Be2Awards news Archive

Tim Oldman will be talking at tomorrow's @Be2Talks event at the Building Centre in London WC1, looking at workplace productivity from the perspective of an expert in facilities management - Tim is a founder of Leesman Index, who provide measurement and audit techniques for "Evidence Based Design".

Tim (@Leesman_Index) co-founded Leesman Index early in 2010 with Annie Leeson and Divyang Mistry. It provides a suite of data capture and audit tools specifically for workplace management and design professions. The majority of its products are delivered electronically via web-interfaces, web-applications and handheld devices, designed to offer rapid deployment and speedy results analysis.

Register for your seat now! 

Nick Katz - ''Honest Buildings"

Hear about Honest Buildings at the @Be2Talks event in London on Wednesday 26 September.

Honest Buildings is a real estate network connecting professionals to new business opportunities and information for over 700,000 buildings across the US, and now with an office in London. As part of its platform, Honest Buildings streamlines the costly and time-consuming process of distributing requests for proposals and receiving bids with its proprietary matching engine that helps real estate decision makers find the best people for their next project.

Honest Buildings was founded in 2011. Nick Katz, formerly at UK Green Building Council and then senior sustainability advisor for Colliers International, is associate director leading UK market development for Honest Buildings. Nick believes that, through sharing information freely and showcasing great building projects delivered the world over, the bar for building performance will be raised globally.

Click here to register your seat.

IT director Mark Stodgell will be straddling the divide between building information modelling (BIM) and social media, in his talk - provisionally entitled ''BIM, blogs, bikes and Pozzoni Architects" - at the @Be2Talks event in London on Wednesday 26 September.

Mark Stodgell was an early adopter of building information modelling and of social media, having used Twitter (he's @Stodgeblog) and LinkedIn to raise the profile of his firm in the BIM world (where he is also a stalwart of the UK #BIMcrew). He will talk about how the technologies complement each other.

Mark is IT director at Manchester and London-based architects' practice Pozzoni Architects.

He says he started using the internet to find about orienteering in Finland. In his spare time, he is a member of Great Britain's mountain bike orienteering team.

Mark's talk is likely to complement contributions from other speakers, including Richard Saxon talking about BIM, Phil Sorrell talking about outdoor activities and technology, and Carlton Reid, talking about cycling and the built environment.

Click here to register your seat.

In her @Be2Talk on Wednesday 26 September, 'Why repair, maintenance and improvement is vital', Liz Male will talk about the rise of the RMI (repair, maintenance and improvement) sector – its new-found political, social, economic and environmental importance, and the opportunities and risks this creates for UK businesses in the built environment, including those linked to the imminent Green Deal initiative.

Liz is Chairman of TrustMark, a not-for-profit organisation licensed by Government and supported by consumer protection groups which helps people find reputable local tradesmen to do work on their homes. She is also a PR consultant with specialism in sustainability in the built environment.

*Remember to book your place at the Be2Talks event 

The latest speaker to be confirmed for our TEDx-style @Be2Talks event (on Wednesday 26 September at the Building Centre in London) is Phil Sorrell, who will be talking about using geo-location data to share information online.

Phil Sorrell is the creator of Social Hiking - Share Your Adventure, a website for sharing outdoor adventures live using social media and GPS tracking. He is an experienced web developer, writes a blog about the outdoors and fundraises for Multiple Sclerosis charities.

Don't miss out on the chance to hear Phil, Carlton Reid and Richard Saxon all talk about different aspects of the built environment - book your place now!

Watch this space for more speaker announcements (we are planning one a day....)

Vote for your best social media people, places and applications

Nominations for the Be2Awards have been 'crowd-sourced', the lists have been collated, some categories have been merged, and now... it's time to vote!

BE2 media award

Best AEC collaboration application

Best AEC community, network or application

Best AEC PR/marketing campaign

Best AEC social media blog

Best AEC use of Twitter

Best education and learning project

Best 'internet of things', location-based or mobile app

Best sustainability or built environment blog

Best AEC use of photo / video

Best use of Web 2.0 for construction products

Best virtual or hybrid event

Note: Voting will close at midnight BST on 24 September 2012.

**And don't forget to book your place at the Awards event on 26 September**

Just over two weeks to go to the Be2Awards and @Be2Talks event (at London's Building Centre on 26 September, during London Social Media Week), and we are firming up the speaker programme still further....

Our next confirmed speaker, Carlton Reid, is a leading authority on cycling and the built environment and will be talking about the interface between cyclists and other road users, and the role that social media can play in communications between these groups.

Carlton has been writing about bicycles and travel for 20 years. He has written for many cycling and travel magazines and UK newspapers including The Guardian and The Independent, and is the author of several books on travel and cycling. He is executive editor of BikeBiz.com, editor of Bikehub.co.uk, Quickrelease.tv and iPayRoadTax.com. Author of the acclaimed Bike to Work Book, his latest project is Roads were not built for Cars. Carlton will present our Be2Bike Keynote on the growing application and importance of social media in the world of cycling.

We are delighted to announce that Remit Consulting is sponsoring the "Best mobile AEC application" category in the 2012 Be2Awards.

Remit is an independent, international team of real estate experts who help clients find innovative ways to run their property businesses more efficiently. It has offices in the UK, the Netherlands, France and Germany and its languages, skills and experience cross borders and mean its people can get the best for its clients – wherever they are.

Remit partner Andrew Waller says:

"Currently, the most exciting trend in systems is Software as a Service – SaaS. It is this which will drive people’s ability to work in an agile, flexible, way and create opportunities, link disconnected parts of our industry – not to mention saving time and money. We are looking forward to discussing the nominations in this important category and being part of the process for highlighting the best of them."

(Be2Awards sponsorship opportunities are still available.)

We understand that some people have had problems using the discussion board format to second nominations for the Be2Awards (Cambridge Open Systems identified the problem as posts timing-out - so we have increased the time you have to nominate and second). In light of this, and to give people a little more time to propose their own favourites, the nominations period has been extended to midnight BST on Wednesday 12 September. You can make your nominations here or via the Be2Awards Facebook page.

Voting will open on Thursday 13 September and remain open until Monday 24 September.

With three weeks to go to the Be2Awards and @Be2Talks event (at London's Building Centre on 26 September, during London Social Media Week), we are firming up the speaker programme. And today we can reveal our first speaker....

Richard Saxon CBE - "Growth through BIM"

Richard Saxon is an architect and urban designer. He now works as a client adviser after a career at BDP (chairman 1996-2002), the RIBA (Vice-President 2002-8) and Be, Collaborating for the Built Environment (chairman, 1999-2005). He was made a CBE in 2001 for services to architecture and construction. He is on the board of the Construction Industry Council, is currently advising BIS on the growth potential of BIM and was recently appointed the CIC's "BIM Ambassador".

Watch this space for more speaker announcements (we are planning one a day....)

Nominations for the Be2Awards 2012 close at midnight BST this Friday, 7 September. We invite nominations (either here or on our Facebook page) across the following categories:

• Built environment blogger of the Year
• Best sustainability blog
• Best AEC social media blog
• Best use of Twitter
• Best AEC collaboration platform
• Best AEC community, network or community application
• Best use of Web 2.0 for construction products
• Best location-based AEC application
• Best 'internet of things' application
• Best mobile application
• Best virtual or hybrid event
• Be2 media award
• Best use of social media in an AEC PR campaign
• Best use of social media in an AEC marketing campaign
• Best AEC education and learning project
• Best charity, third sector use of social media
• Best AEC use of photo / video