An Update from the President

I would like to wish a Happy New Year to all our members and to the entire interiors profession. 2020 was a very challenging year, both personally and professionally for many people and I hope that although things are still very difficult, 2021 will be a more positive year all round.

The BIID Council of Directors did our best to respond to the pandemic last Spring by waiving membership fees for all members for April, May and June of 2020. We also reviewed all outgoing expenditure to see where we were able to cut costs. After reducing spending wherever possible, including taking advantage of some government support schemes such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, I am pleased to report that the Institute’s finances are robust. We still have healthy financial reserves that we have not yet had to call on.

As we are elected by our fellow members to safeguard the future of the organisation, we take our role as guardians of the long-term health of the Institute very seriously. Looking forward we understand that the economic consequences will be felt for many months and years to come. We will continue to take a financially prudent approach.

Despite the cancellation of key events such as our Annual Conference, I am proud that we managed to continue to offer members a selection of educational and networking events, albeit online. Those have proved very successful and we are already thinking about how we can continue to offer them, even when we are able to return to in person events. We also provided content to update designers on the latest government guidance and share ideas about how to design in these unprecedented circumstances.

During the course of last year I was extremely pleased that we were able to focus on governance and professional practice. We have now updated our Articles of Association and our new member Code of Conduct, both of which will come into effect this April.

This year we are currently busy with plans for the year and beyond, not least of which will be the launch of our 3 year Strategic Plan which will be published this Spring.

And finally, I always love to hear from our members – so if you would like to chat please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me, via the BIID office.