The B1M's Fred Mills named an IET Honorary Fellow

The B1M’s Founder Fred Mills has today been named an IET Honorary Fellow in recognition of his “outstanding contribution to the public understanding of construction and engineering”.

The Institution of Engineering Technology (IET) has been recognising the contribution of notable figures to engineering and technology as Honorary Fellows since 1873.

Previous recipients of the honour include astronaut Tim Peake, Grenfell review author Dame Judith Hackitt, Alexander Graham Bell, members of the Royal family and American music producer will.i.am.

Mills was named alongside three others in 2022, including actor Sir Patrick Stewart, Ruth Amos and Yvonne Baker.

Commenting on the IET’s award, Mills said:

“This is a deeply humbling honour. From a young age I have followed my love and passion for this industry, often in the face of adversity as I strived to build something that hadn't been done before.

“To push through that, and see my content resonate with so many millions of people worldwide has been incredible. It is difficult to find the words that can properly convey what being made an honorary fellow of the IET means to me. I am eagerly looking forward to leveraging the position to inspire more people to come and work in the world's greatest industry.”

On awarding the Honorary Fellows, IET President Bob Cryan, said:

“I’m delighted that the IET is marking the outstanding achievements of these distinguished individuals with one of our highest honours of Honorary Fellow. They each have excelled in their own disciplines, made truly great contributions across our engineering profession and inspired others through their expertise, knowledge and service. 

"They should all be justifiably proud of their accomplishments, with each being extremely well-deserved.”

Above: Mills filming with The B1M inside ITER, a nuclear fusion reactor under construction in France. Below: Mills attending YouTube's EduCon summit in New York.

For almost a decade, Mills has championed the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sectors through The B1M; the world’s leading video publisher for AEC.

Having worked for a leading UK contractor, he first established The B1M in his spare room in an attempt to change people’s perceptions of construction. 

Since then, he has used digital video to tell the industry’s best stories in a fresh, accessible, and engaging way – and built an audience of millions.

The B1M now has more than 3M subscribers across its YouTube channels and some 20M viewers watching each month. Its content is produced in-house by a 16-strong team.

The B1M’s mission statement is simple – “We love construction, and we want the whole world to love it too.” It’s out to make the industry easier to understand, admire and navigate for everyone, including those working in it.

Above: The B1M's 2022 London Underground campaign.

Over the years, Mills has interviewed Sir Richard Branson, filmed inside London’s Elizabeth Tower, taken his viewers into a nuclear fusion reactor, run a billboard advertising campaign on the London Underground, founded a podcast, created a channel dedicated to the future of construction and produced acclaimed, hard-hitting documentaries on New York’s World Trade Center, the HS2 megaproject and London’s Battersea Power Station development.

The B1M’s investigation into Manhattan’s Billionaires’ Row has now amassed more than 15M views on YouTube.

The Times has named The B1M as one of the 20 best educational YouTube channels in the world.

Mills’ work to promote greater understanding of construction around the world was also recently recognised with the inaugural Industry Voice award at Bluebeam’s 2022 Extreme Awards in San Diego.

Above: Fred Mills signing the IET's Roll of Honorary Fellows at Savoy Place, London.