This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
CIBSE News


Training and development


Submissions The closing dates for annual submissions to be considered at the September 2010 Training and Development Panel meeting is 7 September. Training submissions and


any queries, plus employers’ enquiries and applications for approved company training schemes, should be addressed to Parvin Begum, training and development administrator, on 020 8772 3612 or via pbegum@cibse.org


Help test new online interface


A new online interface, the CIBSE Knowledge Portal, is to be launched to improve access to information. The portal will ensure all of the institution’s codifi ed information is available via an online interface, with enhanced searching and browsing capabilities. Direct links to the LUCKINSlive


product directory and BSI standards are some of the extra features that will be included to assist members and others in their day-to-day work. To make sure the interface


offers the searches and results members need, CIBSE is looking to form a user group to test it for user friendliness and intuitiveness during its development stage. If you are interested in helping to


test it, and could spare time for two or three meetings in the next four months, email amylona@cibse.org


Setting sail on a Star


Spencer Gardner and crew from Hoare Lea and Partners, Bristol, in Swing on a Star, won this year’s Southern Regional Yacht Rally, which took place on 26 June. Runners up were Andrew Eastwell and a team from BSRIA in a Sunfast 37 and third place went to Graham Fisher in Kalventus.


Mortally wounded or just sick? ■


As someone who commutes by train, I have plenty of


time to read the newspapers and to refl ect on the current mood of the industry. The other day I sat next to a chap who works in construction. Our conversation started with:


‘I have been wondering what the chief construction adviser, Paul Morrell, is really likely to achieve, and what the consequences of his fi nal Innovation & Growth report could be...’ Our discussion continued … ‘Construction is sick. It has been for some time.’ In 1992 it was sent to the


doctor and got a prescription for ‘Constructing the Team’ from Dr Latham. It failed to respond. In 1998 Dr Egan prescribed ‘Accelerating Change’, which resulted in no noticeable change of velocity. Now Dr Morrell is writing


a new prescription, hoping for a wonder drug to cure the greed and waste in a fragmented industry. How many people have


stopped to entertain the thought that the real problem is that UK construction is currently not fi t-for- purpose, and that it lacks any of the ability, will or leadership to arrest a state of terminal decline: lacking the discipline to produce a product on budget, to cost and to spec. Perhaps the challenge of


delivering a low carbon built environment is actually beyond the industry, and it just isn’t up to adapting to meet the challenge? Perhaps Paul Morrell’s task is not so much to provide a blueprint, as to pen the epitaph? I have certainly heard – and repeated loudly – ‘if construction cannot do the job, then we have to fi nd a mechanism that can’.


Perhaps the large retail giants will be taking on the challenge of shifting 21 million retrofi ts over the next 20 years, providing a packaged solution to the consumer as they do now for a wide range of other non-food items? And for the big boys, perhaps the


larger developers will get together with a few large services providers to deliver a larger-scale version for the commercial sector? Where does that leave our members? Still providing professional knowledge and advice? CIBSE still concerned with membership and university accreditation? Still producing guidance – but in the same way? It was at this point that I woke


up, still on the train, newspaper on the fl oor. A bad dream, I hope ... Stephen Matthews Chief executive


The great renewable heat debate


The new coalition government has been active in many areas in its early days in offi ce. One area has been subject to much discussion, reporting, and even rumour: the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). Initially, it was not mentioned in


the coalition agreement, provoking early anxiety that it would be scrapped. However, as offi cials pointed out in private, many topics were not covered, but this should not be taken to indicate that RHI would not go ahead. What they could not detail, however, was the form that the fi nal RHI might take. There has been much discussion about this: which technologies


will it cover? What rates will it pay for each? Will it, like the Feed in Tariff, be paid whatever the thermal performance of the building? Or would it only be available for buildings that had already been insulated to a reasonable standard? Some have argued that, as proposed in the recent consultation, the incentive will ‘discourage investment in energy saving measures and encourage profl igacy’. Indeed, if we incentivise renewable heat before we address fabric effi ciency, we are at odds with government’s own proposals for new buildings, domestic or


otherwise, which address fabric energy effi ciency before considering renewable technologies. Unfortunately, we still do not


have clarity on these points – meanwhile various debates and exchanges are under way about whether air source heat pumps should be included, and so on. The only clarity we do seem


to have is that there will be some form of incentive scheme, and that we do not yet know what it will look like. As soon as this becomes clearer, CIBSE will be making members aware, and will provide information through the Knowledge Bank at www.cibse.org


Helping members in need


Members are being reminded to get in touch with the CIBSE Benevolent Fund if they require help or support during a personal crisis. With some 20,000 members


within the CIBSE family, it is inevitable that personal situations will arise due to bereavement or other domestic crises. The fund, set up in 1933, helps


Southern region’s


chairman, Laurie Socker, presenting the Prima


Trophy to Spencer Gardner


those who may need a contribution towards funeral expenses, for example, or fi nancial help during sickness, or simply someone to listen and share a problem. Regional almoners provide this


16 CIBSE Journal August 2010


support, visiting and keeping in touch with needy cases. Should you be made aware of


a member or dependent who is in need of the assistance available through the Benevolent Fund, contact your regional almoner, whose details are available from your regional secretary or from CIBSE. The fund is always in need of volunteers to help in its work, and should you feel able to offer some help towards the role of regional almoner, it would be most welcome.


www.cibsejournal.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68
Produced with Yudu - www.yudu.com