Construction and Property Alumni Evening

03 May 2012

School of Built Environment alumni recently gathered on the 6th Floor of 4 St Paul's Square for an industry alumni networking event.

The event was organised by LJMU's Alumni Relations Team and was delivered with the support of Professor Mike Riley, Director of the School of Built Environment and alumnus Oliver Crook, a Partner at Todd & Ledson, who is Chair of the Alumni Board.

The purpose of the evening was to develop relationships between alumni and the School of Built Environment and to lay the foundations for future interactions between the University and graduates.

The evening opened with a welcome from Alumni Relations Manager Mark Williams and introductions of event partners Todd & Ledson, English Cities Fund and Liverpool Vision.

Darran Lawless, Director of Muse Developments talked about 4 St Paul's Square and its BREEAM Excellence accreditation before Mike Riley and Jo Ives gave short talks about the School of Built Environment and the World of Work Programme respectively.

The keynote speeches were delivered by Brian Furlong, Michelle Helsby and Chris England from the Horizon Consortium. The guest speakers investigated the proposals and bid process for the Royal Liverpool Hospital which is one of the largest construction projects in the North West.

In particular the detail of the presentation highlighted the need for the project to consider improved patient care and dignity, the need to use hospital space more efficiently in order to ensure high quality care and the requirement for the consortium to engage pro-actively with community stakeholders.

The evening closed with further networking, whilst alumni were asked for their opinion as to the shape and content of future alumni activities. This was re-emphasised in an evaluation via a follow up survey.

Mark Williams said:

"Providing a platform for industry networks to gather and engage with the University can be of mutual benefit to the parties involved. I was particularly pleased with alumni spreading the word about the event through their own networks, as this helped to facilitate a successful event."

LJMU Alumnus Oliver Crook added:

"I have experienced the benefit of being pro-actively engaged with the LJMU Alumni Association as it has helped develop my own networks and links with the institution. The alumni events organised by LJMU are useful, interesting and they also provide an opportunity for relationships to be developed."

For further information about delivering and being part of Alumni events and networking email: m.r.williams@ljmu.ac.uk or call: 0151 231 3370

Pictured: (left to right): Darran Lawless (Director, English Cities Fund and Muse Developments), Mark Williams (Alumni Relations Manager), Michelle Helsby (Bid Consultant, Horizon Consortium), Professor Mike Riley (Director, School of Built Environment), Chris England (UK Manager PPP Projects, FCC), Jo Ives (Deputy Director, World of Work Careers Centre), Brian Furlong (Project Director, Horizon Consortium)