The Collaborative Centre for the Built Environment (CCBE)
In today's environment, hoarding knowledge ultimately erodes your power. If you know something very important, the way to get power is by actually sharing it.
Joseph Badaracco, Professor of Business Ethics, Harvard
The Collaborative Centre for the Built Environment (CCBE) is a unique organisation. It brings together the University of Northampton, Moulton College and the University Centre Milton Keynes in the pursuit of a common purpose - to instil the current and future built environment professionals with the motivation and skills to create genuinely sustainable developments and communities.
We are aiming to develop a centre of expertise where professionals, researchers and students across a range of disciplines are brought together to contribute to contemporary debate and new thinking.
With easy access to several towns, cities and rural locations within the region as well as major urban centres like Birmingham and London, the CCBE is ideally placed to take full advantage of our setting. A number of major town centre redevelopment programmes, sustainable urban extensions, logistics and rail infrastructure developments and Eco towns are right on our doorstep, including Northampton Waterside Enterprise Zone, one of the 21 new Enterprise Zones across England.
The current climate of austerity coupled with high targets for sustainable development is an opportunity to question assumptions and explore new ways of approaching the immensely challenging tasks. It is also a good time to remember what the built environment is: it acts not only as context and background for all our lives but - at its best - also as a catalyst for a better society.
The 'Built Environment Higher Education: State of the Nation' report, published in December 2010 by the Centre for Education of the Built Environment (CEBE) stated
An increased focus on employability, potentially with changed student expectations about employment prospects, coupled with increased emphasis on employer links and Professional Body involvement.
The 'Built Environment Higher Education: State of the Nation' report
The Schools and the Northampton Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) within the University of Northampton and the Faculties at Moulton College and University Centre Milton Keynes are determined to support this goal through their partnership with the CCBE.
Upcoming events, conferences and short courses
Cities and Water - Urban Design Summer School