This Lunchtime Seminar will be hosted by Daniel Dalton, a FIBE2 Cohort 5 student, who invited speaker David Knight, from Cake Industries.
Title: The impact of fabrication and necessity of ethics in a climate emergency
Speaker Bio: David Knight is a chartered structural engineer and designer who has designed and managed various award-winning projects on both a large and small scale. He is Director of Design and Engineering at Cake Industries, and has been responsible for the creation of a design and engineering team within the multi-material fabrication business, as well as a stand-alone structural engineering consultancy Cake Engineering. He serves as Chair of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineers (IABSE) British Group, and sits on the Greater Cambridge Design Review Panel. Most recently, he was project director for the construction of Cody Dock Rolling Bridge, project director and lead designer for Bracklinn Falls Footbridge, and in July 2023 he was awarded the IABSE Early Career Prize in recognition of his work in the construction industry to date.
Talk Abstract: The influence that engineers and designers have on improving the sustainability outcomes of construction projects is well documented, but less focus has been given to those further down the supply chain and further up the decision making tree. Whilst the biggest impact on out-turn embodied carbon can be made at the conceptual and project definition stage, it should not be ignored that there is room for improvements throughout the project cycle. This talk will look at both the impact of the fabrication processes, as well as the ethics of corporate decision making, and raise questions about how the urgency of the climate emergency is embedded throughout the construction industry.