Lucy Roper’s weekly Built Environment blog: Making a positive difference

Posted on: 2019-05-23

Each week, UCEM Information Governance Manager, Lucy Roper points us in the direction of interesting stories from the Built Environment.

This week, Lucy focuses on making a positive difference, telling us about her involvement with her alma mater as an alumna and advocating that former UCEM students join the Alumni Association. Lucy also draws our attention to housebuilding initiatives designed to help those with dementia and the homeless before signing off with a story about some of the more outlandish redesigns proposed for the Notre-Dame spire…

Stay connected

We now have more than 150,000 alumni across the world and many stay in touch through our Alumni Association. The Association runs forums on social media channels, organises networking events and offers discount on CPD courses.

More than that, joining the Alumni Association enables you to stay connected with UCEM and your peers as you progress throughout your career. You can find out more on our website.

Personally speaking, I joined the Alumni Association at Loughborough University upon graduating and was elected to sit on its Alumni Advisory Board. I keep up-to-date with the latest there and pledge my ongoing support to its research programmes. This year, I contributed towards the university’s impressive dementia research, which includes the creation of a dementia home to showcase how people with the condition can live independently for longer. There is more information about the finished product on the BRE website.

Housing the homeless

Innovative housing solutions have also been created for homeless families thanks to the work of Cardiff Council and the Welsh Government’s Innovative Housing Programme. The council has enlisted the help of contractors to create new temporary accommodation out of shipping containers.

So, whether it’s through supporting your alma mater or finding creative solutions to help house vulnerable members of society, we can all play our part in making a positive difference.

And now for something completely different…

Swimming atop the Notre-Dame?!

Notre-Dame has featured very heavily in the last few blogs I’ve written as the French government, benefactors and architects seek a way forward for the damaged cathedral.

Many creative designs have been put forward with some a little off the mark in terms of practicality and reality… Dezeen has published a compilation of seven of the most outrageous proposals. While some are clearly ridiculous (McDonald’s golden arches taking a prominent position in Paris’s skyline, anyone?), the public swimming pool would get my approval!

For more from Lucy, take a look at the latest edition of Knowledge Foundations.