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Scholarships and Awards

Scholars 2014/5

This year’s CIOB scholars are continuing the tradition. The SIDS Scholar is Adam Golden, who works
for Costain and is writing a paper on “Dispute Management and the Supply Chain”. The aim of
Adam’s research is to explore, capture and analyse disputes, relationships and barriers of
collaboration in construction projects through the analysis of current views within the supply chain.
The FAS Scholar is Andrew Mills, who works for Walter Lilly and is writing a paper on “New Rules for
Measurement.
There are 3 Sustainability scholars, Emma Gains, Inga Brecht and Szilvia Zakar.
Emma Gains works for Faithful & Gold and is writing a paper on “Adapting buildings to climate
change risks”. Emma’s research topic looks at the climate change risks facing the built U.K.
environment and understanding how we can adapt buildings to mitigate these effects. Her study will
be split into several areas to produce a comprehensive final research report. The research will use a
number of case studies to focus on within the U.K., for example retail or office spaces in central
London and then generate a review of building adaptation measures that can be applied to the built
space. The case studies will require collaboration with the wider industry to carry out
surveys/studies on specific buildings to fully understand measures already in place and the benefits
of adapting to climate change risks and mitigation into the future.
Inga Brecht works for Willmott Dixon and is writing a paper on “Assessing the influence of
sustainability in tender processes for non-domestic tenders”. The aim of her research is to support
Willmott Dixon in understanding clients’ values and motivations with regards to sustainability so that
they can produce more sustainable products and also understand what Willmott Dixon can do to
encourage clients not to automatically look at sustainability as the first item to value-engineer out of
projects with tight budgets. This research will help companies to grow as a business as well as
benefitting the wider construction industry and society in general.
Szilvia Zakar works for Sir Robert McAlpine and is writing a paper on “Natural capital and how it
relates to the performance of Sir Robert McAlpine and the wider construction industry”. Natural
capital is the basis on which the construction industry operates and it is essential that it is
sustainably managed to ensure the security of both natural capital itself and the construction
industry which depend on it. The research will demonstrate to the industry (clients, consultants,
main contractors and the supply chain) how they can understand and analyse their reliance on
natural capital and how they can begin to include it in their reporting and future business strategies.
In the mid- to long-term this has two key benefits:
1. The natural capital which the construction industry uses will be managed sustainably;
2. Companies will be able to adapt to changes in availability, price and demand.
The research will clearly demonstrate the links between natural capital and performance in the
construction industry by looking at case studies and empirical data. This will promote awareness of
the issue and help to create a platform for discussion within and between companies.

Autumn 2015 | The Journal of the Worshipful Company of Constructors | 39