The conference addressed a number of the technical and scientific themes related to the built environment. These were:

CLIMATE CHANGE & THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Climate Change is one of the key future pressures facing the development and construction industries. This WCAEBE conference presented an excellent opportunity to present and discuss new ideas and progress that establishes climate change as a serious area of concern for professionals from the areas of surveying, construction, insurance, regeneration, architecture, planning, housing, public health and finance.

CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MANAGEMENT & DELIVERY

This WCAEBE conference presented an excellent opportunity to discuss new ideas and progress being made in adopting new techniques in managing and delivery of successful construction projects. The conference recognizes that managing and successfully delivery of projects are very vital within the built environment industry sector because it is considered critical for the competitiveness of the industry. Cost-effective delivery of projects are particularly important to the industry and public sector due to the unique characteristics of its projects such as multi-disciplinary teams, temporary team members, heavy reliance on experience, the one-off nature of the projects, tight schedules, limited budget, etc. Many initiatives have been undertaken within the industry itself and in the academic world to develop mechanisms and tools for managing and delivering projects within the built environment sectors.

INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

This WCAEBE conference presented an excellent opportunity to present and discuss new ideas and progress on ICT deployment for the built environment. There is still lack of planning and design ICT architecture as part of the initial planning and design of building and construction projects. The current use of ICT in the built environment organisations, to support activities, ranges from simple business management systems, project design, bidding, procurement and project delivery. In most cases these are put in as after thought The fragmented nature of the built environment industry sector in general results in a high proportion of small businesses, which lack any kind of IT infrastructure and rely mostly on traditional business practices. This lack of ICT adoption is a serious disadvantage to small to medium sized enterprises in the built environment sector.

URBAN REGENERATION

This WCAEBE conference presented an excellent opportunity to discuss new ideas and progress being made in urban regeneration. It will present the priorities for the immediate future and potential for new models and ideas with the Policy makers, Ministers and other leading experts/researchers. It will address what are the more essential issues concerning regeneration and the future direction of regeneration policy and practice with regional, national and international focus.

INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH COLLABORATION

In today's globally competitive environment, effective knowledge sharing and collaboration are vital to the success of large research projects, technological breakthroughs, fast product development, and cost reduction. Effective knowledge sharing and collaboration provides a myriad of opportunities for new services, products, and ideas in a broad range of disciplines, such as global R & D needs for construction and physical regeneration in the built environment.

MODERN METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION

This WCAEBE conference presented an excellent opportunity to discuss new ideas and progress being made in adopting Modern Methods of Construction(MMC) in the built environment . The WCAEBE recognizes that the case for adopting Modern Methods of Construction(MMC) in new building and refurbishment is compelling and widely accepted as the only way to accelerate the delivery of new homes and public sector buildings. There are now many world building projects that have successfully applied MMC. Deploying MMC and achieving the development of energy efficient and sustainable homes/infrastructure are important themes that should be common across all of the construction projects.

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT & BENCHMARKING

This WCAEBE conference presented an excellent opportunity to present and discuss new ideas and progress on performance measurement and benchmarking techniques for organisations with the responsibility on the development of the built environment. The WCAEBE recognizes that continuous performance measurements and benchmarking within the built environment sector has become increasingly important, particularly within the context of project delivery, governance, business performance and supply chain integration.

SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION

This WCAEBE conference on Sustainable Construction is intended as a meeting of interested parties from around the world to explore the cutting-edge of sustainable construction, the national and international standards for sustainable construction, and the need for research, technologies, methods, and tools that can assist the international community in evolving to advanced green buildings and products.

SKILLS & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

This WCAEBE conference presented an excellent opportunity to present and discuss critical issues affecting skills and workforce development in the built environment. The Conference acknowledge that the built environment industry sector is currently expanding in most countries, however, the industry is experiencing a considerable skills shortage in its workforce, which is affecting its productive capacity. This requires a focused/collaborative effort from stakeholders to ensure that this problem is dealt with effectively. It also involves liaising with employers in the industry to establish current/future skill requirements, and establishing productivity improvement targets linked with workforce development. In addition, making the business case for skills alongside productivity is essential.

URBAN DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT

The WCAEBE conference urged key stakeholders to formulate new mechanisms to support local, national and regional initiatives to foster sustainable urbanization through new partnerships among international institutions, national and local governments, and civil society organizations. The conference seeks very high quality papers on theory and practice. Quality papers that also calls on governments to devise better ways to address the growing number of slums and squatter settlements around the world and provide protection against forced eviction are required.