The People’s Emergency Briefing: After the credits roll
The built environment sits at the heart of many of the UK’s biggest challenges, and the decisions we make today will shape our communities for decades to come.
That is why we recently opened our doors to host a screening of The People’s Emergency Briefing. The documentary explores the UK’s growing climate and nature emergency and asks a simple but powerful question: how can people make informed decisions if they have never been fully briefed on the scale of the challenge?
The Discussion
The evening became an opportunity to reflect on how our organisations are responding to the climate and nature emergency. Facilitated by Georgia Elliott-Smith, Director of Sustainability at Elliott Wood, the discussion brought together perspectives from across the built environment to challenge assumptions and explore where greater collaboration is needed.
Hannah Bullock, Account Director at Cartwright and Society Building member, reflected:
“What stayed with me most after watching the film was just how wide-ranging the impact of climate change is going to be and how critical the state of the climate emergency already is.”
Hannah also reflected that staying informed is essential to helping organisations communicate their sustainability ambitions credibly and ensure their actions match the messages they share.
Why These Conversations Matter
Climate resilience is no longer a future consideration. It is shaping projects today, from retrofit strategies and material choices to biodiversity, infrastructure and long-term investment.
Creating opportunities for architects, engineers, contractors, consultants, developers, local authorities and innovators to meet allows ideas to travel further and encourages collaboration that simply doesn’t happen in isolation.
Hannah described events like these as invaluable for deepening understanding of the climate crisis while building meaningful connections across the industry.
Building a Community Around Action
At Society Building, our aim has always been to create more than a coworking space. We believe that bringing people together can spark new ideas, challenge perspectives and lead to meaningful action. That’s why hosting The People’s Emergency Briefing felt like such a natural fit. The campaign encourages people to engage with their elected representatives and support calls for a nationally televised briefing on the climate and nature emergency. You can find campaign resources, including information on contacting your local MP, here.
If you’d like to learn more, you can watch the trailer and register your interest in one of our upcoming screenings. Thank you to everyone who joined us for the screening and contributed so openly to the discussion. We look forward to welcoming more conversations like this in the months ahead.