Meeting of RIAI Architectual Technicians in DIT 19 June 2008

sydthebeat wrote: »

What about technicians who qualified from an accrediated course but work in a practise thats not RIAI.... that my particular situation and as far as i know i would have to sit the entrance exam as well.

Stronger position then vice versa Syd . Answer was a little vague -"talk to RIAI"

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

Should everyone join all, CIAT, RIAI Tech, IBCI, and any other club/organisation that comes along or could we all stand up and push for our own body to best represent us, ATI through the IATGN. I know it has all been debated before but could we maybe hear from a Committee Member on the current position.

IATGN - appear to break it down to 2 options - RIAI (AT ) or CIAT . Detailed handout from meeting examines pros and cons RIAI vs CIAT

RIAI President Mr Sean O'Laoire is very aware of the issue's being raised, but as suggested in his opening speech, there are much bigger issues to address. The Irish Construction Services Sector has built itself up to cater for a population of 15 million, for example in '06 bringing 90,000 units to a market with a natural demand for 35,000 pa while at the same time the UK built 230,000 for a population of 50 million.

quote from yesterdays IT ' Speaking at a construction industry conference in Dublin Castle, Mr Lenihan: “We’ve had a building boom going on in Ireland since the mid-1990s and I have the misfortune to have become the Minister for Finance a few weeks ago as the building boom was coming to a shuddering end."

Its very late in the day to be making demands on the Institute, who have some very difficult years ahead for their existing membership. It must be remembered that any Guild or society has a obligation to protect the commercial interests of core membership. AT's do not yet have significant clout by way of membership to secure their unique interests are at heart of the RIAI's decision making. Supporting AT's many of which are associates and directors of the large commercial practicises is one thing, but supporting the movement to give suitably qualified AT's the same competencies as Architects is quite another. The salient question of the night was asked by DB 'Will the RIAI support its technician membership in private practice." A question that may never get a clear unambiguous answer, it is clear however that the issue can be passed between the Institute and the Architects Registration Boards and remain suspended in the ether between.

Many of my contemporaries are burn't out from 10 -12 years of extreme productivity. Now as the market turns, the benefits which they were led to believe were accruing to them are being deferred due to the slack market . Even with a full suite of Architects skills, team leadership and Project management qualifications, each glass ceiling has another just waiting above. The technical education and experience we should be so proud of, can be a limitation, almost a stigma. Moving to private practice was seen by many as a way escaping this, producing excellent quality work, now being faced with problems in certifying compliance. Up-skilling is difficult as most Post Grad + Masters programmes require Hons degrees and we just can't wait any longer for a simple part time course to bring us up to this. 50% of graduates today in Ireland leave college with a Masters. A Diploma is perceived in some quarters as having similar stock to a City and Guilds.

But lets think this out without regard for past of present tense. Look down the line. Regulation will demand low energy commercial buildings by 2010, passive standard housing by 2011, zero carbon by 2015. Not just that, all buildings will be rated on a 6 star rating, to be incorporated on the BER label, which credits embodied energy and water harvesting for example. That said, the Biggest issue facing architects is going to be compliance.

The 2007 Part L demands that compliance is based on building performance, this requires supervision and acceptance of builders accredited details, air tightness testing to check requirements of air permiability and thermal imaging to verify insulation. Compliance certs are currently full of caviates to defer liability from architects, Opinion on substantial compliance will no longer be sufficient. We've been here before, with fire certs, a simple method was devised to be used by architects as part of the design process, in most part this service got farmed out to specialists with specific Liability Indemnity (Fire Consultants) and so it will be with Energy and Ecology Regulation. With Higher fuel bills clients will demand specifics on performance of buildings, such as return on investment and carbon savings. The best skill set to fill this niche is the Architectural Technician. The building services engineers or environmental engineers as they now like to be called ,can throw some very fancy equipment at a problem, but can they integrate the technology holistically into the construction concept. Their is a role emerging in parallel to the designer for a specialist who will guide the client and architect to produce a lean green comfortable habitat from briefing to performance testing without compromising design aesthetics, buildability, cost, longevity and quality.

Technician, Technologist, constructor, whatever the debate is? I'd like to muddy the water by introducing another title to the debate 'Ecotect'. This term used to define a new breed of Architects and Technologists designing with a view to the future was coined by Paul Leech http://constructireland.ie/Articles/Design-Approaches/Redefining-Building-Boundaries.html
Some of the Brightest individuals at the vanguard of sustainable consultancy and research have come from an AT background. A disproportionate number of us are trained as Energy Assessors and Air testers. There is an argument for saying; why should our organization (whatever eventual form it takes), pursue the sole route of achieving equality of opportunity with Architects. There is growing demand out there for a service which incorporates design/energy/performance which we are in best position to exploit (with the help of a course, any course to get us up to LEVEL 8). There's a huge appetite for empirical research and data from built low energy projects, issues such as what happens with moisture transfer when you superinsulate, How do you achieve decrement delay( a type of thermal mass) with lightweight building methods. There is a huge amount of research ongoing re the built environment in DIT such as the work of Dr Kirk Shanks, and Pat Daly. looking at the final year energy projects it seems the young pups graduating this year have experience of Daylight simulation, Dynamic thermal modelling, thermal bridging analysis, air permiability design, Carbon negative assessment. We need a fourth year now, any ol fourth year. Its dosent have to be done right, it just needs to be done.

The time to act on this is now before the opportunity is lost. Does anybody else agree that the Architectural technicians should get organised to provide such services as a new discipline, which we are begining to see the construction sector and Architectural profession are in dire need for.

save energy wrote: »

RIAI President Mr Sean O'Laoire is very aware of the issue's being raised, but as suggested in his opening speech, there are much bigger issues to address. The Irish Construction Services Sector has built itself up to cater for a population of 15 million, for example in '06 bringing 90,000 units to a market with a natural demand for 35,000 pa while at the same time the UK built 230,000 for a population of 50 million.

quote from yesterdays IT ' Speaking at a construction industry conference in Dublin Castle, Mr Lenihan: “We’ve had a building boom going on in Ireland since the mid-1990s and I have the misfortune to have become the Minister for Finance a few weeks ago as the building boom was coming to a shuddering end."

Change always seems difficult , it's time rarely appears opportune .

Its very late in the day to be making demands on the Institute, who have some very difficult years ahead for their existing membership. It must be remembered that any Guild or society has a obligation to protect the commercial interests of core membership. AT's do not yet have significant clout by way of membership to secure their unique interests are at heart of the RIAI's decision making. Supporting AT's many of which are associates and directors of the large commercial practicises is one thing, but supporting the movement to give suitably qualified AT's the same competencies as Architects is quite another. The salient question of the night was asked by DB 'Will the RIAI support its technician membership in private practice." A question that may never get a clear unambiguous answer, it is clear however that the issue can be passed between the Institute and the Architects Registration Boards and remain suspended in the ether between.

Its not late - this "day" has no end . Evolution and change is ever expanding . If we swell the ranks of the membership , as we have the Architects workplace , we gain influence . Most of us work in the same workplace with Architects . Logic dictates we are represented by the same institute . In time "the answer" will come

Many of my contemporaries are burn't out from 10 -12 years of extreme productivity.

Speak for yourself - and i have a few years on you

Now as the market turns, the benefits which they were led to believe were accruing to them are being deferred due to the slack market . Even with a full suite of Architects skills, team leadership and Project management qualifications, each glass ceiling has another just waiting above. The technical education and experience we should be so proud of, can be a limitation, almost a stigma. Moving to private practice was seen by many as a way escaping this, producing excellent quality work, now being faced with problems in certifying compliance. Up-skilling is difficult as most Post Grad + Masters programmes require Hons degrees and we just can't wait any longer for a simple part time course to bring us up to this. 50% of graduates today in Ireland leave college with a Masters. A Diploma is perceived in some quarters as having similar stock to a City and Guilds.

Disagree with boldened comments above

Technician, Technologist, constructor, whatever the debate is? I'd like to muddy the water by introducing another title to the debate 'Ecotect'.

thanks

We need a fourth year now, any ol fourth year. Its dosent have to be done right, it just needs to be done.

Want to re phrase that ?