Recipient
Gary Mees PPCIAT MCIAT
Words by Kevin Crawford PCIAT
The second recipient of the President’s Medal is Gary Mees PPCIAT MCIAT.
With every generation of Architectural Technology professionals, there are those who automatically stand out, those with great humility with an immense generosity of spirit and ultimately seen as an inspirational figure. I have observed these combined characteristics time and time again with this year’s recipient of the President’s Medal. Gary Mees is an individual who acts as an exemplar of what professionalism is and this Award recognises his continuing significant contribution to the profession and discipline of Architectural Technology; he has been a role model for me and I’m sure for many of my colleagues.
Gary has been embedded within the world of Architectural Technology for as long as most can remember. As such, he is a fountain of knowledge, constantly moving with the times, a creative thinker and promotes collaboration as the tool to keep our sector relevant, progressive and ahead of the game.
There are many examples which could be used to demonstrate Gary’s achievements for Architectural Technology, the discipline and profession, both past and present, and activities he is involved in to ensure the profession is at the forefront within the sector. Gary has, and still, sits on many adviser groups to the Scottish Government and building standards and is contacted regularly when the Building Standards Division are looking for an expert in Architectural Technology within the built environment.
One of Gary’s key achievements has been his position within the advisory committee CONIAC (Construction Industry Advisory Committee) and his role as Vice-Chair of the Keeping Place with Change Group which has developed and instilled the embedding of CDM within the sector. As part of this, he has been instrumental in the work of the CDM 2020 Vision – Changing the Culture document and heavily involved with the development of the suite of design risk management documents which are open sourced in a format that are readily available to those in the industry.
Gary was the Health & Safety Champion for the Construction Industry Council (CIC) where he shaped policy and addressed and developed initiatives and responses on behalf of CIC and built environment professions. He was the CIC Health & Safety Committee Chair; a commitment which saw much activity surrounding the new building safety regime and the Building Safety Act. In addition, Gary sits on various BSi committees, the CIC Scotland Regional Committee and is a part of the CIC BIM Hub. He is a member of the RIAS Energy Certification Scheme Panel and was a member of the Building Standards Advisory Committee (Scotland). His exposure externally, representing the discipline, has included numerous presentations across the world, a judge for many award schemes and as an External Examiner for universities with a CIAT Accredited degree programme.
Where Gary stands out to me, and demonstrates his true character, is not in front of an audience but in private and his day-to-day actions when he has the opportunity to provide mentoring and support where it is needed. An example of which happened in 2008 in the last financial crash and a large proportion of the community lost their livelihood overnight. I was no different. I took the decision to start my practice and it was a slow and difficult time. The one saving grace for me was the countless calls with Gary where I was able to have open and honest conversation about what was going on – it got me through some very dark times in a two-year period. That is Gary – an honourable and trustworthy man.