RIBA Members from across the UK gathered at 66 Portland Place for the 2024 Members forum.

The event was opened with a presentation by host Tom Foggin, Vice President for Membership, who spoke on the importance of grass roots engagement and representation at the RIBA.

Following the opening presentation, Darren Mansell from the event sponsors Ibstock delivered a talk on Ibstock’s reduction of carbon output, heritage bricks and biodiversity net gain

We then heard from Executive Director, Membership Experience Laura Webb, who provided a review of the Member Volunteer Survey, from which there were 127 responses.

Phoebe MacDonald, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, spoke about the newly elected Labour Government’s plans including those on Housing, Planning and Climate Action.
It is hoped RIBA can working with Government to ensure development of a nationwide retrofit strategy, currently omitted from the Labour Manifesto. RIBA are keen to engage on a number of other areas critical to the profession such as immigration, exports, design and build quality.

Phoebe highlighted the importance of member feedback to help the RIBA table issues important to the profession to government. Recently, RIBA President Muyiwa Oki published a survey on workplace and wellbeing conditions, a key theme of Muyiwa’s campaign when running for the presidency. At the time of writing, approximately 750 people have so far responded to the survey, which closes July 24th.

Lienkie Diedericks, RIBAs Inclusion and Diversity Specialist, spoke on the EDI Leaders Action Group. A tool kit is to be released next month, a EDI podcast is being developed and an Inclusive work experience project is being developed. Anett Szucs, Social Value Lead, spoke about progress on the Work Experience Group. Applications to Pt1 in 21/22 was at 22,747, down from 26,271 the year before. Work is being done to try further engagement with schools, to raise the profile of the profession and to hopefully diversity the demographics of those enrolling on degree courses in the future.

RIBA CEO Valarie Vaughn Dick delivered a presentation to the memebrship, touching upon the House of Architecture and the importance of membership engagement.

Gavin Traylor, former RSAW President delivered a presentation on Strategic Communication project.

Chair of Exeter Branch Caroline Shortt and Branch Secretary Roxanne Townsend presented, providing an insight into their experience rebooting a previously dormant branch. This included reconnecting with people, driven by socials such as paddle boarding, a boat trip and a Christmas party. Additionally, a student design competition, at school level, is being organised with input from multiple areas of the industry. The Building Safety Act is being explored further as this has emerged as a key issue for local practices. Conservation workshops along with Artist Collaboration. Promoting architects and what architects do in the wider community is an area of work being explored to help differentiate between architectural designers and architects. This includes lectures and site visits.

Matt Blakeley from the RIBA Central Team and Hamaam Shire presented under the theme Listening to a younger voice in Birmingham. They worked with Birmingham City Council Youth City Board, of which Hamaam is a member and a Law Degree Undergraduate.

This Q&A session between Matt and Hamaam provided an insight into the work by the Youth City Board in terms of deconstructing the Urbanism and Architecture of Birmingham. Birmingham City Council have been attentive to voices of those participating. Following this, Hamaam joined the judging panel for the regional awards.

Leeds Society of Architects Chair Luke Sach spoke about his role and involvement with the Leeds Branch. A goal has been to increase participation and satisfaction.

London Region’s Chun-Li Reid, the founder of BOLD (established in 2022) spoke about Cooking with an Architect. Cooking with an Architect is a YouTube series, where Architects are invited in to cook and speak about what architecture means to them. This series, working with communities across London, has been successful in increasing engagement.

One theme currently being examined is homelessness in the community. Architect's who have looked at design interventions to combat homelessness were invited in to speak on their work. This included Chris Hildrey, James Furzer and Jonathan Harvey.