On a cold November day at the end of 2019, we brought together a broad mix of representatives from professional groups and institutions associated with development of the built environment.

Hosted by the Resilience Shift’s Technical Advisory Group from Cambridge University, the premise of this resilience round-table was to establish ways that professional institutions and associations can work together to accelerate change in how resilient infrastructure is delivered in practice.

We have published the workshop report that captures ideas and actions from the meeting, along with notes on the working sessions, and references of  works highlighted by those attending.

Participants were also invited to present a vignette of relevant activities for infrastructure resilience across their organisation and these provide a useful insight into the work they are doing already in areas complementary to our own.

Many ideas emerging from the discussion suggest a direction where the Resilience Shift becomes an organisation to convene and support other institutions. This does not mean that it always needs to be the lead organisation on the initiatives it supports.

“As for the infrastructure system as a whole, there is perhaps a need to take a systems approach to Resilience Shift, and understand how the combination of policy, industry and profession interventions might work synergistically together.” Participant reflection

We found clear agreement on the need for communication and collaboration within and between professional institutions and industry associations. This is not surprising given the intended purpose of the round-table, but the genuine desire to support this was reinforced.

There is an opportunity for industry institutions to advance resilience competency through education, qualification, and membership. Other industry associations could similarly advocate for and promote resilience competency throughout their membership. Evidence of related activity already underway was provided by the organisations represented at the round-table.

Find the report at https://www.resilienceshift.org/publication/round-table-institutions/