CIBSE BUILDING PERFORMANCE AWARDS
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Hewes. ‘We still have a signifi cant public sector defi cit and many fi rms depend heavily on that area.’ The economy grew by £50 bn in 2013, but
Hewes believes we are not out of the woods yet because government ‘is still spending £110 bn a year more than it collects’. ‘If they try to do something about the
defi cit this year, it is bound to have an effect on the relaunch of public sector spending,’ added Hewes. The housing market is powering ahead,
but that could also judder to a halt if the Bank of England decides to raise interest rates. Hewes is also concerned that we are storing up future debt problems. ‘We are close to having a generation that
knows nothing other than near zero interest rates, but that can’t go on for ever,’ he says. ‘Last year, house prices outpaced wages by a factor of eight to one. The old concept that wages would continue to rise, so allowing people to pay down their debts, seems to have gone forever – we are entering unchartered territory.’ There is also pressure on wage levels
in many parts of the construction sector – particularly in private housing and repair and maintenance – as demand rises and skill shortages become apparent. Hewes expects to see more evidence of this in the survey of M&E fi rms. The market research carried out by
Hewes should help to build a better picture of the skills needed to deliver high
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performance buildings and support end users’ efforts to reduce running costs in the face of rising energy prices. It is seen by CIBSE as an opportunity to give clients a clear defi nition of what the sector has to offer and to highlight the growing importance of buildings performing more in line with design expectations. Buildings account for about half of all
the energy used in the UK and developers already recognise the role played by building services specialists in helping them reduce the energy burden on new and existing facilities. CIBSE believes the research is an opportunity to showcase the value of what the sector has to offer. This is why the exercise is being launched alongside the CIBSE Building Performance Awards, where a record number of energy and carbon saving projects were recognised this year. ‘It will become increasingly important to
raise the profi le of the profession because building services will have to compete hard to attract the best and brightest potential recruits,’ says Hewes. The race is on for M&E companies to demonstrate why they offer a worthwhile and rewarding career. Engineering as a whole will require hundreds of thousands of new recruits between now and 2020 to help the UK deliver its ambitions for new infrastructure and the CIBSE Journal survey will play a role in ensuring this sector gets its fair share.
Top 10 organisations ranked by number of CIBSE members 1
Arup
2 3
4 5
6 7 8 9
10
Hoare Lea WSP
Atkins AECOM Buro Happold
Mott MacDonald Cundall
Balfour Beatty Parsons Brinkerhoff See March online edition of CIBSE Journal for top 50 CIBSE Journal 9
The survey is an opportunity to showcase the value of what the sector has to offer
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