Monthly Meeting Archives

Insurance Backed Alliancing under the IPI Model

Our thanks goes to Kevin Thomas, Managing Director of IPInitiatives Limited for his presentation to members of acumen7 in the October monthly meeting.

IP Inititatives’ goal is to change the construction industry by implementing a new procurement and delivery model.

Kevin gave us a great talk on what sets apart IP Inititative’s model from the traditional insurance models and current methods of construction delivery.

Questions came thick and fast from the members of acumen7 to Kevin and he fielded them with expertise, sparking passionate discussions.

For more information on the great work IP Inititives are doing to change the construction industry check their website: https://www.ipinitiatives.co.uk/

The Design Lab Workshop

Thank you to The Design Lab’s Kevin Davies, Marina Jones & Gaby Frylinck for hosting the stimulating and fun interactive workshop at our first in-person meeting since May. The workshop focussed on websites, good & bad user experiences and the interactive session involved defining personas for acumen7 with a view to driving more traffic to our website.

For more information on The Design Lab have a look at their website: https://www.thedesignlab.net/

Edumaker, a 3D print farm with a difference

At our July meeting, Managing Director of Edumaker, Alex Gibson , stepped into the breach at the last minute and gave us an interesting introduction into Edumaker – a 3D print farm with a difference – they can print large sizes, from parts that won’t fit on a desktop 3D printer, to parts over 2 cubic metres in volume. They print using renewable energy – much of which is generated on-site – and use primarily premium recycled materials.

Alex shared his journey so far and the challenges he faces growing his business, including how to resource a start-up. This sparked some great conversations and feedback from members who have faced, or may face, the same challenges.

What did acumen7 do for me?

Mark Bew is a longstanding member of acumen7 and CEO of Cohesive, an international digital integrator delivering transformational outcomes across the built and natural environment.

Mark gave us a fascinating presentation about the advantages of being a member of acumen7, how that has helped him on his journey from running his own business to the merger with Cohesive, which has developed the first truly integrated approach for the management of critical assets and services.

For more information on The Cohesive Group, visit: https://cohesivegroup.com/

Measuring the sustainability of project outcomes

acumen7 member Warren Beardall shared the background to the PhD he is about to start at Leeds University during which he will explore whether sustainability can sit as a central project objective and benefit from united influence of project actors through the appropriate choices of project control. Approaching a PhD mid-way through his career, Warren is well placed to undertake this research, as he has 25 years of industry experience within the PFI sample space, a career focused on project risk and control, a recent MSc distinction in Project Management and is currently embarking on a second MSc in Psychology.

Economic and financial market outlook

Some fascinating insights from Marc Hendriks kicked off acumen7’s June meeting. Marc shared a macroeconomic outlook of the financial markets, and the causes of UK and global inflation. Marc also spoke about why he decided to launch a start-up 18 months ago, GreenGrowth Investments and highlighted the challenges so far. Marc is the Co-Founder and CIO of GreenGrowth, which offers a pioneering investment app enabling retail investors to invest sustainably based on their lifestyle. GreenGrowth aims to make sustainability the new normal for investing, and allows everyday retail investors to participate by investing into these solutions, letting them have a positive impact and healthy financial returns.

For more information on GreenGrowth Investments, visit: Ethical Investment – GreenGrowth