The second Board of Trustees meeting of 2015 took place on October 25 in the Grand Hyatt in Midtown Manhattan, in advance of the 2015 CTBUH Conference. The purpose of the meeting was for the Board to discuss and reach an agreement on Council strategy for the upcoming year, as well as welcome Trustees assuming new roles.  

CTBUH Chairman David Malott kicked off the meeting by welcoming everyone to New York City, and expressing his enthusiasm for the upcoming Conference. He introduced and welcomed two new Trustees: Tim Neal, Global Director, Buildings, Arcadis; and Abrar Sheriff, President and CEO, Turner International. Malott also gave special thanks to the two members retiring in 2015 for their dedication to the Council: Craig Gibbons, Global Structural Engineering Leader, Arup, whom had served as Trustee and Secretary; and Joseph Chou, President, Taipei 101.

CTBUH Conferences and Sponsorship

Next, CTBUH Executive Director Antony Wood stepped up to give an overview of the exciting CTBUH 2015 conference directly following the Trustee meeting, in the same Grand Hyatt venue. The Council’s largest conference to date, it sold out in a record six weeks in advance of the event. The Conference   drew 1,200 delegates from 45 countries, representing a total of 488 different companies. Wood reported that 43% of delegates hailed from the US, 19% from Asia, 14% from the Middle East, and 13% from Europe, with the rest representing the Americas and Africa. It was made possible by 57 generous sponsors, 12 of whom were owner/developers.  

Wood went on to describe the CTBUH 2016 Conference, which will be distinct from anything the Council has organized before. Cities to Megacities: Shaping Dense Vertical Urbanism will be hosted progressively across three cities in China’s Pearl River Delta, beginning with two presentation days and a day of technical tours in Shenzhen, and then moving on to Guangzhou, and finally to Hong Kong.

Asia Office

Operations at CTBUH Asia Office, headquartered at Tongji University in Shanghai are well underway. Director Daniel Safarik currently leads a staff of five, with the recent hire of Xia Sun to be Associate Director. This small but “mighty” staff is undertaking large initiatives such as coordinating the CITAB-CTBUH China Tall Buildings Awards Program, a joint initiative of CTBUH and the China International Exchange Committee for Tall Buildings, established in April 2015. Another major milestone for the office this year has been a publication agreement with Tongji University Press, to print the 2016 Conference Proceedings Publications, CTBUH Journal in Chinese, and other key CTBUH Chinese-language publications.

Research Update

Subsequently, Wood updated the Trustees on large-scale research projects, headed up by Dario Trabucco at the CTBUH Research office at Iuav (Università Iuav di Venezi) in Venice. The Life Cycle Assessment, a project launched in January of 2013, culminated with the publication of “Life Cycle of Tall Building Structural System” in the fall of 2015. He informed the group that another research project on megacolumns is close to completion, with a publication ensuing in 2016, and that a third project was just launched this year to explore tall building damping systems. 

CTBUH Operations

Wood wrapped up the meeting by reporting on the Council’s continued efforts to drive membership, which include the production of a sleek updated brochure that is clear, easy-to-read, and visually appealing, and a comprehensive new survey to members. He touched on Regional Representation & Chapters, noting that the Council continues to expand its reach across the globe, with more events planned for 2016 already than were achieved in 2015. 

In order to support all of these initiatives, the Council is currently employing 28 full time staff across the three offices. The Executive Director announced that the CTBUH central headquarters will relocate from the College of Architecture at IIT University to the Monroe building in Chicago’s Loop area, to accommodate the organizations quickly-expanding staff.

The date for the next Board of Trustee meeting has been set for March 3, 2016 and will be held at Iuav in Venice.