50 years
My last two blogs have been a bit down beat so it is great to report on the recent BCIS 50th anniversary event which was a pure joy.
We celebrated the past, acknowledged the giants on whose shoulders we stand, met old colleagues and looked to the future.
Paul Morrell, the Government's Chief Construction Advisor, outlined the challenges ahead and Simon Rawlinson of EC Harris gave his thoughts on what the future might mean for the information requirements of the industry.
It was particularly good to see Brian Drake, the second and longest serving chairman of BCIS, and to be able to acknowledge the contributions of the other chairmen: Peter Grafton, Geoffrey Ashworth and Jim Allen; and the Director for the first 35 years Douglas Robertson.
As the years have rolled steadily by you do not notice how much the world changes but looking back to the early 1960's you realise it was a different world - no calculators, let alone computers; duodecimals; and constant battles about the length of my hair!
But some things have not changed, BCIS was set up to help the profession response to the need to build more and better for less. This is still the need.
The future has its challenges: changing procurement, Life Cycle Costing and facilities management, the low carbon agenda, BIM, expanding into civil engineering and international markets, the need for resource planning and scheduling data...
But after 50 years we can allow ourselves a few moments reflection on our past achievements and so face these challenges with confidence.
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