OUR RESEARCH
Chronicling the pandemic
Thanks to COVID19, the past few months have been truly extraordinary and we believe they deserve to be chronicled. So, we have instigated a major research project to collect people’s experiences.
We are inviting anyone and everyone who is working to create the built environment…
to send us a short video of themselves, filmed on their phones, talking about the impact that the pandemic has had on their lives and the long-term changes that they envisage as a result, both personally and professionally. To see the first videos that have been shared with us follow this link
The videos will be used in two ways…
- To create a formal, research report that explores how the pandemic has affected built environment professionals and how it might therefore affect the ways we design and build in the future.
- To share experiences through the Equilibrium Network’s website and social media platforms.
PLEASE NOTE: If you would rather not share your video in a public arena, you just need to tell us and we will NOT PUBLISH it. But please do not be put off… we would still encourage you to send us your thoughts (either in a video as suggested, or in writing) and thereby to contribute to the research project.
In your video please consider three topics…
say, up to a minute on each – no more than three minutes in total:
INTRODUCTION
- Your name, the job do you do and your level of seniority.
YOUR HOME LIFE
- Where do you live? (on your own, with others, cramped or spacious, with or without access to outside space…)
- What additional responsibilities have you assumed since COVID19? (visiting/caring for relatives or neighbours, home-schooling, things that you used to pay others to do…)
- What have you enjoyed most about this time and what has worried you most?
YOUR WORK
- Have you been furloughed, or made redundant, has your income fallen?
- Has your attitude to work changed? (do you feel more or less creative, interested and focused, able to concentrate, time pressured…)
- How have your working relationships and your ability to influence projects been affected?
THE FUTURE
- As a result of COVID19, how do you think the way people work could or should change? (in particular think about people who are working to create the built environment)
- How do you think the built environment will change as a result of COVID19?
- What do you think we should try to retain from this time?
We very much hope you will take part in this exercise – and look forward to receiving your video. We will keep the project live for a few weeks so you have time to think about your response – but don’t leave it too long – we will be working with the results from mid-July.
Please send your video to adele@equilibrium-network.com if they are larger than 5MB, please use WeTransfer, or similar.
PLEASE NOTE: unless you tell us otherwise, we will assume that you are happy for us to share your video on a public channel (YouTube or Vimeo for example) and to show it on our website and on other social media platforms.
Thank you in advance – this could be a really useful piece of collective work.
Women Boards and the UK Built Environment
In the summer of 2017 we asked Alice Moncaster and Martha Dillon of the Open University to undertake a desk top research exercise into gender diversity and company performance, focused on built environment professions.
Click here to see the Executive Summary
If you would like a copy of the full report, please complete the registration form where you will be able to request a copy. If you are already registered please contact us direct for a copy.
We are grateful to Allies + Morrison, Arup, Grimshaw, Sound Space Vision and Thornton Tomasetti for funding this piece of research, and to The Open University for its support.
CASE STUDIES
Case studies are being prepared and will be posted here.
USEFUL LINKS
The Conversation: How gender equality can can help fix the construction industry
Goldman Sachs talk: Jayne-Anne Gadhia: Driving Gender Equality in Business
Royal Academy of Engineering: Diversity and Inclusion in Engineering
McKinsey report, How to accelerate gender diversity on Boards 2017
HM Treasury, Women in Finance Charter – 2017
Women Talk Real Estate – training and speaking opportunities for women in real estate – 2017
House of Lords on quotas – European Union Committee 2012