Learning zone

CPD
Love it or hate it you have to do it. Here some practices share views on their best CPD providers

A year after our first trawl of UK practices, asking which of their CPD presentations they had enjoyed most, and who had given them, we’re again survey a range of practices to find out who’s likely to be worth that precious lunchtime slot. Having contacted about 30 offices this year, there still seems to be a wide divergence in the views that architectural firms have on the RIBA accredited CPD system.

Views range from dismissive to delighted. But the general feeling remains that if your staff are going to give up their lunchtimes, that it should be for a worthwhile reason. To avoid the likelihood that thinly disguised sales pitches get through, CPD organisers are keen for information on the accreditation process. That said, one firm was pushing for a quicker accreditation turnaround to ensure that information on more innovative products is quickly disseminated to the profession.

Regardless of the subliminal desire for manufacturers to push their own products, the ones that will actually succeed and therefore live to get through the door another day) are those that through their own presentation skills, can draw architects into their fascinations for their subject. One architect put this very clearly: ‘You are always most impressed by people who thoroughly research the subject, who know their products, their specification, performance characteristics, and the market- and who really put the effort into the presentation’.

CPD providers should also be aware that length can be an important factor. Early performance is key. Lunch hour is exactly that- most CPD organisers seem to be of the view that if you can’t convince a room of the value of your subject matter within the first ten minutes, it’s unlikely you will do so in an hour. And smaller firms offering CPD may possess advantages over larger providers, with one organiser saying ‘Maybe it’s a romantic view, but we like to arrange CPD with smaller companies with new and innovative products, as they seem to be more passionate about what they do’. The love/hate relationship between architects and their CPD requirements might not be an easy one, but following, you can find some of the CPD providers that set the hearts of these firms aflutter…

Luisa Felicia
Pringle Brandon, London
Nominates: Herman Miller, Orange Box, Desso Carpets
All of our product CPDs are accredited by the RIBA, but we also balance this with internal design reviews in the office to bring some variation to the presentation format. We liked the Herman Miller presentation as it was not purely about furniture and product placement, but the social value of intelligent office spaces, changing trends in design and the technologies affecting the office of the future - the same was true of office furniture designer Orange Box. Despite being about the prosaic subject of carpets, we got a lot from the Desso carpets presentation, which concentrated more on the sustainability aspects of carpet specification and its ultimate recyclability.

Charles Scott
Sheppard Robson, London
Nominates: City Squared, Biotecture, ICS Heatpumps
City Squared design urban street furniture and signage, and while there are a lot of companies out there, this was interesting because the firm really go into the psychology behind the users, why and where people sit and rest. What was good was all the research they have done particularly with regard to young kids and where they choose to hang out. External works and landscaping are usually the first casualties of value engineering exercises, so furniture like this makes proving the argument to clients that little bit easier. Mark Laurence of BioTecture gave an excellent presentation on the science behind green walls, how they work and are maintained. It was good to hear how grey water feeding systems can be incorporated into them and to get more detail on the payoffs that can be gained in terms of increased shading. ICS Heatpumps’ presentation went into a lot of detail about the specification of Delonghi heat pumps in larger developments, but there’s probably more work to be done convincing developers and purchasers
that the returns are worth the capital outlay. 

Brian MacEntee
Austin-Smith Lord, Liverpool
Nominates: Concrete Centre, RIBA NW
The Concrete Centre’s seminars remain consistently good. The one they gave us was on the higher specification of insitu concrete types for a building that would be exposed and visible to the naked eye. They started from first principles and worked their way up to its specific problems and challenges. There was also a good section on ‘what not to do’ and what to do when things go wrong. RIBA NW gave a good morning seminar on BS1999 2008 that broke down the whole history of the document and presented it in a holistic way. It went through the various sections of the document in detail, which makes it far easier to find your way around. They also went through a pre-prepared exercise about how you apply it in an existing building scenario. This acted as a useful template in applying it to your own offices’ designs.

Elizabeth Kavanagh
Stride Treglown, Bristol
Nominates: Echofon
This suspended ceiling manufacturer’s presentation was detailed and specific. They looked at the wider issues of inclusive design, detailed how children pick and and register components of speech, and explained end user acoustic needs. They also gave a number of case studies, a couple from BREEAM Excellent rated buildings, outlining the main issues of acoustic design, which took the presentation out of the realms of the purely theoretical, and making it both practical and focused.

Tim Crowther
Hunt Thompson Associates, London
Nominates: Total CDM Solutions, Alumasc, Pultec
The Alumasc presentation on rainwater management was a lively and enthusiastic one, which went through the BS calculation methods, as well as showing product samples. Total CDM Solutions covered CDM compliance and the presentation was novel in that it was part workshop and part lecture. It gave guidance on how one calculates residual risk and useful insights into how you compile the Risk Register. Pultec gave an impressive seminar on their pultruded fibreglass window systems, and while based around the innovations of their own product, they came across as knowing the window business as well as their niche in the market in general. Architects are obviously concerned with performance and these firms knew their products backwards.

Jonathan Spratt
Bennetts Associates, London
Nominates: Anstey Horn, Xtratherm
We had rave reviews for Lance Harris from rights to light consultant Anstey Horne, who totally engaged the audience from the start. Given that the majority of our projects are sited in urban environments, rights to light issues are of particular relevance, and this firm gave us a fantastic overview of the subject. Insulation firm Danny Kearney from Xtratherm related his firm’s products to the recent updates on the Part L regulations in a way that was stimulating and didn’t come over as a hard sell. That approach tends to be the exception rather than the rule, and we try to avoid getting firms in whose only interest is to sell their products to you. In the same vein, we’re looking at arranging CPD lectures that are outside of the traditional architectural remit, such as artists discussing materiality and colour. All of these can bring positive benefits in terms of architectural design.

Clementine Seymour
AHMM, London
Nominates: Brick Development Association, DSG Quantity Surveyors, Usable Buildings Trust
The Usable Buildings Trust did a good presentation that was well delivered and humourous, and which highlighted the cause of post-occupancy assessment for newly completed buildings. Michael Driver of the Brick Development Association was so professional about his presentation that it came across as a university lecture rather than a CPD presentation, going into the whole life cycle of the brick in a captivating way. DSG Quantity Surveyors went into the subject of building insurance in a memorable way, and engineer John Westmuckett of Westmuckett Hawkes gave a fantastic presentation on the Wimbledon retracting roof that they designed.

David Artis
MUMA, London
Nominates: Russwood, TRADA, Bauder Roofs, Ibstock
We’ve recently had an interesting presentation from timber company Russwood that was conducted by internet conference call! So it looks like product manufacturers are finally moving with the times and away from conventional means of presentation. As a firm, we’ve had good experience with TRADA, Bauder Roofs and Ibstock, where all the presenters were highly technically aware. It’s obvious very quickly when they are experts in their field rather than trying to sell something. Ibstock were putting themselves forward they seemed to represent the sector. Being involved with Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, we were obviously interested in what they had to say. The Bauder Roofs CPD was headed up by the firm’s own engineers, and was useful and informative. It gave us a working baseline knowledge of the technology.

Ralph Isitt
Scott Brownrigg, London
Nominates: Hoare Lea Lighting, Hilson Moran, Brick Development Association
We’ve found that successful presentations are more about the character and expertise of the presenter than they are about the subject. In this regard Dominick Meyrick of Hoare Lea is a complete character, turning his presentations on lighting design into a joy. Similarly, the Acoustipedia presentation by Hilson Moran, in which they brought over all their acoustic demonstration equipment, also came over well. As a firm, we’re not very used to using brick, but Mike Driver’s presentation for the Brick Development Association was memorable and inspirational.

Colin Glover
Page and Park, Glasgow
Nominates: Green Building Company, Campbell Construction, Maclay, Murray and Spens
Being accustomed to Powerpoint presentations, it was great to get invited to the factory of Campbell Construction, who make prefabricated timber systems for housing. It started with a normal presentation and then we were all taken on a tour round the plant to see the panels being fabricated. The office got a lot out of that experience, and we would be interested in something like that again. We have recently had a number of CPD lectures from solicitors Maclay, Murray and Spens on construction legal issues, and these have gone down very well. They have even done role playing exercises where you have to give the right responses to particular construction legal scenarios. The Green Building Company did an interesting lecture on their development of the UK’s first Passivhaus cavity wall.

Sophie Steed
Squire and Partners, London
Nominates: Solus Ceramics, Conisbee
As a firm, we try to intersperse accredited CPD with internal design reviews, as you can never quite be sure what the accredited CPD is going to turn up. Solus Ceramics were recommended to us by another firm, and with a degree of interactivity, it was actually quite an engrossing presentation. They covered the technical issues concisely and got concepts over clearly. Conisbee engineers did a fantastic presentation on the principles of basement design and specification, which brought the key concepts of design over very clearly. We like to avoid the kinds of companies that spend most of the time plugging their own products.

Ray Kearney
Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Bath
Nominates: AutoCad
As a technician and visualiser, a lot of the seminars don’t really seem relevant to me personally. But the most I got out of the seminar series was the AutoCad 2D/3D. The seminar assumed a good working knowledge of the software and so avoided going down the road of the lowest common denominator of understanding. It offered a lot of useful insights into the workings of the 2010 version, especially the new tools available on it. The presenter was fully briefed on them, and was able to take us through them all - I picked up a lot of useful info on rotating viewpoints that I didn’t know before and I am actively using them now.

Dav Bansal
Glenn Howells Architects, Birmingham
Nominates: Brick Development Association, Concrete Centre, Vincent Timber
What was great about Mike Driver’s CPD for the Brick Development Association is that it’s tailored for architectural practices to give a broad understanding of the subject matter without product placement. The same was true of Andrew Cotter of the Concrete Centre, with his CPD on insitu concrete. This gave us a good understanding of the kind of mix you need to create certain finishes. We’ve used firm Vincent Timber for a couple of our projects and thought we’d get them in as it’s important to speak to people who know their stuff. They gave a wide overview of the timber industry, and gave individual sessions with teams which wanted more detail. For the CPD programme it’s important that we get a sense that the companies are gemmed up with the sustainability aspects of their products, and can communicate that.

Toby Blackman
Allies and Morrison, London
Nominates: City Squared, Hoare Lea, Galvanisers Association
City Squared’s CPD presentation on the nature of the public realm was a very intelligent one, which went from psychology to design concepts, to manufacture of public furniture. Hoare Lea, whom we have worked with on a repeat basis, is a multidisciplinary practice that has given lectures on a number of subjects, from security to fire provision. The Galvanisers Association presentation sounded like it would be a dull one, but it was visually very exciting, with interactive presentation techniques and embedded videos in the Powerpoint, putting forward sound advice for galvanised item design and protection.

Role of the cpd providers network: Minesh Patel, CPD marketing manager, RIBA
The RIBA CPD Providers Network helps increase knowledge and aid specification of building and office materials and services. More than 500 provider organisations now offer over 2,000 pieces of free RIBA-assessed CPD material.

The Providers Network bridges the knowledge gap between new products and services, performance, technology, design, aesthetics and standards and also complements the specifiers’ hands-on knowledge and experience.

All CPD material in the Providers Network must be assessed before it can be approved as valid CPD. This aspect of the service is rigorous, ensuring that material is factual, valuable, up-to-date and minus the superlatives and selling spiel that might dilute the integrity of the material.

The assessment panel is made up of 22 RIBA chartered members who have expertise which cover all areas within the RIBA CPD core curriculum and the wider spectrum of the built environment. 

RIBA CPD assessors focus on the educational value of the CPD provided in relation to the design and construction process or the efficient running of the architects’ office following strict guidelines. This ensures that the material is of the highest quality and will help the architects make an informed decision when specifying products and services.
The RIBA constantly strives to maintain standards and improve the quality of the CPD on offer from the network through surveys and spot checking. Architectural practices and other organisations are contacted regularly for quality checking of seminars given by providers. From this autumn, we will also spot check seminars occasionally. This means we may be in touch at some point to attend a seminar you have booked in your office.

The results of the latest survey are summarised below and show that respondents gave overwhelmingly positive feedback. In the first quarter of 2010, 747 RIBA accredited seminars from 113 RIBA CPD Providers where held at architectural practices and other organisations in the UK with 5694 delegates in attendance. 238 organisations were sampled (see box).

Visit www.ribaonlinecpd.com to see how it can help you achieve your CPD requirements.