AECB 2012 Conference

[Tahir]

No official thread? My first conference so nothing to judge it against but I found it really interesting and informative, obviously a lot of the stuff is pitched at a technical level beyond my understanding but certainly worthwhile.

Apart from the content it was great to meet some of the people behind the AECB, it gave me a sense of the hard work that goes into everything the AECB does.

There was an at times heated debate on the future direction of the AECB, I guess there will always be a range of opinion on this (and I definitely have opinions on this) but it really is important to remember that whatever the AECB does right now has to carry on as there's no one else around doing it.

Happy to be a member and support all the excellent people doing such worthwhile work.

[Kate de S]

I heartily agree Tahir, it was a great event - and a write-up of the debate will be available shortly - I'll post here again when I know when/what route - hopefully the discussion can continue!

[Debbie Mauger]

Anyone who has not experienced an AECB conference must make a point of coming to one. It is like a dozen local group meetings rolled into one. If you could not make it to this year's conference, please write to Geoff (or me debbie@aecb.net) and let us know why - inconvenient time of the year or days of the week, too far, too long, too expensive, too boring (this last one will only be relevant if you have never been to one!)

This year 'day tickets' were introduced and this enabled members to come along for at least a few of the workshops, the AGM (a chance to have your say in the running of the AECB and not as dry as you may think) and networking (aka socialising). 

A few of this year's workshops that I attended and would love to bring to Local Group meetings are as follows. 

Chris Baines Independent Environmentalist and Hon President of AECB "Sustaining an urban forest at Elephant & Castle" . Chris Baines has already agreed to give his inspiring presentation to members in London (and I am hoping in Birmingham too) http://aecb.net/news/2012/07/chris-baines-presents-an-inspiring-project-at-elephant-castle-to-local-group/ 

Tahir Sharif and Jon Broome "A look at the challenges faced by someone wanting to build a low-energy house but with no experience".  Tahir shared with us his experiences of achieving a low-energy, dream home and the importance of having an informed client (himself) and assembling the right team for the job.  This workshop also highlighted the need for attaining low-energy building principles without compromising the clients’ brief.

Ben Humphries of Architype and Ben Binns of Adapt Low Carbon Group, University of East Anglia "Natural materials and an ecological approach - NRP Enterprise Centre, UEA".  This is a very exciting project and I look forward to following its progress. 
http://www.norfolkchamber.co.uk/sites/default/files/chamber-news/files/john_french_presentation_-_10th_may_sustainability_2012.pdf

UEA would make a great conference venue while the NRP Enterprise Centre is being built?

[Nick Grant]

Tahir, about bloody time you made it to a conference, glad you enjoyed it. We only located it
in London so you could come :-)

As you know, gutted to miss your and Jon's presentation as was given something else to chair.

Was great to see your building and I hope you will write it up or at least post some pics on here.

I put some thoughts in BDOnline, people can comment, i dont understand the one comment that is there, registration is free:

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/404Handler.aspx?404;http://www.bdonline.co.uk:80/comment/blogs/the-sustainability-blog/5032502.bloglead

cheers

Nick