UCEM

Is our sector doing enough to cater for people with accessibility needs?
Almost a quarter of the UK’s population have a disability, yet the buildings we live, work and play in are still far from accessible and inclusive in their design and operation.
To explore this topic further, Adrian Tagg, Lead for Building Surveying at the University of Reading, joins us for a two-part episode informed by his extensive research into built environment accessibility.
Listen to the podcast via:
- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ucem/id1524980861
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Czk2mZlZmknjUZfwLmLTa
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/universitycollegeofestatemanagement
The topics discussed in this episode include:
- How well does the built environment cater for disabilities and accessibility needs?

Why isn't legislation having enough of an impact on decision making?

Has this become more difficult in a post-pandemic world

Is one of the opportunities in terms of promoting accessibility issues the fact it can actually be positive for the entire population?

Do you think that the advice given to the construction sector regarding disabilities and accessibility needs is too broad?

Guest
Adrian Tagg

Adrian is the Lead for Building Surveying at the University of Reading, where he lectures in building pathology and commercial surveying practice. Alongside his academic role, Adrian continues to work in practice with his consultancy firm, Tech DD Ltd., having previously held various industry positions in London, Germany and Brussels.
Adrian was the recipient of UCEM’s Harold Samuel Research Prize in 2019 for his paper ‘Public and Commercial Attitudes to Disability in the Built Environment’. Following this, he wrote the book ‘Inclusive Environments and Access to Commercial Property’, which examines the challenges, compromises, and potential socio-economic benefits of deliver inclusivity in the commercial-built environment.

The built environment isn’t a sector typically associated with innovation, but as the pressure to address our role in the climate crisis grows, does this need to change?

In the latest episode of BE Sustainable, Professor Graeme Larsen returns to explore the challenge of bringing new innovations into the mainstream in our sector. From restriction and regulatory uncertainty to skills shortages and perceived risks, Graeme and our host, Mike Speight, dive into the barriers – and potential solutions – to our sector’s need to embrace, support and enable innovation.
Subscribe now via:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ucem/id1524980861
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Czk2mZlZmknjUZfwLmLTa
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/universitycollegeofestatemanagement

Guest

Dr Graeme Larsen

Dr Graeme Larsen is the Associate Dean (Sustainability) at UCEM. He’s also Visiting Professor at RMIT, Australia, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building as a Chartered Construction Manager. Grame also holds a key strategic international role within the prestigious International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB), as coordinator for ‘Working Group 65 – Organization and Management in Construction’.

For all the emphasis our sector places on shiny new tools and materials, we'll only be able to realise a sustainable built environment if we successfully engage one thing: people.

In the latest two-part feature of the BE Sustainable podcast, Mike Speight is joined by Jenny Davidson and Sheri-Leigh Miles, co-hosts of the Sustainability Sprints podcast. With their expertise they explore the challenges of embedding and operationalising sustainability at both an organisational level and across the sector as a whole, and how helping people identify what sustainability means to them is the key to driving change.

Listen to the podcast via:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ucem/id1524980861

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Czk2mZlZmknjUZfwLmLTa

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/universitycollegeofestatemanagement

Guests

Jenny Davidson

Jenny is the Co-Chair for the Sustainability Committee at Newcastle University. She has 25 years of experience working in sustainability, initially in the private sector before moving into higher education 10 years ago. Alongside her role as Co-Chair, is the Exec MBA Programme Director at Newcastle University Business School, and Non Executive Director at FIRST, a learning and development agency. Alongside Sheri-Leigh Miles, she is also co-host of the Sustainability Sprints podcast.

Sheri-Leigh Miles

Sheri-Leigh is the Founder and Director of NETpositive Futures, a micro business based in Yorkshire that helps organisations and teams understand how sustainability links to organisational excellence. She has worked in sustainability for 25 years, and alongside her role at NETpositive Futures is the Founder and Director of Go4Growth, and Group Administrator for the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce (RSA) Sustainability Network.

In the fourth podcast of our series looking at how COVID-19 has affected built environment professions and organisations, we speak to UCEM’s Principal, Ashley Wheaton, and head of facilities, Kathy Matthews, about the impact of the pandemic on the institution. What has it been like to lead an organisation through the COVID-19 pandemic? What has the past year and a bit been like for facilities managers? Ashley and Kathy answer these questions, respectively, and many more posed by UCEM’s PR and social media manager, Andrew Belt, as we shine the spotlight on UCEM during this challenging period.

With the dust settling on COP26, we are reflecting on the event and one of the questions posed in the media was whether the UK was the right choice of host. We got our building surveying programme leader, James Ritson, and CertHE programme leader, Hazel Lobo, to debate as to whether the UK was a good or bad host. James argued on behalf of the statement ‘the UK was a good host’ and Hazel argued in favour of the statement ‘the UK was a bad host’, with UCEM PR and social media manager, Andrew Belt, chairing the debate. Listen in and head to our website to vote in the poll - https://www.ucem.ac.uk/whats-happening/articles/podcast-cop-reflections-was-the-uk-a-good-or-bad-host/