Speakers

Ben represents an emerging group of Modern Construction Professionals with the skills and demeanour to lead in a new building era in the UK. Ben began his career in carpentry as a tradesman. He continued to obtain a degree in architecture and a master's in advanced timber technology. His work at NMITE includes an array of activities centred on the advancement of timber as a building material. In his research efforts, Ben is assisting with the Building from English Woodlands research project as well as a few other projects to understand the nature of timber, primarily homegrown materials. Ben also leads as an instructor in advanced timber technology and fabric-first retrofit courses. These two areas are focused on bringing more talent into the building industry to support better building methods and address the labour shortage plaguing the industry globally. On secondment with the Association for Environment Conscious Building, Ben travelled to Tanzania, where he put into practice the principles he teaches to test on a retrofit project. He worked on an orphanage damaged by a series of storms, leaving part of the building unusable. Ben’s task was to survey the damage and, using local trades and materials, create a solution to repair the damage and reinforce the structure against future storms. Ben excels in creating sustainable solutions based on available technologies. Ben is an emerging leader in education and industry to bring construction efforts into the modern era.