New London Architecture

FAME collective present: pathways to success in the built environment

Thursday 11 March 2021

Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows

Founder of FAME, Director of Our Building Design
Senior Lecturer of Architecture at the University of Westminster and Trustee of Mannan Foundation Trust

Pooja Agrawal

Co-founder
Public Practice

Dr Teri Okoro

Founder and Director
TOCA architects

Siu-Pei Choi

Head of Design
Kier Construction London

Manisha Patel

Senior Partner
PRP Architects

This video is only available to NLA members.

Unlock this content by becoming a member.

Create account Login
FAME collective celebrates the successes of the women in the built environment and exposes the barriers they face through narratives of their lived experiences. Sharing their ‘pathways to success’ and the challenges they have overcome in their career from both the public and private sector. Through this lens, we will review the systemic inequality in the built environment and planning system. 
 
In the aftermath of Covid-19, how can policies, procurement and planning enable the voices of underrepresented communities, to address inequality and to consider the social values of places, buildings and neighbourhoods? How can we carve a role to support communities and local authorities to work with private clients, to achieve better social values, and to create an inclusive place and a city for all?
 
This event will provide an important opportunity to discuss the barriers in the built environment and the routes out to ensure the success of people, place and project. 

PROGRAMME

00:59   Introduction
            Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows, Founder of FAME, Director of Our Building Design, Senior Lecturer of Architecture at the University of Westminster and Trustee of Mannan Foundation Trust

Tumpa introduces FAME Collective and explains how it sets out to review systematic inequality in the built environment and planning system. She continues by discussing the event format and key themes that will be addressed throughout.

07:45   Keynote presentation - pathways to success in the built environment from a FAME perspective
               
Pooja Agrawal, Assistant Director of Service Strategy, Homes England and Co-Founder, Public Practice

Pooja states that the keynote presentation won't focus so much on barriers, but more what pushed her to be where she is today. She begins by discussing what 'success' means and how it is the hardest thing to define. Pooja thinks by being clear in what she believes in; quality, equality in the role of the public sector, it has definitely driven her forward.

19:28   Speaker presentations
19:28   Dr Teri Okoro, Founder and Director, TOCA architects

Dr. Teri Okoro believes the first success for any architect is just going through the course and qualifying. She recognises that life is full of challenges and how you overcome them and thinks about what differences we can make for those who are coming behind us. Teri discusses the idea of 'bottlenecks' and says that the issues within in the industry are what people also find in education and employment in other areas. 

If you want to progress your career you need to be in a situation where you have the opportunities to do so. You must always have a long-term plan and strategic view.

34:24   Siu-Pei Choi, Senior Design Manager, Wates Construction (Residential)

Siu-Pei Choi discusses her personal experience around the difficulties of finding work following university. She talks about how having a name that was 'difficult to pronounce on paper' and 'didn't look English' could be holding her back from opportunities, and acknowledges the importance of tutors for the the younger generations.

Once you find your passion and something you really believe in that's what will lead you to success, in that you actually can feel like you can make a difference in what we do as architects and within the built environment.

45:41   
Manisha Patel, Senior Partner, PRP

Architecture course opened me up to mass planning and societal change and how you can bring all these things together which you really fight for and why inequality exists. 

Manisha recalls her first days as an architect, where she was one of two people of colour within a group of fifty architects. She talks through her career to date and states;

Getting on the board hasn't been the simplest thing in the world. It's meant I have had to work harder, be tougher, be on the top of my game and learn a lot more skills than my counterparts. 

*
Breakout sessions not featured in public recording

01:00:29   Closing remarks
SEE THE FULL EVENT LISTING NLA's YouTube Channel


Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows

Founder of FAME, Director of Our Building Design
Senior Lecturer of Architecture at the University of Westminster and Trustee of Mannan Foundation Trust

Pooja Agrawal

Co-founder
Public Practice

Dr Teri Okoro

Founder and Director
TOCA architects

Siu-Pei Choi

Head of Design
Kier Construction London

Manisha Patel

Senior Partner
PRP Architects


Diverse Leaders

#NLADiverseLeaders


Related

NYLON: Innovation in New York and London

Video

NYLON: Innovation in New York and London

Watch NYLON as we look at the impact of increasing innovation districts on the urban fabric of cities.

Watch video
Webinar: Prize Projects: learning from community award winners

Video

Webinar: Prize Projects: learning from community award winners

Recording of 'Prize projects' webinar, where we learnt from past Community Prize Winners and reflected on the value thes...

Watch video
Resilient Cities: preparing for climate events in the UK

Video

Resilient Cities: preparing for climate events in the UK

As an industry, how do we move beyond the reactive and adopt a proactive approach to tackling climate change?

Watch video

Stay in touch

Upgrade your plan

Choose the right membership for your business

Billing type:
All prices exclude VAT
View options for Personal membership