Meet the Builders: Steve Faulkner
Introducing The Building Society member, Steve Faulkner, BIM Manager at Elliott Wood.
In our Meet the Builders series, we introduce some of the fantastic people and organisations that make up our community here at The Building Society. They include a wide variety of practices in the built environment who are responsible for ‘building’ and communicating the projects that define our rural and urban landscapes – from designers, engineers and planners to surveyors, developers, photographers and artists.
Steve Faulkner
Associate Director
Elliott Wood
Tell us a bit about you…
I’m a married father of four, with two girls and two boys (which is actually quite unusual!). I manage my eleven-year-old daughter’s football team on a Saturday and my son’s under-18 team on Sundays. I also love to play golf, but hardly ever have time!
From a professional perspective, I have over 30 years’ industry experience, having worked at WSP for 14 years prior to joining Elliott Wood in 2002, where I am currently an Associate Director. I am chair of the Institute of Structural Engineers (IStructE) BIM Panel, part of the Communities Leadership Team at The UK BIM Alliance and a member of the Digital Twin Hub at Cambridge University (The Centre for Digital Built Britain).
And the organisation you work for?
Working for Elliott Wood, I have responsibility for Building Information Modelling (BIM) and ensuring that our Engineering a Better Society ethos is embedded into the models and drawings that we produce. I oversee BIM implementation across the business and ensure that projects are set up effectively and efficiently.
I also look to see where BIM can add value on our projects and seek out opportunities to collaborate with others and engrain MMC techniques, lifecycle costing and FM integration into the project BIM process.
Tell us about a project or initiative that you’re proud of…
A few years ago, I designed and coordinated the build of a 500m2 allotment, orchard, and sensory garden at my children’s school. This involved applying for grants, volunteers, and donations, and best of all, getting the power tools out. Seeing the children incorporate the space into their learning and using the space for harvesting fruits and vegetables was very rewarding.
Career-wise, developing an Elliott Wood Level of Definition Matrix (which defines what gets modelled and when) into an industry standard on behalf of the IStructE has been very satisfying also.
At The Building Society we are united by a purpose: to engineer a better society. Is there one particular change you’d like to see in the way things are done in the built environment?
I would like to change the way projects are procured. In my mind it makes no sense for a design team to coordinate a design prior to the person who is actually going to turn that design into a reality is involved with the project. We’ve looked at different options to change this, including Integrated Project Insurance, where we held a workshop on this, and its interesting to see this continue to be tested on The Derby Silk Mill, Museum of Making project.
Favourite thing about working in a co-working and collaboration space?
I actually helped design The Building Society along with James Halliday at Squire & Partners. I oversaw the shell and core with Multiplex and developed the fit out work with Oktra, so I feel immensely proud every time I step through the door. The space has turned out to be everything I hoped it to be. There’s a fantastic atmosphere and everyone talks to everyone – it’s just a really great place to be.
What are your desert island essentials?
Book: I suppose ‘How to Stay Alive’ by Bear Grylls would be a sensible choice.
Music: Fire Starter, by The Prodigy.
Luxury item: A yacht!