FIBE3 CDT Summer Industry Day delegates at West Hub, Cambridge
Lightning, thunderstorms and torrential rain could not dampen the spirits of the FIBE3 CDT Summer Industry Day at West Hub on the West Cambridge Campus. If anything, the storm only sparked the energy within! The day was a powerful showcase of the collaboration and engagement at the heart of the FIBE3 community of industry stakeholders, academics and MRes + PhD students.
Cohort 2 presents their findings on the Roadmap to Net Zero project.
Prof Julian Allwood's Roadmap to Net Zero, a firm favourite and highlight of the MRes year, saw Cohort 2 deliver a charged analysis of 9 nationally significant UK projects, tackling delivery timelines and resource constraints head on. Cohort 2 also electrified the room with their Mini-Project inspired by industry partner AtkinsRéalis, evaluating the commercial and technical feasibility of a decentralised renewable energy hub for large-scale EV charging infrastructure near Cambridge, integrating transport demand forecasting, renewable energy assessment, energy storage modelling and financial analysis.
Huge well done to the students and to AtkinsRéalis for being the industry provocateur and sponsor for this mini project.
Lora Brill
Head of Sustainability for Buildings, Ramboll
Networking and collaboration opportunities over lunch at the FIBE3 Industry Day.
Shortly after our Industry Day, BBC News published an article on how the UK's EV car sales targets are set to be weakened, with potential consequences for jobs, investment and business viability. It is no coincidence how much this aligns with Cohort 2's mini-project on EV charging infrastructure. It speaks directly to how ahead of the curve the FIBE3 programme is, and how deeply our research agenda is embedded within the most pressing challenges of the UK's Net Zero transition, a direction shaped by Prof Allwood's Roadmap work.
The presentations on the day drew enthusiastic responses from industry partners, with questions and insights that reflected just how much shared purpose was in the room. The FIBE3 Industry Day is exactly what collaboration in the built environment should look like: brilliant minds from industry and academia working in genuine alignment, energising one another and driving forward together towards a net zero future.