Ove Arup Foundation

Professor David Nethercot & Dr David Lloyd Smith – Report Summary

In 1999 the Trustees of the Ove Arup Foundation published a report highlighting the serious decline in applications from bright young people to study engineering, and especially built-environment courses. A particularly serious skill-shortage lies within the building services specialities.

The report – prepared by Prof David Gann and Dr Ammon Salter, and entitled ‘Interdisciplinary Skills For Built Environment Professionals’ – received wide attention. It focused minds on the seriousness of the situation, and concluded that courses involving a high level of interdisciplinary thinking and project work seem to attract better students.

This further report, also commissioned by the Trustees from Prof David Nethercot and Dr David Lloyd Smith of Imperial College, London, draws together several strains of thought, informed by insights from the 1999 report. Its function is to examine how a course could be constructed that: encourages greater interdisciplinarity; further develops creative thinking; and can be accredited together by the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Structural Engineers, and the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers.

A copy of the report can be downloaded below.

Attracting the best and brightest (432 KB pdf)