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CIRIA is a member-based research and information organisation dedicated to improvement in all aspects of the construction industry ranging from building to heavy engineering. Members include representatives from all parts of the supply chains of the modern built environment, covering building and civil engineering as well as transport and utilities infrastructure. CIRIA is a not-for-profit company, with all membership subscriptions, earnings and external funding being invested back into industrial and public seminar events, training courses and research assignments with the overall goal:

"To champion performance in construction and to improve the quality, efficiency and safety of the modern built environment." CIRIA Mission Statement Annual Review 2008

Given this independence, CIRIA is often asked to support government, regulatory and other bodies in industry consultation exercises such as Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) in 2007.

Research
CIRIA’s research spans the market sectors of buildings and facilities, water, utilities and transportation infrastructure. Working both within and across these market sectors, the themes of work cover a wide remits related to construction including: technical issues, legislation,regulation, training, management and economics. While much of the work benefits from public sector funding, CIRIA also maintains ‘club-funded’ projects aimed at building understanding between contributors in key areas of concern. In addition to a published output (in the form of design guides, training manuals, etc in both hard copy and electronic format), CIRIA also provides training seminars and workshops based on the results of its project work.

In terms of reception, the 2002 Fairclough review of construction research reported a high industry regard for CIRIA, ranking it highest of all research providers on polls of both industry users and public sector funders of construction research. The 2003 Partners in Innovation competition of the DTI similarly awarded CIRIA over 25% of total funding, enabling a forward research workload of around £5.5m.

Training
CIRIA training was developed in 2006 as a progression from CIRIA’s research projects. Each course is based on a CIRIA area of expertise and an accompanying CIRIA publication that is distributed to delegates on the course. All courses are certified for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and the content is continuously updated to reflect industry and legislative changes. CIRIA are currently working towards the new British Standard for sustainable event management BS8901 for all their training courses.

The training modules are designed for all levels of knowledge from less experienced professionals fairly new to construction through to professionals who have extensive knowledge and experience. The training incorporates information relevant to:


 * consulting engineers
 * clients
 * highway authorities
 * landscape architects
 * architects
 * developers
 * contractors
 * environmental regulators
 * local authorities
 * planners
 * manufacturers and suppliers

History
The Construction Industry Research and Information Association was founded in London in 1960. In recent times the organisations' name has been shortened to CIRIA. Today, CIRIA is now known solely by its abbreviated name. CIRIA's mission is to improve the performance of those in the construction and related industries. CIRIA now have offices in London, Scotland and Hong Kong.

The Scottish offices of CIRIA were officially opened opened for business on 4th October 2005 by Nigel Griffiths, MP, and are based at the University of Dundee.

Publications
In 2008, over 70 projects were run, nearly 150 events organised, 12 books published and almost 60 theme-based training courses delivered to top industry stakeholders.

Published quarterly, CIRIA Evolution contains features on on-going projects, forthcoming conferences and news on the activities of the CIEF and CPN. Evolution as of October 2008 is currently mailed to over 38,000 contacts in the UK and 6000 contacts overseas. The new bi-annual edition of Evolution issue is currently in production and will be circulated in Jan 2009.

CIRIA Highlights is a fortnightly e-newsletter which provides a concise summary of all forthcoming events and recent publications, together with other key industry information. Highlights currently has a readership circulation of over 23,000 in the UK.

Networks
CIRIA manages a number of Learning Networks. The Construction Productivity Network (CPN) and the Construction Industry Environmental Forum (CIEF) are both over 10 years old and each have around 200 corporate members. They are events-based, and between them provide around 70 workshops and seminars per year held in different parts of the UK. The seminars involve industry-practitioner speakers and the transmission of event summaries to all registered members of the networks.

CIRIA also manages a number of more focused networks including:


 * LANDFORM (Local Authority Network on Drainage and Flood Risk Management) – a platform for sharing knowledge and expertise in flood risk management and sustainable drainage


 * Buildoffsite - an industry-wide campaigning organisation that promotes greater uptake of offsite techniques by UK construction


 * SAFEGROUNDS – for the consideration of issues relating to the management and rehabilitation of nuclear contaminated sites


 * EMSAGG (European Marine Sands and Gravel Group) – to provide the marine aggregate industry with the opportunity to discuss the issues affecting this sector


 * LACL (Local Authority Contaminated Land Network) – working together to deliver sound contaminated land management throughout the UK.


 * BRMF (Brownfield Risk Management Forum) - promoting sustainable and good practice in brownfield projects in the UK.


 * SHINE - the Learning Network for Sustainable Healthcare Buildings


 * Clients’ Sustainability Club – a club for major construction clients who want to share their experiences in developing solutions to sustainability challenges and learn from leading sustainability experts.

Ownership
CIRIA’s owners include representatives from all parts of the supply chains of the modern built environment, covering building and civil engineering as well as transport and utilities infrastructure. CIRIA is led by a member-wide council. Bill Healy was appointed as CEO in 2007. Membership of CIRIA’s Executive Board currently comprises:


 * Peter Gammie (Chair) – Chief Executive, Halcrow Group Limited
 * Ginny Clarke – Director of Safety, Standards and Research, Highways Agency
 * Professor David Balmforth – Technical Director, MWH
 * Professor John Miles – Chair, Global Consulting Business, Arup