Download Issue No.2 Winter 2022 here

Chair of Trustees Welcome, Gary Wilburn

Welcome to the latest edition of Setting the Standard, the AECB’s evolving membership publication. You’ll see that things have changed a little since the summer issue. Our latest issue is less of a magazine and more a newsletter. We’re setting out to create a space to talk about issues and subjects that matter to AECB members, and give us a platform to present what we’re actually doing. In many ways, the AECB is something of a well-kept secret, in spite of being the largest membership organisation of its kind in the UK. Recognising that we can always do more to promote the great work that we and our members do, this is a step towards achieving that.

The revised Setting the Standard is partly inspired by the success of this summer’s AECB conference. We’re trying something new. In Hereford, we set out to create a forum for sharing knowledge, collaborating and debating. The questions our audience had were as much a part of the experience as what our speakers had to say. We have many experts amongst our membership, but it’s important to remember that we’re all still learning. So we’ve rejigged the publication reflect that thinking and better serve the membership. Also, we’ve implemented a mobile-friendly design, so you can dip into it if you’re on your phone, or wait until you’re at home on your desktop or tablet.

In keeping with the spirit of sharing, making this purely digital makes it more shareable. So assuming that you see value in this publication you probably have friends and peers that would appreciate it too. So please forward it on, harness the power of the network effect and help make the AECB much less of a secret. We also want to hear what you think. What do you want from a publication like this? What would you find valuable, or even just interesting? It all matters. Progress thrives in a climate of honesty and openness, one where sharing mistakes enables others to learn from them. So we hope we can foster that sort of open approach here.

I feel confident in saying that we’re all big fans of our esteemed CEO’s vision for radical sufficiency, but we also feel that we could elevate our radical candour. It is a strength of our organisation that we are able to face challenges, develop solutions, and openly learn from our mistakes. Few organisations can say this. This is massively important when low-carbon strategies, low-energy building, and retrofit are still very new industries. Many of us may have been involved for decades but it’s still all very new in the eyes of most people. In the meantime, enjoy this next evolution.

Download Issue No.2 Winter 2022 here