A day in the life of Ecobuild 2017!

Having not been to Ecobuild for 5 years having lost a bit of its edginess it’s now a much slicker affair with an impressive line up of speakers and panel discussions.

The undoubted highlight for me being listening to Will Gompertz (BBC Arts Editor) in discussion with twice shortlisted Sterling Prize architect Niall McLaughlin about Oxford architecture. With his distinctive Irish brogue Niall has a way of talking about architecture that is both passionate and academic in equal measure. No wonder he has hardly set foot out of Oxford since his first commission back in 2000. I cannot wait to see his latest creation being a Pavilion and theatre (NazrIn Shah) building for Worcester College, Oxford which opens shortly.

Other headlines/sources of inspiration as follows:

• Gustafson, Porter & Bowman – Valencia Central Park project.
• Land Securities- Impressive sustainability and inclusive workforce strategy and commitments including scaffolding academy based at Brixham prison!
• Lendlease- leading the way in the employee Wellbeing field.
• New/old buzz word – Humancentric design!
• Flying gardeners in action on Bosco Verticale, Milan.
• The innovative set up at the Icentrum building, Birmingham Innovation Centre.
• The inside story of Zaha Hadid’s successful Antwerp Port competition win.
• BIM –and the coming of the fourth industrial revolution?
• Niall McLaughlin’s take on the Blavatnik School of Government building, Oxford.

Hopefully by next year the Excel Centre will have sorted out some Wi fi coverage or even better still a new venue is sought which is more in tune with the inspiring projects and design that this event seeks to showcase! A very enjoyable and inspiring day none the less.