NEWS
Complying with legislation not enough, say young engineers
Engineers need to demonstrate sustainability
Engineers need to show more ambition and stop passing the buck to the government, according to former CIBSE ASHRAE Graduate of the Year Angela Malynn.
‘I have a real problem with people saying the government should do this and should do that. The government can’t install anything,’ she said. ‘We are engineers and it is up to us to show them the answers and demonstrate how to deliver sustainable buildings.’
Malynn, who is a mechanical engineer at Arup, was chairing a debate about the meaning of sustainability hosted by the Rumford Club and featuring the current Graduate of the Year, Lee Tabis, alongside several former award fi nalists. Tabis said that too many
Former Graduate of the Year, Angela Malynn
designers were simply complying with legislation rather than seeking true sustainability. He also lamented the fact that few engineers were infl uencing how their systems performed. ‘We need to encourage contractors to look for simple solutions and make our systems easy to operate,’ the NG Bailey engineer added.
Arup’s Georgina Donnelly condemned the limitations of ‘ticking boxes’ to satisfy legislation
and assessment exercises. She urged engineers to be more fl exible and consider sustainability from a wider perspective, including waste management and water effi ciency. More focus on occupants and what the building is intended to do would help, according to Calfordseaden’s Chris Marien, the runner up in this year’s Graduate Award. ‘We have been forced to reassess our approach because the fi nancial incentives, like Feed-in Tariffs, don’t prioritise supplying energy effi ciently. We also need to question the credibility of EPCs and ask who is actually winning – because often it isn’t the occupant,’ said Marien. ‘Engineers need to design for people not other engineers.’ He added that measurable outcomes were crucial. ‘We often assume things are happening in buildings because we designed them to, but they are not measured.’
Hansford launches construction strategy
Peter Hansford, the government’s new chief construction adviser, has given several hints about the likely content of the new industrial strategy for construction, which is due to be published this summer.
It will seek to increase the exporting of UK technology and expertise, as well as encouraging British fi rms to deliver more overseas contracts. He has noted that British contractors are not major international players, and is looking to address criticism that previous strategies have focused heavily on domestic growth.
The government feels there is excess capacity in the domestic market following a 9% drop in output during 2012.
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is expected to remain a key plank of the strategy as Hansford looks to improve procurement processes and integration in the supply chain. He has already moved to join up more relevant government departments by forming a joint steering committee to manage the Treasury’s Infrastructure UK department and the team inside BIS that looks after the Government Construction Strategy.
Copper ban throws legionella
control into chaos A ban on a popular water treatment biocide has thrown legionella protection strategies into confusion. Following the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) decision to prohibit the use of elemental copper in building water systems, thousands of property managers are being forced to carry out reviews of their legionella policies.
The ban, which is part of the EU Biocidal Products Directive, came into effect on February 1 making it illegal to sell or use water treatment systems that use elemental copper for adding copper ions to water.
The HSE said it was working to secure an ‘essential use derogation’ for use of copper in some legionella control systems in the UK. In the meantime, its inspectors will ‘take a sensible and proportionate approach to enforcement’ if they continue to encounter copper in systems as their main concern is that legionella control systems are not compromised, while end users look for alternatives. ‘HSE’s primary concern is that legionella control is not compromised,’ a statement said. ‘Businesses and organisations have a responsibility to manage the risks from legionella, and it is essential that these duties continue to be met.’
Visit the biocides helpdesk
at:
www.hse.gov.uk for further guidance.
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www.cmd-ltd.com 8 CIBSE Journal February 2013
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Available January 2013
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