5 minutes with… Dervilla Mitchell

Welcome to the first conversation of our ‘5 minutes with’ series, where we speak with fellow professionals in the built environment.

First up, daab speak with Dervilla Mitchell CBE, Deputy Chair of Arup, to discuss collaboration, the creative process and making time to unwind.

Dennis: We’ve known & worked with each other for quite some time now and something that I’ve always been impressed by is your ability to facilitate genuine design collaboration on large, complex, multifaceted projects. How do you, early on in a project, communicate the value of this method of working to clients?

Dervilla: Well, every project has its own characteristics, brought by the different people around the table, and it’s important to recognise firstly that different clients have different ambitions. 

A really important starting point is understanding the clients’ ambition and what they’re trying to achieve, what the architects are trying to achieve, and trying to get everybody with a common understanding. 

Getting everyone on the same page means that you avert a lot of the later tensions as various groups try to go different directions. You can only achieve this by listening to gain an appreciation of people's wants and needs and desires.

So that's where I come from; listening, and being deeply committed to collaboration. I have this true belief that if we get all the right voices working together in unison, then you're ultimately going to get a better outcome.

Dennis: I think you’re underestimating your strength. What I've seen over the years is that you don't wait for the action to happen. I think you're proactive in your listening, but how would you define that? Is it patience?

Dervilla: You know, we're doing all this nice listening and understanding. But then we have to actually challenge what we hear and learn, not in an aggressive way, but to see if we're doing the very best we can do for the project and client.

It’s also really important to me that we're not just doing the job, but we're trying to achieve something special. That goes beyond just being right, it often requires thinking about doing something new, and frequently evolving our thinking on the way we're going to do things.

If you think back to when we worked on Heathrow Terminal 5 together and the design of the structural connections, you know, there was a long process of listening to find out that we were all trying to achieve something different, something special, something dynamic, and something dramatic. You challenged us to get that sort of outcome. All parties have to allow enough room for ideas and emotion to come out.

Dennis: I've seen you convey incredible calm during challenging periods where the design team is struggling to agree. What's your experience been about exposing the client to the design process? 

Dervilla: I think it's absolutely vital. It just is. The relationship between the architect and the engineer, the closer and the stronger that relationship is and the better understanding we have of one another, the better the outcome is going to be.

But I always put myself in the place of thinking how do I support this client? I am there to support them and enable what they're trying to achieve. I feel most proud when I leave a client, and they can move on and do the next project perhaps more easily or in a better way, because they’ve learned and I could support them and their ambition. 

Dennis: That's a very good segue to my next question; what is the most joyful moment of a project? 

Dervilla: I was almost going to say it was the opening of a building, but that's not quite true. It's seeing buildings in operation.

When I go through Heathrow’s Terminal Five, I take a skip every time I go down those walkways from the carpark. I just take this tiny little skip and I go, I was here when this was started, I was there from the inception. And all the things I remember all the conversations, I remember all the dialogue, and I see you and Mike Davies. 

It's both the memories together with that moment of opening, you know, are saying it's the operation.

Dennis: One more question, then I've got a bit of a summary, which is much more about you and not about the industry.

There's a real thirst now for collaboration on multiple scales. How are you seeing the small, large practice cross-collaboration?

Dervilla: I think there should be greater ease of collaboration, and there should be less boundaries. Networks are powerful because they bring a diversity of perspectives. However, it isn't always easy to construct that. And so the industry could give more thought to how they'd construct that, or how they would enable that. 

A lot of clients come to Arup because they want a big name and they want a full-functioning well-oiled organisation, they don't want lots of little different organisations to manage with different financial systems, different procurement, different invoicing. 

So procurement and client behaviour often goes against collaboration. If we could change some of that mindset in our clients, and show how they would get a better result if they engage different parties, we would find that has happened more frequently.

Dennis: I think now with the focus on social value and making room for greater participation within the built environment, a lot of people are using the right words, but you're right the procurement processes; the PI requirements, risk reduction, etc- for micro SME’s this just stops everything dead in the water in some cases.

Dervilla: And if you know, if those barriers can be addressed, then I think there would be greater collaboration, and there can be! It’ll be interesting to see how the industry continues. But I certainly agree that there's work to be done on the procurement process.

One of the things that makes collaboration a success is enjoying the process of creation. And the other thing is accepting, you know the Linus Pauling quote of, “to get one good idea, you have to have lots of good ideas”. That rings true.

Dennis: Amazing. So, finally, with these projects and developments and things that are on the horizon within ARUP and all the balls that you juggle, Dervilla Michel, where is your secret garden of repose? 

Dervilla: Well, I'm going to say three B’s plus two G’s. 

When I was younger, I never gave any time to myself, and I never found that garden. And then I realized that I needed to give time to myself. And the three B's I learned were getting on my bicycle, baking with my children, and watching birds. What you realize is your life moves on, your children grow up and the nature of your work changes. So now I probably spend more time in two other places; galleries and gardens.

I spend more time pottering around in my garden, doing bits and bobs, and I can take a great deal of joy from that; it can distract me completely from work. And I absolutely adore going with my family to galleries. That's a real Sunday occupation; I can go to any number of galleries to see any number of things. And I just find that joyful.

Dennis: That's, that's fantastic. And I really appreciate you sharing that, Dervilla that means a lot to us. Thank you very much, it’s been a pleasure to speak to you.