BILT Academy 2019 News, New College Lanarkshire Motherwell Campus Event

BILT Academy 2019 Motherwell Campus

New College Lanarkshire Event in Motherwell, Scotland

post updated 12 August 2023

BILT in Lanarkshire: NCL plays host to leading building design summit

11 Oct 2019

International students and academics attend BILT Academy 2019 at Motherwell Campus

Some of Europe’s brightest students of building engineering and architecture have attended a one-day summit at New College Lanarkshire.

The BILT Academy 2019, which was held on 8th October, saw more than 100 students and academics drawn from across the continent descend on the College’s Motherwell Campus.

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BILT Academy 2019 at New College Lanarkshire’s Motherwell Campus

The sold-out event featured a mix of talks and workshops from global industry experts who showcased new technology practices in addition to developments in software and project management.

The summit paves the way for the BILT Europe 2019 conference, which takes place in Edinburgh October 10^th-12^th, and is a prestigious gathering for professionals currently shaping the built environment.

Organised by the Digital Built Environment Institute (DBEI), the academy and conference are part of a series of only four events to be staged across the globe in 2019, with similar BILT symposiums held earlier this year in Shanghai, Melbourne and Seattle.

The event began with a keynote speech from Wesley Benn, the founder of DBEI, before students were directed to a series of 90-minute workshops.

Content for the academy focused on Computational Design and Coding, Model and Project Management, and BIM (Building Information Modelling) Interoperability & Interdisciplinary Collaboration.

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Silvia Taurer, Region Manager for event organisers DBEI, said: “We have international delegates coming from the United States, Finland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, representing different disciplines and backgrounds in the building industry.

“It’s a real multi-inter-disciplinary, interactive environment where architectural students can learn from engineering students and vice versa.

“All the mentors are experts in the building industry and they are sharing their knowledge and best practice with all of the students attending.

“We have a very close relationship with New College Lanarkshire – we looked for senior lecturers who are passionate about their field of education and we identified New College Lanarkshire as one of the leading educational faculties in terms of BIM adaptation.”

Workshops were hosted by well-respected industry figures, including Diane Ramage (BIM Manager at Keppie Design), Claudio Vittori Antisari (founder of Strategie Digitali), Frederic Beaupere (architect at Herzog & de Meuron), Mostafa El Ayoubi (co-founder of Data Shapes), David Delgado Vendrell (architect at DDV), Kelly Cone (Vice President of Industry Strategy of ClearEdge3D) and Conor Shaw (owner of Shaw Architectural Solutions).

Barry Skea, the College’s Head of Faculty of Engineering & Automotive, said: “This is the start of a partnership where our staff and students will receive high-end training in the most advanced technologies that exist for the built environment.

“It’s exciting for our students who have signed up to a course in Lanarkshire that they’re meeting international students and learning from really strong industry experts.

“We’re a regional college, not a university, but the fact that BILT has asked us to be part of the partnership shows that our staff and students are good at technology and working at a very high level.

“I hope this will lead our students on to stronger engagement with their subjects; more asking ‘why’ rather than ‘how’ do we do things – and when you ask ‘why’ you’re digging in deeper and trying to understand the processes involved in the built environment.”

Sponsors of the BILT Academy 2019 included Autodesk, BIM Track, Digital Guerrilla, LivingRoomCraftZ (LRCZ) and DiRoots.

Lecturer Michael McGuire added: “After the keynote speech, many of my students said that it was the most inspiring thing they’ve ever heard – they were inspired for both their professional and personal lives.

“We’re so grateful to the companies who have sponsored New College Lanarkshire students to attend this academy.

“What our students are learning here is what we’ll be teaching in five years’ time – that’s how advanced the technology is.

“They’re having their eyes opened and are so inspired by what they’re doing and what the future holds for their careers in the industry.”

Attendees were invited to attend networking breaks, with refreshments served by staff and students from Hospitality & Professional Cookery.

HND Computer Aided Architectural Design and Technology (CAADT) student Blair Stevenson was one of the New College Lanarkshire students in attendance.

The 30-year-old, who lives in Lenzie, completed a summer internship with Keppie Design in Glasgow City Centre after they were impressed with a display of his HNC work.

He said: “This has been very interesting and I’ve been learning about programming for the first time – it was good to hear about it in relation to architecture.

“I’ve spoken to a few international students and it’s been interesting to hear where everyone is from, like Canada and Germany.

“It’s really impressive to know that the reputation of the staff here, and how well our courses are run, is renowned.”

For more information on the wide range of Engineering, architectural and CAD courses on offer at New College Lanarkshire, please visit www.nclanarkshire.ac.uk/courses or call 0300 555 8080.