University launches new forum BEFA to unite built environment sector
Posted on: 17 September, 2025
The University of the Built Environment has launched a new forum designed to break down silos and foster collaboration across the sector.
The employer-led Built Environment Futures Assembly (BEFA) will bring together voices from industry, government, professional bodies and education to tackle shared challenges ranging from skills shortages to sustainability.
Chaired by Mark Farmer – author of influential government reviews ‘Modernise or Die’ and Transforming the Construction Workforce reports – the forum will provide a platform for “collective leadership” to help shape the future of the industry.
Mark said: “Our sector urgently needs to break down its traditional professional silos and work together in new, more integrated ways to address the changing educational and skills needs of practitioners.
“BEFA provides a much-needed platform for collaborative thinking that reflects the future of built environment practice.”
BEFA’s mission
BEFA’s mission is to strengthen capacity, capability and competency across the sector through knowledge sharing, learning and innovation. Its work will be focused on two principal areas – education & future skills, and professionalism – supported by three cross-cutting themes of inclusion, sustainability and placemaking.
The education strand will concentrate on aligning training with industry demand to ensure a strong pipeline of talent.
The professionalism strand aims to raise competence and capability through higher standards of ethics and best practice.
Alongside this, the assembly will promote more inclusive leadership, embed sustainability into practice, and champion placemaking approaches that deliver long-term social value.
‘Amplify specialist voices’
Ashley Wheaton, Vice Chancellor of the University of the Built Environment, said: “The University is delighted to support BEFA to help it amplify specialist voices and share best practice.
“BEFA’s structure, with industry-led workstreams and active stakeholder participation, ensures activities are demand-led but also informed by our experience in long-term skills development.”
The Assembly’s holistic focus distinguishes it from other initiatives by taking a truly integrated approach to industry challenges.
Its breadth enables it to align practical solutions with high-level policy advocacy, positioning BEFA as a central convening body for the sector.
About Mark Farmer
Farmer, who also founded the consultancy Cast, has led successive government reviews into construction and workforce development, most recently the 2025 review of industry training boards.
His appointment as chair of BEFA is seen as a signal of the forum’s ambition to influence not just practice but also wider policy.
The University of the Built Environment has more than 100 years’ experience delivering flexible education and apprenticeships in real estate, construction, planning and architecture.
The launch of BEFA is part of its wider mission to create a more skilled, professional, diverse and sustainable built environment sector.
