In the Limelight: Ayo Allu

Ayo is the outgoing Chair of the CIOB Education Quality, Standards and Practice Board (EQSP).  

I work at one of the UK’s largest affordable housing providers, leading and delivering strategies that are fundamental to the safe and sustainable growth of the business. I focus on product development, BIM and Offsite Manufacturing, Sustainability, Infrastructure and Strategic Procurement. I am also the outgoing Chair of the EQSP, soon to be called the Professional Standards Committee (PSC). 

After growing up in Lagos and attending higher education in London, my career began in 2003, following my graduation from the University of Brighton where I studied Project Management for Construction. The course was my second choice and was preceded by a year of studying Mechanical Engineering. Upon reflection, the change of course was probably my earliest self-realisation of which kind of career I wanted to pursue.

My first employer was Bouygues-UK, a French-based organisation who had moved into the UK market in 1997. After joining, I was made responsible for managing subcontractor trade packages on a portfolio of school projects. The company’s ethos for Learning and Development was to develop graduates by exposing us to all aspects and phases of the project life cycle with the added bonus of language training and the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues from all the other subsidiaries across Europe.  

It was during my tenure at BYUK that I enrolled onto the CIOB’s Professional Development Programme (PDP) and became aware of what the CIOB had to offer me as a graduate with aspirations to progress my career in the Built Environment. In 2006, my mentor at the time (who also remains one of my closest friends to this day) explained to me what the institute was really focused on, how it was structured and its needs in order to meet the requirements of new and aspiring members of the Built Environment sector. I spent ten years as a member of what was then known as the ‘London Branch’ of the CIOB, during which time I organised CPD sessions at the Union Jack Club in Waterloo, London, forged links with other branches around the world and developed relationships with higher education institutions. I was also fortunate enough to be the founding Chair of CIOB Novus, which we launched in November 2008.

Developing from being the Chair of the first Novus committee, to the Chair of the London Branch was a huge learning experience. I became acutely aware of the external influences which shape the institute’s priorities. I recall this period strengthening my feeling that collaboration with external stakeholders, other professional institutes and academic institutions would only be a good thing for the CIOB and I started to embed this principle in the fabric of any work I participated in on behalf of the CIOB. It was around this period I became increasingly aware of the focus on diversity and inclusion in our industry, how it was handled by different organisations and why the CIOB’s ethics policy focused so heavily on behavioural as well as technical competencies. 

I held a position on the Policy and External Relations Committee, where I worked on the development of a MOU between the CIOB, RICS and RIBA. The basis of the MOU was to encourage knowledge sharing and collaboration across the membership of our respective institutes, working in project-based scenarios.
 
I have been a Members’ Forum representative and had the privilege to attend the inauguration of four CIOB presidents. Each occasion is always a fantastic opportunity to liaise with colleagues from across the UK and internationally, as well as to hear first-hand what each new President’s focus will be. The ability to also meet and collaborate with Government Ambassadors across the world on key initiatives such as China’s Belt and Road Policy and Ethical Labour Practices in the Middle East have been the highlights of not only my tenure with the CIOB, but also my career.

My membership of the Resources Committee delivers a strategic oversight into how the CIOB structures its future plans to meet our Corporate Plan, it enables an insight into where business development is required based on global demand and how the different elements of the CIOB’s strategic and operational functions coalesce to achieve best value for its members around the globe.

A constant theme throughout my time with the CIOB, is being at the forefront of change and learning all the time about how deep the institute reaches into the lives and careers of its members.

As the outgoing Chair of the EQSP, I have spent the last two years understanding the intricate detail of how the CIOB develops relationships with academic institutes and our role in the accreditation process of courses, as well as shaping the relationship between our academic outputs as an industry and the policy agenda of not only the UK but also international governments.

The EQSP’s terms of reference ensure balance of focus between academic pursuits and industry and the Chair’s role is to guide the committee’s focus, a challenge which I feel needs to be based in continuous improvement and a deep knowledge of the issues affecting the industry at an operational level. Though a discrete focus on either academia or industry topics is an essential element of the EQSP board’s management on an alternating annual basis, the concepts of learning, study and professional development are intrinsically linked – so I found my core challenge was pushing the ‘industry related’ agenda.

Through the recent governance review, I have seen the emergence of a focus on core industry priorities and the CIOB’s new governance structure allows for more collaboration, more joined up thinking and a more streamlined approach to the delivery of learning tools.  

The constitution of a Professional Standards Committee combines the EQSP’s focus on the ‘behind the scenes’ work in accrediting academic courses, routes to membership and professional standards with the Academy’s focus on delivering courses for CPD targeting practising professionals. Added to this is the use of SIGs or Expert Panels, which can provide research and guidance on our industry’s current challenges. The new structure provides an opportunity to raise the level of interaction with other industry leading bodies, while still delivering on our core services to members – both individuals and Chartered Building Companies.     

I personally found the challenge of chairing the EQSP board to be an exciting and educating experience. My skill set has been developed through further education followed by industry practice and exposure to different types of organisation, so it was interesting to view the process by which learning skills were developed to prepare people for progression into the industry. 

The central role of the EQSP Board within the CIOB and the breadth of its remit came as a pleasant surprise to me, although in retrospect it now seems an obvious position for the board to hold. 
The coordination of EQSP activities with the policy, resources and business development boards brought fresh perspective, and a welcome comparison to how I saw strategic governance operated within the private sector of the built environment industry.

The CIOB are the gateway to new and aspiring members of our industry and our current membership includes some of the most prominent members of the built environment sector.  
Having members and students’ learning and development as a priority definitely influenced how I now approach strategic thinking and how I practise consultation with internal and external stakeholders. It has also increased my level of interest in prolonged debate when seeking the optimum solution. It’s an experience I would recommend to those with an interest in academia, policy and seeking solutions to strategic problems within our industry.

The future poses challenges to both our approach to academia and the future prosperity of our industry. An obvious shortage in skills, labour and material, an unbalanced housing market and fragmented procurement practices are all features of our industry and restrict our ability to develop sustainable outcomes across all parts of the built environment.

I see professional accreditation being a solution to some of the industry-related issues, but before that, a period where collaboration between Professional Institutes is increased to allow for better cross-pollination of disciplines. Pressure on global resources will force a change in how we build, where we build and if we build at all. Care for our environment is rapidly becoming the key issue in our industry and teaching this is now a critical requirement. All the while, the need remains to teach new members of our industry that continuous and responsible improvement of our processes is the only way to secure a sustainable pipeline of work.

My tenure as Chair of the EQSP has strengthened my belief that Professional Institutes in partnership with government have a key role to play in setting long-term academic strategies for students and professionals, not only to see us through the current challenges, but to create the framework for a sustainable future to our industry.