Article published on DailyFT on 13 August 2024 | 

The Ceylon Institute of Builders (CIOB) and the Building Economics and Management Research Unit (BEMRU), Department of Building Economics, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (UOM) are jointly organising the 12th World Construction Symposium with the Green and Sustainability Awards Night will be held on 9 and 10 August at Taj Samudra, Colombo.

The theme of the symposium is “Empowering Construction Industry: Towards Sustainable Development Goals”.

The World Construction Symposium, which is held annually by the UOM and CIOB, will provide a special forum for researchers and practitioners in the areas of built environment and construction industry related research worldwide to share their knowledge, experiences, and research findings.

The Ceylon Institute of Builders (CIOB) has been very successfully conducting this symposium since its commencement in 2012. Each year, it has grown and expanded its scope of attendees and contributions to the betterment of Sri Lankan construction.

With the help of the UOM, this is one of the main events where global and local universities and professionals come together. More than a 100 research papers are being submitted from top ranked universities from all over the world. CIOB is of the view that these research papers should be entertained and used for the practical use to the benefit of the industry by the industry research units and authorities of the public and private sectors.

“Furthermore, decision makers of the industry have to seriously think about bringing down construction costs, management inefficiency, and cut down wastages. If we attend to these we can save over 25%, and in that case, the Sri Lankan construction cost can remain competitive on par with our neighbouring countries. However, other countries say our construction quality and lifetime is very high and we have almost no failures,” said the CIOB.

The CIOB also looks forward to the implementation of the Roadmap 2023-24 handed over to the President and the construction industry as the local debt restructuring process is underway. JICA and other foreign-funded projects need to be started subsequently.

The 12th World Construction Symposium with the UOM and the CIOB has planned to conduct the annual Award Ceremony as the concluding event. It aims to convert academic papers and concepts into reality and acknowledge those who have integrated academia into the Sri Lankan construction industry.

As always, Tokyo Cement Lanka PLC has come forward as the principal sponsor to support the innovative annual symposium on sustainability development by the UOM.

Original article: https://www.ft.lk/business/World-Construction-Symposium-2024-kicks-off-tomorrow-in-Colombo/34-765269

In such a difficult time, the CIOB will also conduct a ‘Green and Sustainable Awards’ evaluated by a panel of prominent industry professionals and academics to recognise efforts towards sustainability in various fields, organisations, projects, and people to appreciate and motivate industry stakeholders.