As the construction industry continues to adapt to the requirements of the Building Safety Act, architects face new responsibilities, greater scrutiny and more complex design processes. In the final episode of this series of Building for what's next, host Steve Dyson explores a crucial question: what support do architects need from the wider industry to navigate these challenges with confidence?

Joining the discussion are Ged Couser, Architect Principal at BDP and Chair of the RIBA North West Regional Council, and Manuela Fazzab, Director of Commercial Propositions at wienerberger. Together, they examine how collaboration, training, communication and earlier engagement with manufacturers can help architects meet their statutory responsibilities while continuing to deliver ambitious, high-quality design.

The conversation explores the evolving relationship between architects, manufacturers, regulators and clients, highlighting the importance of trusted technical information, tested systems, competency development and shared learning across the profession. We also discuss how confidence comes not from having all the answers, but from knowing where to find the right expertise and support when it's needed.

In this episode you'll learn:

• How the Building Safety Act is changing the way architects design and collaborate.
• Why communication and knowledge-sharing are essential to building professional confidence.
• How manufacturers can play a greater role in supporting specification, compliance and technical decision-making.
• Why training, competency and early stakeholder engagement are becoming increasingly important.
• What architects can do today to navigate regulatory complexity while maintaining design ambition.

Listen now and discover why the future of safe, successful buildings depends on stronger partnerships across the entire construction industry.

Architects are investing more time than ever in understanding and adapting to regulatory change. But as the profession evolves, passing that knowledge down to the next generation will be critical to ensuring they can confidently apply fresh thinking, creativity and curiosity to live projects.

In this episode of Building for What's Next, lecturers and Masters students from Birmingham City University explore the transition from education into practice, and what both universities and industry can do to better prepare emerging architects for the realities of a changing profession.

We discuss:

• How students are being prepared for an increasingly regulated profession, without limiting their creative thinking
• What the transition into practice is really like for Part 1 graduates, and how taking time to build technical knowledge can help to strengthen design confidence
• Why giving emerging architects the opportunity to gain real-world experience today could help prevent a skills gap tomorrow

Keeping pace with regulatory change requires significant investment in time, training and technical expertise, creating growing pressures on the resources, budgets and capacity of architectural practices.

In this episode of Building for What's Next, Victoria Millward, director at Paddock Johnson and board member of the Architectural Technical Leads Group (ATLG) joins Ceri Turner-Hill, head of architecture at wienerberger, to explore how collaboration and knowledge sharing can help practitioners adapt to an evolving regulatory landscape.

We discuss:

• How changing regulation is affecting practice resources, costs and approaches to specification
• How peer networks like the ATLG can help architects share knowledge, adapt to change and access wider expertise
• How earlier collaboration across the supply chain can help reduce pressure on internal teams and support more confident specification decisions.

The conversation explores how no practice needs to navigate the changing regulatory landscape alone, and how greater collaboration across the industry could help architects access the knowledge and expertise they need when they need it.