when they are making choices, and then provide the support infrastructure to help them into work.”

Naraian also points out that a realistic prospect of career stability is essential to encourage people to join the industry.

“We need to be more organised in the built environment to develop and broaden people’s skills. This will allow them to stay in the construction industry when things get hard,” he says. He suggests a “summit across all of the industry institutions to look at how we can work together to provide support and stop people leaving the industry”.

Tom Ravenscroft

Fred Mills ICIOB, pre-construction manager, Osborne

Meet Fred Mills ICIOB, pre-construction manager at south-east contractor Osborne but also a part-time film producer, newspaper publisher and university training partner. As co-founder of awareness-raising campaign the B1M and all-round BIM evangelist, Mills is making YouTube documentaries on the subject for online sharing, while also catering for the analogue generation with the publication of a twice-yearly print newspaper.

The success and reach of the B1M – also known as the BIM 1 Million – led to it be named as a finalist for the Construction News BIM initiative of the year in 2014 [corrected online – we said in the print edition that the B1M won the title]. Mills was named Constructing Excellence achiever of the year in London and the south-east last summer. And he combines this with a demanding – but now part-time – day job.

“Osborne has been really supportive with guidance and mentoring,” he explains. “The work I’m doing with the B1M really aligns with their approach to BIM implementation.”

At the family-owned firm, he works on design-and-build and traditional projects, including schools in the government’s Targeted Basic Need Programme. But what about the RIBA Stirling Prize-nominated Saw Swee Hock Student Centre for the London School of Economics? “No, that’s a stretch too far. I just happened to be in the company when it was delivered!”

At Osborne, he is implementing the BIM adoption curve he is also helping to promote. “I’m really immersed in BIM implementation. I’m one of several BIM champions across the company. We’ve been careful not to create BIM managers – if you give someone a specific role, then it becomes their responsibility alone. So we’ve tried to identify advocates at all levels and sectors of the business, and make them BIM ambassadors.”   

But he says BIM adoption might be easier at £325m-turnover Osborne than at big top 20 contractors: “It’s a smaller journey to travel, with fewer people to upskill than in a major company.”

The idea for the B1M was born in 2012, as a collaboration with school friend and video producer Tom Payne. It was four years after Mills, now 28, had graduated from Loughborough University, working first as a design manager at Willmott Dixon before moving to Osborne.

“It came out of a pub conversation. I was talking about the challenges of BIM, and Tom was talking about the benefits of video. That’s how it was born.” The first step was an information-sharing and networking website to build a following. Then the newspaper and bite-sized video lectures were launched to give everyone in the industry – from students to senior managers – digestible information.

He explains: “I struggled to find clear, understandable information on BIM. It struck me we were relying on people going to the BIM task group website, downloading the documents, and reading them at their leisure – but we can’t expect 2 million people in construction to do that.”

In their quest to reach a mass audience, the pair have won corporate sponsorship to print 3,000 copies of The B1M Mail. Volunteer “distribution partners” – including five in Australia and three in the USA – take the paper to universities, BIM events and corporate offices.

Meanwhile, day-long video shoots take them to BIM adopters such as David Miller Architects and manufacturer Cubicle Centre in West Yorkshire to interview staff. The footage is edited into 15-minute YouTube documentaries.

Mills has worked on Potters Gate Primary School in Farnham, Surrey

Mills has also brokered sponsorship agreements with university partners for a series of BIM videos that are used by universities to teach undergraduates.

“The universities haven’t fallen into the trap of creating ‘BIM modules’ – they’re taking it across the curriculum,” he says. “So we’ve found it’s been quite easy to get universities involved – they see it as a way of teaching BIM while drawing on real life industry expertise.”

Reducing his hours at Osborne has enabled Mills to devote more time, in addition to weekends, to the B1M, as well as pursuing his interest in health and fitness, and preparing to become a parent next month. He is working towards his MCIOB qualification, although he confesses he has prioritised other things.

But what prompted him to devote his energy and entrepreneurialism to BIM? Mills says that construction matters – to our economy and way of life.

“I’m passionate about construction. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do and I see BIM as an opportunity to make it better.

“BIM is often presented in a dry and complex way, and I want to bring some life to it.”

Elaine Knutt