Great Oaks...an honour to be part of Heriot-Watt University

Class Of Your Own has worked closely with HWU since I met Professor Fiona Grant at a COYO event at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 2013. Since then, we’ve worked proactively to support the teaching and learning of Design Engineer Construct! both in the UK and UAE. The acclaimed ‘Mutual Benefit’ report justified and indeed celebrated the positive impact a university and industry collaboration has on DEC students and teachers.

And so, it was indeed a great honour to accept an Honorary Degree at HWU’s graduation ceremony on Tuesday 10th December, “for her immense contribution to the sector and for forging new links between industry, academia and young people.”

In response to a thoughtful Laureation from Professor Fiona Grant, I presented new graduates with some thoughts back to my own childhood in Sheffield...

“When I was 16, my school motto was GREAT OAKS FROM LITTLE ACORNS GROW.

It didn’t mean much then. Just a wooden plaque with a brightly coloured shield on the wall by the head teachers office, and a badge sewn onto the pockets of our blazers.

It was the year of acid house and the Smiths, of Thatcher, Reagan and Gorbachev.

And as the Great Storm of 1987 rampaged its way through Great Britain, we didn’t talk about global warming, we didn’t know about it. Instead, the headlines were about Michael Fish, the weather forecaster who got it so badly wrong....

How times have changed.

Now the words on every 16 year old’s lips are ‘Climate Change’.

‘Greta’ has become a household name and strike action is normal on Fridays as children and young people become the new leaders of democracy. They are angry and demand change...

But what does that change mean to the average 16 year old? Will they walk to school instead of jumping in the car? Will they give up MacDonalds? Join the school campaign to plant more trees? Who will help them with these decisions and channel their anger into something productive and meaningful?

Sadly, it’s a scientific fact that planting more trees will not make the difference that is needed to help Scotland become a net-zero society by 2045. 

We need to look to major changes from industry. Studies from the UK and US Green Building Council state that construction is responsible for up to 50% of climate change, 40% of energy usage globally and 50% of landfill waste.

We are a dirty industry and to fully address the climate change challenge, we must look beyond buildings to transport systems and energy production, flood protection from rising sea and levels and make major investments in climate resilient infrastructure right now, otherwise we cannot guarantee the future of communities - your communities - in the years ahead.

This places an enormous responsibility on those who design, engineer, construct, maintain and operate our built environment: surveyors, planners, architects, landscape architects, civil engineers and more. 

What will it take to achieve the change that we need? EDUCATION, that’s what.

Over the last ten years, I’ve had the privilege to work in secondary schools with amazing students for whom sustainable design, engineering and construction has become the norm. 

• At 12 years old, they’re bringing communities together to change their habits through their highly efficient, sustainable building designs. 
• At 14, they’re discussing embodied energy and passive ventilation. 
• At 16, they’re developing zero waste strategies for their digital construction projects. 

Aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals, the themes of social, environmental and economic sustainability run throughout the Design Engineer Construct! programme, and learners discover how to minimise their own and their community’s impact on the planet through role play and project based learning. They understand the value of inclusivity and diversity, designing for a world where everyone matters.

They leave school with fire in their bellies to become great engineers and transform their planet for good....only to get into an industry that isn’t quite ready for them. 

Thanks to Heriot Watt University, we were able to conduct a study with some of our young students in Edinburgh...we put undergraduates in with Drummond Community High School students to inspire and encourage and be the local human ‘google’. Couple this with the university‘s own professors Alex MacLaren and David Kelly and industry professionals from Laing O’Rourke, working on the nearby St James’ project, and it was 100% successful. Some of those school children just came back from Singapore after representing great British talent in infrastructure design.

We can plant trees, and we should plant trees, but we should - each and every one of us - plant the seed of education. The mightiest and most crucial catalyst for change.

I congratulate you all on your incredible achievements here at Heriot Watt University and hugely look forward to working closely with you - and those who will follow you, but are yet to discover the great opportunities this industry brings.

As you wander out into the big wide world and become great oaks, remember - you are the difference this planet - and especially those little acorns - need.”

PS...don’t just take it from me...this from Keith Clarke in Infrastructure Intelligence magazine, November/December 2019.