Retrofit Reimagined - Leveraging Built Environment Institutions
Pictured are Charlie Edmonds (CivicSquare/FAF, Paul MacMahon & Philippa Birch-Wood, who listen on from Sara Edmonds. Photo by Angela Grabowska
Sitting in as a guest Panellist at Retrofit Reimagined.
on the Leveraging Built Environment Institutions talk joined Just Transition Lobby members and RIBA Co-Councillors Funmbi Adeagbo & Phillippa Birch-Wood. Sara Edmonds also participated with the session Chaired by Charlie Edmonds.
I outlined the journey of becoming Elected to RIBA Council, meeting others in the Just Transition Lobby, current role as RIBA Branch Secretary for the NDSA and what the last 6 years of volunteering has helped achieved for the Branch.
The road to RIBA Council has been entirely different for each of the JTL members. Funmbi & Phillipa each spoke of their unique paths formed by individual experiences & influences both internal and external to the profession.
Their election success are somewhat of an inadvertent continuation and expansion of the grassroots campaign for President of the RIBA a year prior. With no formal organisation, nor established leadership, JTL “members” are simple built environment professionals who have come together around a shared set of ideal. Specifically prioritising people and the environment.
Charlie Edmonds (CivicSquare, FAF) opened with a lecture on the successful campaign behind the election of RIBA President Muyiwa Oki. Photo by Angela Grabowska
This election victory was effective on a number of levels.
It established a precedent and was an undeniable proof of grassroots hunger for change within riba.
It demonstrated the effectiveness of widespread grassroots engagement within established institutions.
The group from Charlie Edmonds learned how the initial PRIBA campaign was conceived, the challenges it faced and how it played out in real time. Photo by Angela Grabowska
The PRIBA campaign was met with resistance.
Attendees could attest from PErsonal experience such reactions are common when challanging established norms
After the presentations the group moved onto hearing from a selection of individual guest panellists, including Fumnbi, Phillip, Sara & myself. Photo by Angela Grabowska
The group shared experiences of challenges faced when occupying roles of both leadership and that of an assuming participant.
The NDSA reboot was pointed towards as a case study for successful grassroots organising within architecture.
It was looked at through the lens of a potential template for application across the broader construction industry.
Engagement from attendees was strong, with the event overrunning long past the allocated slot. Photo by Angela Grabowska