CIBSE Conference brings sustainability focus to the north-east

At the end of April much of the building services profession, along with a number of CIBSE staff, descended on the north-east, eager to share knowledge, improve understanding and hear from some of the industry’s leading experts.

Why the north-east? Well, from the 29 – 30 April the Newcastle Gateshead Hilton was home to the CIBSE/ASHRAE Conference 2008, welcoming delegates from across the UK, as well as some well-travelled guests all the way from America.

Moving away from London, the conference location highlighted the ongoing regeneration work in the north-east and opened up the conference to a wider range of delegates who perhaps find it difficult to travel to the south on a regular basis. The theme of this year’s conference was ‘sustainability – from niche to norm’, reflecting the increasing influence that energy efficiency factors have on the building services industry.

Opening with a special Fringe Conference at Northumbria University on the 28th April, the following two days of conference were packed full of traditional presentations, panel sessions, case studies and optional fringe seminars. Speakers included ASHRAE President Kent Peterson, Jane Carlsen, Principal Planner for the GLA, Simon Harris, Director of Cost Consultancy at Cyril Sweett and Becky Warren from Eversheds. The social side of the conference was not ignored, with the opening Gala Dinner held at the Newcastle Civic Centre helping to welcome guests to the north-east and the ‘Niche to Quiche’ evening reception providing an opportunity to mingle with representatives from the local business community.

Naturally all the programme events are at the core of the Conference however the socialising and networking opportunities are also significant. Meeting new people, renewing contact and sharing experiences is also a key part of the event. To my mind the energy, self-confidence and general “buzz” is important too. Good to know we are still the fasting growing Engineering Institution; for all those that attended the Conference they left knowing why CIBSE is on the up. There is a job to be done and our members are proud of it.

This year’s conference was held in conjunction with ASHRAE, our US counter-parts, and follows a number of past successes such as the 2004 joint conference held in Edinburgh. Kent Peterson, President of ASHRAE, gave a comprehensive review of the US approach and the lessons we can learn, explaining how they are working to encourage industry in the US to ‘go green’. The joint conference was a further step in strengthening links between our two societies, links which were extended last year with the signing of a new membership agreement making it easier than ever for members of one body to join the other. CIBSE members are welcomed by ASHRAE without undergoing the usual admissions and advancement review and in return, ASHRAE members can use their professional engineering qualifications to join CIBSE’s growing membership.

Thanks must also go to the CIBSE staff who organised and ran the event, and to the sponsors and supporting organisations. The main sponsors of the conference were Cundall and Lochinvar, while Aliaxis sponsored the Gala Dinner.

I hope that all those who attended found it informative and timely, and I think all of us can relate to the title – the industry is now tied to the notion of sustainability and for much of the profession, working towards a sustainable built environment is already the norm.

Stephen Matthews
CIBSE Chief Executive

CIBSE President Elect John Swaffield Theme for 2008

One of CIBSE’s strengths is the diversity of its membership and this is reflected on our Board, our Consultative Council, our groups and societies and the spread of our members internationally. It is also reflected in the themes for our Presidential years.

I have recently returned from a trip to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Dubai accompanying our President Elect John Swaffield. John’s Presidential Theme will be water and spending time with John, hearing him speak to so many of our International members was time well spent.

We all look forward to focussing on water and public health – such vital issues for building services during John’s presidential year.

Recent Presidential themes have been sustainability and the nature of the construction industry. Sustainability along with related themes such as energy efficiency has been challenging enough but with the public embracing the challenge of climate change and governments concerned with security of energy for the future we have been pushing at an open door.

The leadership of our Presidents has catalysed many publications and events and the development of the Low Carbon Consultants Scheme and the 100 days of Carbon Clean-Up campaign. More recently our current President John Armstrong has focussed on whole life costing and building operation and this has enabled CIBSE to demonstrate that we are about all buildings, not just new build. This is vital if we are to address the energy wastage caused by existing buildings.

A very challenging issue is the improvement of the construction industry which, it seems, needs to be addressed right at its core. Like many other countries the construction industry in the UK is based on historical practices and processes. We have been aware of the need to change for a long time and various attempts have been made.

CIBSE’s membership base covers the breadth of the building services industry – specialists in specific services but also manufacturers, installers, supply chain managers, project managers, facilities managers as well as consultant designers. This is another great strength which allows CIBSE to take a broad perspective and identify the areas in the whole supply chain and procurement process that are weak.

At the end of 2007 CIBSE responded to the UK Government’s Strategy for Sustainable Construction and we stressed the need to change the industry for better and for ever.

2008 heralds a number of exciting initiatives for CIBSE. Hot on the tail of achieving our UKAS accreditation for CIBSE Certification we are now expanding the Low Carbon Consultant scheme to provide the basis of accreditation for energy assessors. We have also developed a flexible learning scheme.

As part of CIBSE’s obligation to the public good we have been looking at how we can provide training to services engineers after graduation, to help build on their degree training and fill in the gaps in their practical knowledge to enable them to develop as engineers. We will provide this through on-line and other electronic forms such as ‘i-seminars’ and web casts.

We believe that flexible learning will enable busy young engineers who may not have the time to attend seminars or go back to college to keep up to date in our rapidly developing industry.

Learning in a practical work environment seems to me to be essential if CIBSE members are to provide excellence in building services. Flexible learning, with its electronic delivery is well suited to our busy global CIBSE community.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all CIBSE members and readers of the BSJ a happy and prosperous 2008.

Stephen Matthews
Chief Executive