CIBSE President's Blog

Last month, it was almost exactly a year since The Edge published their ‘Collaboration for Change’ report ; something that CIBSE has been heavily involved in under my predecessor Nick Mead, Vice-President Paddy Conaghan and now myself. The report, written by Paul Morrell, was an insightful look at the areas of Ethics, Research, Education, the Performance Gap, Industry reform and Climate Change – and how collaboration between professional bodies can advance the whole industry in these areas. For me, the report was particularly eye-opening in the way it discussed the effect that the industry could have on Government policy and the wider community if only we can maximise the potential of working together. He should know: He’s the former Government Chief Construction Advisor, and what he had to say in the report was a big influence on my own theme for my Presidency – raising the voice of Engineering in society. The ‘performance gap’ side of the report was thrown into focus last month b...

In the first of his monthly blogs, CIBSE President John Field will introduce the primary theme of his Presidency. John will write a blog every month on a variety of topics; encompassing news, views and opinion, that will lend an insight into life at the top of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers. Last week I was given the tremendous honour of being inducted as President of CIBSE by past-President Nick Mead, whose thoughts you have been reading on this blog for the past year. Those who were in the audience at our AGM at the Royal Society will have heard me use my inaugural speech to draw attention to a few issues that are of importance to me, and will be addressed during my term in office (and if you didn’t, a video of it is above!). In my first blog, I would like to draw further attention one particular issue in action, and what I plan to do to address it. You’ll likely be familiar with the ongoing discussion over what is to be done about the Palace...

Firstly a Happy New Year to you all and trust you had a good Christmas. Well it’s all been very busy couple of months! With a bit of a lull over the Christmas period, I’ve finally been able to collect my thoughts into the blog. The 3 rd and 4 th of November saw the CIBSE Building Performance Conference and Exhibition at the QE2 centre in London, and extra special for me to be attending as President. This year’s Conference was again an unqualified success, with 48% more attendees, double the number of exhibitors and a bigger splash on social media than last year. This was unsurprising given the quality of the presentations and debates that we saw during the two days, including some cutting edge knowledge on security and unique collaboration with disciplines outside engineering on comfort and energy efficiency. Next was the SoPHE dinner in Kensington on the Thursday which was as always a great night, and quickly followed by the SoPHE Awards, which demonstrated inspiring p...

Hi, well October is now over and we are getting very close to Christmas and the festivities! October has been a great month with so much happening. The 8th October started with a lunch at IMechE with the president Professor Richard Folkson, the ASHRAE President David Underwood, the chief executives and myself. Discussions focused very much around collaboration and a unified voice to government, better collaboration in Universities and education of engineering and science in the schools. The evening saw the Employer of the Year award and the Graduate of the Year award. Congratulations go to SDS who not only won the mid size company award but the overall award. The entries were outstanding as usual but SDS showed great commitment to their programme and staff. The YEN awards were excellent with it being the 20th Anniversary award and we had the pleasure of Kevin Mitrchell of Buro Haoppold who joined us from Dubai who was the first winner. Other previous winners attended to ce...

Well, it appears the summer vacations are now truly over, we are in the run up to Christmas (just over 12 weeks) and life continues at 100mph. It has been a great month at CIBSE with all the in house meetings and public events. In the background, HQ is on the go with meetings covering such a wide and diverse range of issues that we seldom give them credit for. Knowledge, finance, technical, membership etc. etc. are constantly being delivered, reviewed, and updated to ensure the intricate clock keeps ticking. As a president, we only tend to cover the perimeter of many of the ongoing issues but the bits I have been involved in have been fascinating and surprising. Where do we go with CEnv? Should Universities cover Heritage issues on their courses? Where do we stand on apprentices? Where do we tie into other Professional Bodies? The list goes on over several hundred e-mails. All demanding an answer and needing to be prioritised to ensure nothing critical falls by the side.  ...

I hope everyone is well after the holiday season. This is always a difficult time for businesses, those who have to go away in school holiday time suffer the premiums that are demanded and those who don’t have to cover the panics that ensue. Staff numbers are always restricted through to the end September and before you know it half term is upon us. I fortunately managed to get a few days off but the weather had no mercy even for a President, so the “to-do list” is no shorter! Winners of the 2014 Young Engineers Awards My CIBSE life might have appeared quiet through August, but we have been working hard behind the scenes on our awards. Having seen the judging for the employer of the year and the undergraduate of the year in this year's Young Engineers Awards , competition is as fierce as ever following record numbers of entries for both. We also saw the award of two other medals - the Napier Shaw and Carter Bronze Medals - to teams from Strathclyde and Malaysia Universiti...

With half the calendar gone, it’s getting towards that time of year when you stop thinking of 2015 as the New Year, and you start the run up to Christmas ! Luckily for me, I've still got some of CIBSE’s biggest events to look forward to before I can even begin to think about the festive The Young Engineers Awards , the YEN Conference in Hong Kong and, of course, the CIBSE Conference and Exhibition . Th fabulous view across London from the tower of Pimlico District Heating Undertaking It seemed like the world was conspiring against us early in the month, to prevent the launch of our first-of-its-kind Heat Networks Code of Practice. First the Tube strike on the London Underground, and then a record-breaking heatwave, but building services engineers are made of sterner stuff and turned out to fill the sell-out event. A unique opportunity to get under the skin of the UK’s longest running heat network in Pimlico was followed by a really interesting event, which put the new Code...