Orlando, Florida, played host to 330 consultants, architects, engineers, and design professionals who gathered with industry leaders and manufacturers September 29–30 at the Rosen Shingle Creek for the top industry event of the fall.
IIBEC’s two-day Building Enclosure Symposium included 12 hours of cutting-edge education, including Friday’s “Building the Future: Harnessing the Power of AI in the Building Enclosure Industry,” with IIBEC Executive Vice President and CEO Brian Pallasch in conversation with Trent Cotney of Adams and Reese LLP.
Cotney said that the many potential legal issues involving the use of AI include those related to plagiarism, bias, and confidentiality of information, and he noted that while the convergence of technology fueling AI exceeds our ability to constrain it, resisting AI could prove harmful. Cotney and Pallasch also touched on the potential concern of the building enclosure industry being left behind if it doesn’t embrace AI.
Sessions on fenestration replacement, recurring field-installation issues, vapor retarder in roof decks, energy-code backstops, restoration, and ethics rounded out the day’s education. IIBEC’s Emily Lorenz, PE, F-ACI, moderated a panel discussion on building enclosure commissioning with Jason Danielson, AIA, LEED AP, QCxP; Benjamin Townsend, PE; and Trevor Weilbach, PE.
Saturday’s education highlights included sessions on facade inspection ordinances, lessons learned from building enclosure delegated design disasters, a longitudinal review of energy efficiency, changes to wind load provisions, waterproofing considerations in property line construction, advanced masonry seismic testing, implementation of deep energy retrofits, and more on fenestration.
Networking opportunities at BES kicked off with the Fall Foundations’ Golf Outing and continued with the Thursday-night welcome reception. Carlisle Construction Materials, SOCOTEC, SOPREMA, and Tremco CPG were sponsors of the event, while Building Enclosure, Roofing Contractor, and Walls & Ceilings were the media sponsors.
The 2024 BES, cosponsored by IIBEC and the Ontario Building Envelope Council, will be held in Toronto, Ontario next fall.
