Westminster holds ProBE Research Symposium on environmental sustainability, social impact and equity

ProBE is a cross-school research centre between Westminster Business School (WBS) and the School of Architecture and Cities and the symposium succeeded in bringing together a wide variety of academics and partners to help reassess research priorities for the research centre.

In an engaging day of conversation, the symposium gathered ProBE members, past and present, as well as potential collaborators and project partners from within the University and beyond, including academic organisations, unions, industry practitioners, environmental organisations, policymakers and the general public, to hear about ProBE’s current and recently completed research. The event kicked off with a warm welcome by Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research Professor Andrew Linn, followed by five sessions throughout the day. These sessions explored the socio-technical challenges of retrofit, vocational education and training, women in construction, scaffolding and domestic retrofit in the context of fuel poverty. Each session hosted a panel talk involving several academics and industry partners from various universities and industry companies.

The keynote presentation was delivered by Professor Gavin Killip from the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment at Nottingham Trent University. He said: “Building more bridges between different approaches to research is the only avenue to find realistic and workable solutions to the climate crisis, beyond current debates almost exclusively focussed on technology and costs. ProBE’s expertise in labour relations and the education and training system for the construction sector means it is ideally placed to offer real insights into these problems, and the symposium was a great example of the kind of inter-disciplinary bridge-building that we need.”

Other highlights included Dr Fernando Duran-Palma discussing the Scaffold project, which is led by the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) with financial support from the European Union. Dr Maria Christina Georgiadou also presented a recent ProBE study on fuel poverty and domestic energy retrofit in London.

ProBE Research Associate Dr Coralie Guedes talked about a resource toolkit produced by ProBE for gender equality in construction across Europe. Dr Guedes' research focuses on equality, diversity and inclusion in ProBE and labour environmentalism, with a specific emphasis on how these issues interest environmental law and policy making, as well as environmental practices. 

John Calvert, a retired Professor from Simon Fraser University in Canada, also spoke and highlighted the practice of embedding climate literacy into the building trades. His research deals with construction training and apprenticeships and he is currently working with Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU) in developing climate literacy curriculum material for Canada’s apprenticeship programmes as part of a five-year grant from the Canadian government.

Another participant was Dr Maria Kramer, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Cities at Westminster. Her research includes exploring the architect’s role as a social value creator and promoting and enhancing ecological considerations in the built environment. Dr Kramer said: “The Research Symposium - Sustainability, Social Impact and Equity in the Production of the Built Environment showcased the complex nature of the urban environment, highlighting its cultural, social, political, structural and climate-related challenges. It addressed various practical and skills issues, aiming to understand, analyse and propose potential solutions. It was a fantastic event - thank you!”

This event directly contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.

Find out more about the Centre for the Study of the Production of the Built Environment.