BIID Celebrates Successful Sustainability Showcase 2022

The 2022 BIID Sustainability Showcase took place on 30th March 2022 and delivered a full day virtual conference of exciting talks from industry experts, designers and accredited CPD Providers, to a webinar audience of BIID members, non-members, and supporters.  

Following a warm welcome from BIID President Lindsey Rendall, interior designer Cat Hoad from Absolute Project Management began proceedings with a call to action for designers, suppliers, and educational institutes to join Interior Design Declares (IDD), part of Built Environment Declares, a global petition movement uniting all strands of construction and the built environment.

Cat explained why sourcing sustainably should be a priority for all designers, and how taking small steps that lead to meaningful change, is so important. She offered the audience some excellent tips on what they could do to be part of the change, including advice on how to talk to clients and suppliers when encouraging them to make sustainable choices.

In the next session, Patrick Folkes, CEO of Graphenstone Paints presented the BIID accredited CPD ‘The Bright Future of Sustainable Paints’. Patrick explained the ecologically urgent need for change in the construction industry with focus on petro-chemical paint damage to the environment and health. The audience were treated to a well-researched examination of the impact of paint specification choices and how they affect climate, human health, and air quality.

After a short break, Interior Designer case studies followed from members of the BIID Professional Practice Committee, featuring a commercial office project, a residential home, and an exploration into next-gen materials.

BIID Member Angela Bardino of Jacobs presented her project for a pharma client located in Central Bratislava. Based on the concept of a ‘future city’ the office was designed to be hyper mobile, allowing teams the flexibility to select their own landscape in which to work.

BIID Member Liz Bell of Absolute Project Management then presented her case study of a residential renovation for private clients in Buckinghamshire. The clients were keen to create a sustainable home that would grow with them, so it needed to be energy efficient and future proofed to achieve the mutual goal of sustainability for the home.

BIID Member Chloe Bullock of Materialise Interiors, and her mentee, BIID Student member, Sadie Millermaggs, ended the designer case studies session with their investigation into next-gen materials. Starting with the philosophy of the Five R’s, refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and rot – the two designers set out what is considered ‘good’, ‘better’, and ‘best’ when specifying sustainably.

Managing Director of Swatchbox, Antony Fuller, then presented their BIID Accredited CPD ‘Sample Smarter: A Guide to Working Sustainably with Samples’. Antony went on to explain the growing ‘Zero Affordable Waste in Construction (ZAW)’ movement and the evolution of waste management, with disposal being the least desirable outcome, and how the shift to re-use and ultimately prevention is now the goal.

After the lunch break, BIID Learning and Events Manager Hayley McLennan welcomed the expert talk for the day from Rob Bohm of CLPM ‘Heating and Energy Improvements for Retro-fit Projects’. Rob detailed how eco-efficiency in the home can be achieved, with his talk which covered fabric thermal improvements, the pros and cons of the available heat source options, radiators, underfloor heating, other eco solutions and ventilation.

To conclude the day, the final presentation and third BIID Accredited CPD, ‘Regenerative Architecture’ was presented by Global Client Director at Havwoods, Philip Jones. Phil’s inspiring presentation examined carbon emissions in the built environment and introduced the audience to the concept of ‘regenerative design’, focussing on systems in nature that can be replicated by humans when designing buildings, landscapes, and interiors via such philosophies as Cradle-to-Cradle and biophilia.

Claire Tull, BIID Director, and chair of the CPD Committee closed the day thanking the audience for their participation and the speakers for their excellent presentations. Claire commented:

“The BIID has created a wide range of resources for interior designers looking to start their own sustainability journeys. It is a vitally important topic, which is why we chose to focus solely on sustainability for this year’s event and we thank everyone for taking part. In the design sector, we all need to take accountability for designing more sustainably, to help change today for a better tomorrow.”

The BIID Resource Pack (which includes all the speaker’s presentation recordings and their slide decks) is now available for free download here for everyone to access.