AJ Summit 2021 speakers revealed

The second AJ Summit – which was originally due to take place last year – will be held in a virtual form on Thursday March 25 and is now free to attend.

The CPD-accredited event, run in association with the AJ RetroFirst campaign, features a host of leading figures in the built environment and will focus on how architects and their industry colleagues can respond to the climate emergency by embracing whole-life carbon principles and the circular economy.

Altogether the built environment is responsible for more than 40 per cent of UK carbon emissions. With about 10 per cent of this stemming from construction, there is now a renewed focus on reducing such embodied carbon emissions through the reuse of buildings and materials as well as bringing down the day-to-day or 'operational' emissions of buildings.

Speakers at the summit include zero carbon expert Simon Sturgis, Dutch architect Hans Hammink, London School of Economics professor Anne Power, the government’s chief property officer Janet Young, architect and engineer Maria Smith, head of sustainable development at British Land Juliette Morgan and architect Duncan Baker-Brown.

Described as an ‘exceptional opportunity for architects to learn how to incorporate climate-responsible working methods into everyday practice’, the summit will be hosted by property expert and AJ columnist Kunle Barker, ft'work director Clare Richards and architect and TV presenter Damion Burrows alongside AJ journalists Emily Booth, Hattie Hartman and Will Hurst.