GLM Hosts Part 2 of Grand Designs Seminar Series at RICS HQ
GLM hosted Part 2 of our popular seminar series Grand Designs Not Grand Disasters on Friday, 9 October at RICS Headquarters in Edinburgh. This 3 part seminar aims to examine best practices when tackling small to medium sized building projects.
In Part 1 we explored the early stages of building projects shining a light on the importance of doing your due diligence before you jump into a major project. Part 2 of the series, in which GLM Associate Director and Architect Neil McAllister, Professor Stuart MacPherson of consulting engineers Irons Foulner and Paul Brooks of Cromarbrooks quantity surveyors, explored the middle phase of a building project. That is, once you have done your due diligence, purchased your property and put finance in place, how do you get your project built on time and on budget?
The seminar started with a welcome and speaker introduction from GLM Managing Director and RICS Scotland Chairman Ian McKee. The presentations kicked off with a fascinating look into the world of project briefs from Neil McAllister. Neil spoke about the creative process behind developing the perfect brief for the perfect project and how we can go about nurturing creativity in what can often be a very technical stage in the building process. You can visit our Youtube page to watch Neil’s full presentation.
Next up was Professor Stuart Macpherson of consulting engineers Irons Foulner. We were delighted to have Stuart on board as he brings 20 years of experience in the field, is an honorary Professor of Heriot-Watt University and the non-executive chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Design. Stuart gave a fascinating talk on the successful integration of building services and why you need a building services consulting engineer to make your project a success.
Lastly we heard from Paul Brooks, Director and quantity surveyor at Cromarbrooks. Paul has been a long time collaborator of GLM having been involved in the regeneration of John O’Groats and other major GLM projects. At Friday’s seminar Paul spoke aboiut alternative procurement options – specifically the long overlooked construction management method and how it was utilised at John O’Groats to great effect.
The program wrapped up with lunch and networking as guests took in the fantastic views of Edinburgh Castle. Thank you to our speakers and everyone who joined us for Part 2 of our series. We hope you found it as interesting and useful as we did. If you would like to be notified about upcoming GLM seminars and events please contact Suzanne Dicken.