Author: Oliver Broadbent

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Trainee feedback: training on what to do after declaring a climate emergency

We asked members from our first cohort of ‘Training on what to do after declaring a Climate Emergency‘ participants what they thought of the course and why other people should think about going. Here are some of the things they said.

The support of the group alongside discussion of change models and tools was transformative in developing insight on how I can make positive change and resolve to take action. I would highly recommend it to those seeking to develop personal or organisational strategies in response to the climate emergency.

Julia Ratcliffe – Director – Scale Consulting
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Designing your learning process – week one of IDBE

At Constructivist we talk lots about models for learning and also about models for understanding design. In this workshop we are combining the two: thinking about how to design your learning process. It’s my contribution to week one for a new cohort of students on the Cambridge Masters programme Interdisciplinary Design for the Build Environment.

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The Return of Training on what to do after declaring a Climate Emergency

It’s been a year since many engineering and construction firms declared a climate and biodiversity emergency. Six months since the pandemic struck. But the climate clock is still ticking and the world is still heating. Are we one tenth of the way we need to get to in this decade to avoid the worst kind of climate breakdown?

In hindsight, making the declaration is the easy part: the difficult part is knowing what to do next. That is why we created the course ‘Training on what to do after declaring a Climate Emergency’. It recognises that the emergency status is a new operating paradigm for most organisations, and that within those organisations there will be individuals and teams whose job it is to work out how to respond. We created this course to support those people.

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All online for an introduction to conceptual design

This month our face-to-face and webine cohorts for our Introduction to Conceptual Design for Structural Engineers course joined to form one online group, enabling us to deliver to both groups despite lockdown.

The course splits conceptual design up into three phases: establishing the brief, creative thinking and convergent thinking and provides simple models for understanding each of these phases.

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Constructivist Creativity Reading List

Creativity reading list

This is the Constructivist Creativity Reading List. These are the books and book chapters that have changed the way I think about creativity and that inform the training that we do at Constructivist. Where a book relates to a specific course, I have made that link, but most of these books are generally applicable. I’ve also linked in other articles I’ve written about these topics where relevant.

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Giving the gift of knowledge

To celebrate the start of a new decade Constructivist is experimenting with the gift of knowledge. From now until the end of February we’re offering you the opportunity to join one of our courses* for free, when you buy a course for a friend or colleague.

Essentially, this is a buy one get one free deal, allowing you to gift a course and then enjoy it with that friend.

If you’re interested in taking us up on the offer please email Lucy and let her know which course you’d like to buy, and for whom.

*courses run via the IstructE are excluded from this offer.

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Construction training design – efficient facades

Sketch showing how participants on a construction training course about facades would work on a full-scale mock up of a section of facade. Sketch by Ben Godber. Constructivist is developing these ideas for Constructionarium
This week we have been working with the Constructionarium Ltd. team to create proposals for a new construction training CPD course all about designing and installing high-performing building facades. The course targets architects, M&E engineers, structural engineers, project managers, quantity surveyors and procurement managers.

Aims for this construction training course

Designing building facades that achieve high performance is a challenge. We measure performance against a whole range of factors. These factors include air-tightness, water-tightness, acoustic insulation, thermal insulation, fire protection and embodied energy.
But performance of the facade doesn’t just depend on the design. It also depends on how well the facade is installed. The order in which we assemble the elements  can have a big impact on whether the facade works as intended. If we poorly sequence the activities on site, parts of the facade can get damaged. This damage can reduce performance.
Therefore, designers need to consider practacable construction during the design process. And design teams need to be able to clearly communicate design information to the construction teams so they can avoid damaging the facades during construction.

What’s inside

In this intensive, hands-on training course, participants will design, install and test their own full-scale facade elements. Teams will work under realistic site conditions and experience the practicalities of facade installation. The course will mix classroom-based design workshops with on-site construction activities.
The idea is to deliver the course over 3-4 days spread across a month. We will create online learning resources that will give participants the opportunity to prepare and collaborate remotely.
My thanks to Ben Godber (Godber & Co) who created these early construction sequence sketches.  My thanks also to Alexie Sommer (Think Sketch Design) for her work producing the proposal.
We will provide more information in this news when we can confirm details of the course.

Further reading