First published March 2020. Rewritten August 2026 and last reviewed 14 September 2026.
Lairds AV runs continuing professional development sessions for architects, interior designers, contractors and design teams. Sessions are held in our own demonstration theatre at Marathon House in Kilmarnock, or at your premises, by arrangement. There is no charge.
What the sessions are about
Not equipment. The subject is when technology has to be decided, and what it costs when that decision is made late. A communications room has to be drawn at RIBA Stage 2. Containment has to be coordinated at Stage 3. Anything introduced after Stage 4 is not design, it is retrofit, and the client generally pays for it twice. That is the argument, and everything else follows from it.
Current sessions
- Infrastructure and containment. What to allow for, where it goes, and how it coordinates with the M&E package. Includes the 2025 change to Scottish Building Standard 4.14 on gigabit-ready infrastructure, which we set out in this article.
- Private cinema and listening rooms. Spatial footprint, sightlines, ceiling height and acoustic treatment, resolved on the drawing rather than on site.
- Lighting and blind control. Coordinating control with the lighting scheme instead of after it.
- Networks and cyber security in a private residence. Why a house on a consumer router is a different risk from an office, and what to specify instead.
- Listed and historically significant buildings. Working where there are no voids, the walls are rubble and much of the fabric is protected.
Who delivers them
Sessions are delivered by Mark Laird, who founded the practice in 1999 and holds a master’s degree in network security and a second in cyber security, sixteen years apart. Every credential is named with its issuing body and year so that any of it can be checked. Current material is delivered in partnership with Habitech, who provide the content and accreditation for their programme. Our own material is in development.
Why a technology practice runs CPD at all
Because the argument only matters to the people who draw the buildings. Lairds AV is the AV partner to the Glasgow Institute of Architects and has run and sponsored the GIA Design Awards in 2024 and 2025, with 2026 commissioned. We have delivered CPD and design advice to practices including Thomas Robinson Architects.
Questions we are asked
How long is a session?
A lunchtime session with time for questions about your live projects suits most design teams, at your office or in our theatre. Longer workshops can be arranged for a practice that wants to go deeper on one subject.
Is it a sales presentation?
No. There is no product content. The material is about programme, coordination and risk, and it is the same whether or not we are ever appointed on one of your projects.
Can you look at a live project instead?
Yes. Many practices find a design review of a current scheme more useful than a general session, and we are glad to do that under the same terms.
Booking
Sessions run by appointment throughout the year, at Marathon House or at your office. Tell us about your practice and what you would find useful, and we will put a session together. We normally work for the client, with the architect, and the sessions are where that relationship usually begins.