Jul 20 2020
An email landed in my inbox this morning announcing that it was a year since my first Parkrun. It motivated me to write about my past year in running, and to ponder on volunteer communities. I am a late convert to running, though I ran a lot in my teens (I did some cross-country for …
Jun 11 2020
As the self-employed owner of a small limited company, any respect I might have had for the UK Government’s COVID-19 response was fatally undermined by Rishi Sunak in March. In early March 2020, I attended an industry trade show (FutureBuild) at London’s EXCeL, never imagining the place would later become a centre for treating COVID-19 …
Nov 14 2018
A frustrating 15 hours without Twitter following a seemingly random suspension. As I am on most working weekdays, I was up and at my desk bright and early yesterday morning, filing a few daily photos to my Blipfoto photographic blog, before dealing with some emails and heading out to an event at the Institution of …
Sep 17 2018
CIPR CAPSIG research regarding women in construction PR and marketing showed considerable pride in working in the sector, and recommended some changes to help develop a better, more diverse industry. Colleges and others are also taking practical steps – not turning into propagandists with another ‘lipstick on a pig’ campaign. The image of construction has …
Oct 15 2017
Long-term readers of my PR blog will know that I have been seeking to improve CIPR provision for independent practitioners since 2014 when I chaired a CIPR roundtable of independent PR practitioners (aka freelance PRs, or solo PRs) at the institute’s Russell Square HQ. Once elected to the CIPR’s Council, I began to agitate about how the …
Oct 09 2017
An enforced stopover called by British Airways overselling its flight led to a hellish night at a Heathrow hotel. I was due to fly to Singapore with British Airways on the evening of Friday 6 October, for the Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure conference (an event I’ve participated in since 2013 – though these were …
Sep 25 2017
According to a Designing Buildings analysis of six million pieces of data, the knowledge framework underpinning the construction industry is no longer fit for purpose. Designing Buildings Wiki has undertaken what it says is the “first ever comprehensive mapping of construction industry knowledge”. It analysed data relating to its 5,000 articles, looking at the popularity …
Sep 19 2016
Atmotube puts air pollution monitoring in your hands, and enables users to share readings in real-time and via social media. Earlier this year, I participated in a COMIT community day workshop which asked us to think about ways in which air quality might be monitored for construction workers in tunnels. As a cyclist and someone employed at …
Feb 26 2016
For a long time there has been some overlap, and a productive relationship, between two UK construction communication groups: CIMCIG, the construction interest group of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and CAPSIG, the construction and property special interest group (which I chair) of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. Members of one are often eligible …
Sep 23 2015
The Institution of Civil Engineers has become the latest supporter of the Designing Buildings Wiki.* Launched in 2012 (see my November 2012 post and February 2013 follow-up), Designing Buildings Wiki is an industry-wide endeavor to share best practice, promote innovation and break down single-discipline barriers. Just like Wikipedia, anyone can access, create and edit articles, …
