The SSA are pleased to announce the launch of the year’s awards after a hiatus.

Competition timeline*

Award judges

Award categories

General entry criteria

• projects entries must be located within the ssa chapter boundary.**
• projects must have been overseen by an arb registered architect.
• projects must have been completed between 01.04.2021 and 01.04.2023.
• entry for the Stirling Society of Architects awards is free.

Shortlisted entries will be visited in person – judges will require full access on a date to be confirmed.

Shortlisted entrants will also be required to produce a banner of their project for exhibition and promotional purposes – details will follow for those selected, but printing costs for this will be covered by the SSA.

The judges’ decision is final. No direct communication with the judges is permitted.

**exception is the project outwith chapter award

Submission criteria

• project entries consist of 3 parts:

1. The completed project form word document (Click Here to download)
2. A maximum of 4 drawings that best describe your project – saved in pdf format with a total combined max file size of 5 Mb.
3. A maximum of 5 photographs that best display your project – saved in jpg format with a max file size of 3 Mb per photograph.

The completed submission must not exceed 22 Mb total and should be emailed to: submissions@s-s-a.co.uk

Following the feedback gathered via the survey undertaken last year, the SSA Sustainability Subcommittee are pleased to announce a series of Case Study focussed in-depth presentations covering various aspects of sustainable design practice. We will be covering a variety of topics, from Passivhaus and new build, to structural engineering design and embodied carbon, and works to existing buildings, amongst other things.

The final touches are being put to an exciting programme of speakers for this series over the upcoming months.

The first in the series will be on Friday the 12th March 2021 from 11am – 12pm.

This presentation will cover an introduction to the Passivhaus Standard, followed by an in-depth description of the construction and post occupancy monitoring of Ostro, a new-build Certified Passivhaus in rural Stirling. This contemporary detached dwelling was largely self-built by the Architect and her partner, and also achieved the Gold Standard as set out in Section 7: Sustainability in the Technical Standards. 

These presentations will be in a digital format and hosted via Zoom.

The Committee has taken the decision to make these events free of charge for all attendees.

We hope that many of you can join us for the first in this new series of Sustainability focused CPD events.

The SSA are looking for interested members to express their interest in joining a Chapter based Sustainability Committee.

Everyone is welcome! It would be beneficial to have a Committee with architects who collectively have a diverse set of skills and experience of working in varied areas of architectural practice, research or study.

The precise mandate of the Committee would be determined once the group has been established, as it would be important to maintain a Chapter specific focus that both tackled local issues in the field of Sustainability and worked on our strengths in this region.

This is an exciting opportunity to have your voice heard and to actively participate in making our region more active in the sustainable architecture community.

If you are interested in joining in any capacity please express your interest here.

“The Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN) is a network of individuals within architecture and related built environment professions taking action to address the twin crises of climate and ecological breakdown.”
(https://www.architectscan.org/home)

Discussions have begun between ACAN and SEDA (the Scottish Ecological Design Association) about the possibility of establishing a Scottish regional ACAN Group. The purpose of a Scottish Group would be to give practitioners and built environment professionals, as well as students in relevant disciplines, a channel through which to collectively focus their efforts to address the climate emergency outwith any institutions yet in a public way.

An initial meeting date has been set as the 27th July 2020, so if anyone is interested in expressing an interest in participating in this meeting please can they complete this online google form, which will allow the organisers to assess the appetite for this in Scotland.

Google Form

The RIAS Sustainability Working Group have recently been working on a proposal to potentially create a Technical Aid Incubator that has a Climate Emergency response at it’s heart. The main purpose would be two-fold: firstly, the incubator would be of benefit to any graduates who feel they are leaving tertiary education with a gap in their knowledge or understanding of wider sustainability issues, and secondly it would support currently unemployed practitioners who feel there is a gap in their skills set in this field.

If successful this Incubator could be an opportunity to provide mass up-skilling of many people within the design fields of the construction industry.

In the first instance the Sustainability Working Group are looking for feedback on current training opportunities to allow for identification of any gaps or barriers that people are experiencing.

Please get in touch if you want to get involved.

14th November 2019 @ Forth Valley Colleage

Following on from this years RIAS Convention , Climate of Opinion, the theme of this half day CPD is Climate Change and Sustainability.

The programme for the half day is as follows:

• 13:00-13:30: Buffet lunch

• 13:30 – 15:30: Sustainability/ Climate Change/ Accreditation presentation by Richard Atkins, Sandy Hallyday and Chris Stewart

• 15:30-15:45: Tea/ coffee break

• 15:45- 16:00: Gartcarron Fire Engineering (Sponsor)

• 16:00 – 16:45: The Barracks by Michael Mullen and Gordon Campbell (mj architects)

• 16:45 – 17:15: RIAS Strategy by Karen Stevenson

Please email any dietary requirements to the President

The Stirling Society of Architects in Partnership with Historic Environment Scotland present a morning series of building blocks on conservation.

Discover the philosophy and ethics of building conservation. Learn how to identify common decay mechanisms and building defects and understand the listing process and what it means for you.

These sessions are run in conjunction with the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

They will appeal to anyone with a working knowledge of buildings who is interested in learning more about traditional structures, including students and professionals.

Conservation 101 is the first in a series of CPD events which will be run quarterly at the Engine Shed in Stirling. They will cover a range of topics.

Free webinar

If you are not able to make it along on the day, we will be live streaming this event. If, for technical reasons, the live stream is unavailable, we will send attendees a recording of the event. Sign up to the live by clicking the link below. 

21st March 2019 @ Falkirk Business Hub

12:30 – Buffet lunch

13:00 – AGM

13:30 – Zinc cladding presented by SIG Design & Technology

14:20 – Aberdeen Small Practice Group by Gordon Smith

15:10 – Tea/Coffee Break

15:20 – Changes to Fire Standards (sprinklers, alarms, escapes, etc) by Clyde Ashby

16:10 – Hill House Enclosure by Peter Lee of Carmody Groarke

Please email any dietary requirements to the President