The first focused on skills, education and training and was addressed by government chief construction adviser Peter Hansford who gave a policy update on the topic.
Among those taking part in the following discussion were Rob Lockey of the National House- Building Council, Paul Gaze from the Construction Industry Training Board and Geoff Rhodes of Edinburgh Napier University’s Forest Products Research Institute advisory panel.
The theme at the second luncheon was offsite construction and collaborative culture, with keynote speakers Duncan Reed of Tekla UK and Graham Watts from CIC addressing the "culture of Building Information Modelling" and "collective working and the benefits of collaboration".
Other participants included Timber Trade Federation chief executive John White, Rob Pannell from the Zero Carbon Hub, Philip Hogg from Homes for Scotland and Don Ward of Constructing Excellence.
"This is the third year for our luncheons at Ecobuild and they’ve provided great networking and interesting outcomes," said STA chairman Lawrence Young. "The show is a great opportunity to get together with people who are shaping industry trends and to communicate the timber building story, particularly our fabric first approach to sustainable construction. We can also raise key issues, such as training."
