News

Women in BIM conference targets decarbonisation and AI

Justin Stanton

Editor, DC+

17 June 2025

The annual Women in BIM conference takes place in Edinburgh next month and will tackle climate change, innovation and AI.

Photo of the audience at the Women In BIM conference in 2024 — Francesca Lofiego of Structure Tone asks a question at last year's Women In BIM conference

Women in BIM has revealed the agenda for its annual UK conference, which will take place on 8 July at the InterContinental Edinburgh The George. There are three key themes: conquering climate change, unleashing innovation and navigating the GenAI journey.

Among the speakers are representatives from Aecom, Bouygues, Buro Happold, Foster + Partners, Okana, Public Health Scotland, Robertsons and WSP.

A panel discussion in the afternoon will address the question: what’s standing in the way of decarbonisation? The panel will be chaired by Sean Smith, Professor of Future Construction at the University of Edinburgh. On the panel will be:

Nicola Jackson, group net zero projects lead at Robertson;

Nelly Martinez Fonseca, associate partner, senior sustainability coordinator at Foster + Partners; and

Louise Holway, sustainability and physics engineer at Buro Happold.

The innovation theme includes presentations from Lilian Ho, associate director – BIM and digital at Aecom, and Alexandra Bolton, independent consultant at Curgenven Wolfe.

The GenAI part of the conference will feature presentations from Okana associate Andrew Johnson (his session is intriguingly entitled: Manners cost nothing… or do they?), and Optimise AI CEO Nick Tune.

The importance of people alongside technology will also feature in a presentation from Annie Davidson, associate at WSP, and a panel session chaired by Willow Williams, global head of education at Women in BIM.

The closing session features data specialists who are delivering a new future for the management of data and information for the Scottish government.

Outside of industry topics, the morning will include a presentation from TV personality and property expert Amanda Lamb.

Marie Grieve, conference director and Women in BIM global vice-chair, said: “At Women in BIM, we bring together industry leaders, providing an opportunity not only for the exchange of dialogue, but to facilitate true collaboration to enable and drive change. We engage key industry and government stakeholders who can lead both digital and sustainable transformation to directly address blockers to change and strengthen actions for the energy efficiencies we urgently need.

“Join us in mobilising an innovative built environment ecosystem that facilitates transformative climate action.”

Tickets can be booked here.

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Topics:

Women in BIM