James Pinder delivered a presentation (video of presentation) about the AF research at the Nightingale Associates’ Sustainability Conference, held at Gateway College in Leicester in the UK. The conference was attended by a wide variety of construction professionals, including architects, developers and building services engineers.  The conference venue itself was a great example of the importance of designing buildings for change: since the building was completed in 2009, the College’s Learning Resources Centre has been moved from its original location, just one of several examples of how the building has been appropriated and changed by its users.

Guy Neville from Max Fordham provided an interesting presentation on the development of a matrix for framing conversations about sustainability when talking to clients, using the National Trust’s and Woodland Trust’s HQ projects as case study examples. Further information about the matrix can be found on their website. Susan Francis from Architects for Health delivered a talk on specificity and change in healthcare, using case study examples to underline the importance of designing for change. Her presentation highlighted the longstanding interest in adaptability in healthcare, through the work of people such as John Weeks, and there were a number of overlaps with our own research into adaptability.