Published: 15 Nov 2023
RIAS (the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland) was founded more than a century ago as the professional body for all chartered architects in Scotland. Last Friday saw RIASLive Beyond the Bothy take place in the magnificent surroundings of The Merchants House in the centre of Glasgow.
RIASLive is the single largest meeting in the year for architects in Scotland. This year’s event provided the opportunity to discuss the development of architects’ skills and the part architects can play in securing Scotland’s future as a green, resilient and healthy nation.
The Survey Association was pleased to be one of the sponsors of this prestigious event, along with Scottish Timber Trade Association, Multivista, GEZE, Gartcarron Fire Engineering, Hardies and Civic Engineering.
Networking, CPD and more at RIASLive
The morning session focused on People and Culture, while the emphasis shifted in the afternoon to Leadership and Resilience.
Christina McKelvie, MSP, Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development opened proceedings with her ministerial address and Natasha Huq, conservation accredited architect at GRAS, provided the first keynote speech of the day. This was followed up with a busy schedule of talks and presentations, including several further prestigious guest speakers from a wide and diverse range of organisations, along with a number of collaborative workshops and CPD sessions.
RIASLive 2023 ended with breakout room sessions, with opportunities for stimulating discussions on a variety of topics and Chris Stewart, President of RIAS, rounded activities off with his closing remarks. In the evening, the popular Glasgow Negroni Talk was hosted by Stallan-Brand and the Patricia Fleming Gallery, in partnership with RIAS.
Our Technical Committee Chair, Sam Roberts, attended the day and said,
“The whole day was a fascinating insight into the challenges architects are facing and the conversations being had exploring the future of architecture in Scotland.
“I particularly enjoyed the passionate, political, poetic and heartfelt introductory speech, exploring the challenges facing Glasgow in its quest for urban renewal. I also enjoyed the talks focusing on how sustainability has become a golden thread running through architectural practice. The tensions evident in many of the speeches between theory and practice inspired me to contemplate whether there is also a theoretical and philosophical landscape in which geospatial surveying exists, and how this intersects with and can support architecture and engineering practice. A thoroughly worthwhile and thought-provoking day!”
In January, Sam will be providing members of RIAS with a CPD session on PUMA, our PAS128 Accreditation Scheme for utility surveying companies that are TSA members.
To find out more about TSA events, please check out our events portfolio here.
