UCEM

The built environment comprises a diverse and exciting range of sectors, but there is still a lack of representation at every level. We want this to change.‘Be Part of the Change’ is an awareness campaign with the purpose of celebrating the incredible success stories of our under-represented students, apprentices and alumni, as well as highlighting their challenges.It’s also an opportunity to highlight the positive practices our employers are actioning within their organisations to inspire other companies in their approach.In the second episode of our new Be Part of the Change podcast, Charlotte Thackeray, Outreach and Inclusion Lead at UCEM, is joined by Abel Muvhimi, a MSc student in Quantity Surveying originally from Zimbabwe. The topics discussed on this episode include:Why Abel is pursuing a career in the built environmentThe role models that inspired him to enter the industryThe challenges Abel has faced in developing his careerWhat the sector needs to do to improve representation

The built environment comprises a diverse and exciting range of sectors, but there is still a lack of representation at every level. We want this to change.'Be Part of the Change’ is an awareness campaign with the purpose of celebrating the incredible success stories of our under-represented students, apprentices and alumni, as well as highlighting their challenges.It's also an opportunity to highlight the positive practices our employers are actioning within their organisations to inspire other companies in their approach.In the opening episode of our new Be Part of the Change podcast, Charlotte Thackeray, Outreach and Inclusion Lead at UCEM, is joined by the podcast’s three hosts, Drew Greenhalgh, Ellie Garside and Ummi Mahinoor.The topics discussed on this episode include:Why they’re pursuing careers in the built environmentThe role models that inspired them to enter the industryThe work their employers are doing to support women and EDIWhat the sector needs to do to encourage more women to enter the industry

What is the role of a quantity surveyor? What different roles are there in the profession? And what’s the best thing about working in quantity surveying? Fielding these questions, as well as discussing her programme and who it might benefit, is our BSc (Hons) Quantity Surveying Programme Leader, Priti Lodhia. Listen to our seven-minute podcast, with UCEM PR and Social Media Manager, Andrew Belt, asking the questions

What, traditionally, has the role of a construction manager entailed? How is the role changing? What role does technology play in this? To answer these questions and more, including how our BSc (Hons) Construction Management programme can support you in your progression in the role, listen to our short podcast with UCEM BSc (Hons) Construction Management Programme Leader and Associate Dean – Sustainability, Dr Graeme Larsen. Listen to our podcast, with UCEM PR and Social Media Manager, Andrew Belt, asking the questions.

In the eighth episode of the Digging Deeper podcast, UCEM PR and social media manager, Andrew Belt, is joined by UCEM apprentices on the BSc (Hons) Building Control programme, Kate Andrews and Deborah Ferro. To learn more about their roles, the apprenticeship and what they love about working in building control, listen in to the podcast.

The diversity of an industry is a key consideration when deciding what kind of career you wish to pursue. This plays a part in how welcoming you would judge a workplace. As it’s National Careers Week, we wanted to explore diversity in the built environment and, with the help of three leaders in this space, we look at the topic in more detail in this podcast. This podcast seeks to ascertain how diverse the built environment is, why diversity matters and what can be done to create a diverse professional pool in the sector, reflecting society more generally. The three guests on this podcast are Building People managing director, Teresa Scott OBE, DiverseCity Surveyors (DCS) founder and chair, Bola Abisogun OBE, and the Chartered Surveyors Training Trust (CSTT) CEO, Terry Watts, with UCEM PR and social media manager, Andrew Belt, asking the questions. Teresa founded award-winning employability specialist Kennedy Scott, which she led for 30 years. Teresa has expertise in diversity, inclusion and employability, working collaboratively with industry and the public sector to ensure better representation of local communities across the country. Last month, Teresa became managing director of Building People – a free-to-use platform that aggregates built environment careers activity, enabling people to find knowledge, vacancies, events and opportunities, and employers to engage with a more diverse range of talent. Bola is founder and chair of DiverseCity Surveyors – the first Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) network which offers quality support services and educational training to BAME surveyors who are members of the RICS irrespective of their physical location across world. Terry is CEO of the CSTT, which is an independent charity that supports young people who face barriers to entering the surveying profession.

The final episode of our ‘history of LGBT spaces in London’ podcast series, launched to coincide with LGBT+ History Month this February, examines the recent decline in numbers of LGBTQ+ spaces in the capital. Part 1 of this episode sees our digital communications officer, Eliza White, provide an introduction and touch upon the myriad of reasons as to why the number of LGBTQ+ spaces in London is declining. Shaftesbury PLC chief executive, Brian Bickell, then joins UCEM PR and social media manager, Andrew Belt, to provide a real estate perspective on this decline, including what can be done to preserve venues and how the market must adapt to the changing needs of the LGBTQ+ community. In Part 2, having gained research-based insights, thoughts from a CEO of an LGBTQ+ venue and a real estate perspective earlier in the series, Andrew Belt speaks to UCEM Trustees, Misa von Tunzelman (head of corporate affairs and marketing – Europe at Lendlease) and Chris Costigan (university secretary and chief compliance officer at Ravensbourne University London), for a more general perspective on the situation. Misa and Chris share their stories of coming out, both personally and professionally, their thoughts on progressing equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in society and what role LGBTQ+ venues in London have played in their lives, as well as their views and hopes on the future of such spaces in the capital. In the final part of the episode, we explore the changing face of LGBTQ+ spaces in the capital, hearing from Dan Westley – the captain of the London Royals Hockey Club – the first openly LGBTQ+ hockey club in the UK. Dan, who is leasing director at Battersea Power Station, shares how the club has grown over its 16-year existence, comments on the burgeoning LGBTQ+ sports club scene in the capital and reflects on its growth in relation the falling number of traditional LGBTQ+ spaces in London. Eliza White then rejoins Andrew Belt for her conclusions on the series.

Episode 3 of our ‘history of LGBT spaces in London’ podcast series, launched to coincide with LGBT+ History Month this February, focuses on the area of Soho. Having looked at Vauxhall’s role as a hub for the LGBTQ+ community from the 18th century up until the present day in the previous episode, here, UCEM’s digital communications officer, Eliza White, turns her focus to Soho, debunking the perception of the area being ‘seedy’, sharing her research on the role it has played for the LGBTQ+ community over time and examining what role it might play in future, in conversation with UCEM PR and social media manager, Andrew Belt.

Episode 2 of our ‘history of LGBT spaces in London’ podcast series, launched to coincide with LGBT+ History Month this February, focuses on the district of Vauxhall. The episode is split into three parts, with UCEM’s digital communications officer, Eliza White, who came up with the idea for the series, sharing her research with UCEM PR and social media manager, Andrew Belt, in part 1 on Vauxhall’s role as a hub for the LGBTQ+ community from the 18th century up until the present day. Part 2 sees James Lindsay, the CEO and managing director of cabaret venue, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, discuss with Andrew how he came to take over the Tavern, his experience of running it over the past eight years and his views on the challenges for LGBTQ+ spaces in London today. In the final part of the episode, Eliza rejoins Andrew for a brief reflection on the interview with James and to ponder the future of Vauxhall’s LGBTQ+ spaces.

To mark LGBT+ History Month this February, we are launching a four-part podcast series looking at the history of LGBT spaces in London. The brainchild of our digital communications officer, Eliza White, the series will examine a couple of case studies and end with a look at the role which LGBTQ+ spaces play today in the capital. In the first episode, Eliza comments on the educational role of the awareness month, explains the inspiration for the series and provides an insight into what’s to follow in the next three episodes.

Episode 11 of our ‘UCEM in conversation with…’ series sees UCEM'S Events and Communications Manager, Hannah Peck, talk to Jess Austen and Frankie Andrews from CBRE about all things apprenticeship. Jess was one of the first apprentices to study with UCEM so we wanted to ask her about her experience and what it's like now that she's graduated, got her APC and is working full-time with CBRE. Frankie is Associate Director – Talent, Learning and Development for CBRE and is responsible for managing their interns, grads and apprentices.

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/

Episode 7 of Digging Deeper is all about networking. The built environment can be a daunting place to enter if you don't know where to start or who to approach for an introduction. It can also be hard to know how best to work your way up the career ladder once you're in it. We wanted to help you with some of these dilemmas so we invited four guests - Sarah Hayford, Will Kintish, Karen Rogers and Kelly Smith - onto our podcast to talk to us about their insights, tips and advice on networking.  Sarah Hayford is the founder and CEO of The Land Collective CIC.  Will Kintish is an international speaker and trainer on networking. Karen Rogers is the RICS Early Engagement Manager and Kelly Smith is a sustainable development and built environment flood risk enthusiast.

Which stakeholder group holds the most responsibility for driving sustainability in the built environment? Is it legislators, investors, contractors or consumers? Four members of our academic team argued on behalf of each of the stakeholder groups to help answer these questions. Our CertHE programme leader, Hazel Lobo, argued on behalf of legislators; our real estate programme leader, David Hourihan, argued on behalf of investors; our building surveying programme leader, James Ritson, argued on behalf of contractors; and our tutor, Janet Hontoir, argued on behalf of consumers. UCEM PR and social media manager, Andrew Belt, chaired the 30-minute debate. 

To mark today’s ‘Adaptation, loss and damage day’ at COP26, we spoke to UCEM building surveying programme leader, James Ritson, for an insight on the topic. James, answering questions posed by UCEM PR and social media manager, Andrew Belt, discusses the importance of adapting our current infrastructure to help with the goals of COP26 and how important it is to act now to halt future catastrophes caused by climate change. 

Episode 10 of our ‘UCEM in conversation with…’ series sees guest presenter, UCEM’s executive director – regulation, Andy Youell, talk to Pearson UK chair, Mary Curnock Cook CBE. Mary is an educationalist who has previously served as chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) and director of qualifications and skills at the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency. Mary was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000 for assisting in training in the hospitality industry before being promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) just last year for services to further and higher education. Mary was invited by our Chair, Amanda Clack, to speak at this month’s board of trustees meeting on her expertise in education. Whilst Mary was in the office, we thought it presented a wonderful opportunity to get her thoughts on some of the pressing issues in higher education and also gain some life advice based on her hugely successful career.

We ran a competition for secondary school students in Berkshire to find solutions for the future of Reading Prison, which has not found a permanent usage since closing in 2013. After some excellent submissions, we whittled them down to a shortlist of four. We paired each of our shortlisted students with a UCEM academic who, here, debate on behalf of the students. Listen in to the debate and if you would like to vote for your favourite, head to ucem.ac.uk/competition to find our poll. The winning student will win their choice of either an iPad, electric scooter or £300 of gaming vouchers, as well as a careers talk for their school by UCEM real estate programme leader, David Hourihan.

In the fifth podcast of our series looking at how COVID-19 has affected built environment professions and organisations, we speak to Jane Keely – a director at UK-wide corporate building control approved inspector, Assent Building Control, about the impact of the pandemic on the industry. Jane answers questions from UCEM events and communications manager, Hannah Peck, about how COVID-19 has changed building control, why people should consider a career in the profession and more!

How much of an impact does the built environment have on our daily lives? How does the sector address sustainability? What do you gain from a career in the built environment? Our construction management programme leader, Christine Gausden, answers all these questions and reflects on her own specialism and how studying on one of her programmes can benefit you going forward in this podcast. UCEM PR and social media manager, Andrew Belt, asks the questions.

Episode 9 of our ‘UCEM in conversation with…’ series sees UCEM PR and social media manager, Andrew Belt, talk to Rolcor Property director, Lucy Gaitskell. Life isn’t straightforward and throws many challenges at us. Studying part-time with us is a challenge which requires great self-motivation and self-discipline. When personal trauma is thrown into the mix as well, it becomes even harder and could persuade you to give up on your studies.During Lucy’s time studying on our MBA Construction and Real Estate, she suffered the loss of a friend to bowel cancer and two miscarriages. Despite these challenges, she persevered and graduated with us last year. Earlier this year, she suffered a further miscarriage and, in this podcast, she discusses her study experience, what inspired her to complete the MBA and the success she has achieved with her company, Rolcor Property. If you are affected by any of the themes discussed in the podcast, you can access support through Samaritans: https://www.samaritans.org/.If you are a student of ours experiencing any trauma or difficulties and wish to speak to someone, please get in touch with our disability and welfare team via the VLE.