IN THE HOT SEAT
Russell Beattie
How did you get into the industry?
I answered an ad to run a trade association! I had a background in the public sector – in fact, I was in the army initially, but I was reasonably senior in the army so I was used to dealing with complex issues at ministerial level.
After that I ran a charity, the John Smith Memorial Trust, which is to do with training people from Arab Spring, Middle Eastern and former Soviet Union companies about spreading good governance. All that has hopefully built the skill sets needed to run a trade association.
What is your role within FETA?
FETA is a secretariat trade association, so we help our six associations to achieve their aims and lobbying. We effectively fight for what’s good for the six sectors and make things better for them. The associations provide the members, who are all volunteers, and they form the engine room of effort and knowledge.
It’s very difficult for everyone to keep a track of what’s happening because HVAC is such a dynamic field on both the technical side and safety. The issues, such as indoor air quality, are very complex. If they were simple, they would have been solved years ago.
What is your biggest achievement to date? I’ve never thought of having just one job, instead considering a move as another posting. I’ve always strived to leave a posting in a better state than I found it – notwithstanding that things might happen on your watch that your predecessor didn’t deal with – and not breaking it. FETA had a lot of continuity among its staff when I arrived so I think not breaking it during a time of a lot of staff changes was an achievement. We have a lot going on now, a lot of plates spinning and it’s a case of not dropping too many plates.
16 August 2017
FETA only has a small staff and in a short space of time a series of retirements meant we had seen an enormous amount of change and related loss of corporate knowledge. Hopefully, not breaking links and not dropping too many catches can be claimed as an achievement.
What do you personally most enjoy about working in the industry?
The people are so passionate about the industry and want to make it better. I have been very struck with how supportive they are with youngsters and bringing people in.
We have a lot of senior people who started at the bottom. In so many other walks of life, if you start at the bottom then you stay at the bottom, but I think that’s not true in this environment. I think there’s a lot of scope for people to start as apprentices and get to the top and I’ve been very encouraged by that and just how decent it is. It’s not as backstabbing as some industries are.
What is the best aspect of the industry generally? It’s about making things, doing things in the built environment and there’s an element of creativity about it. It’s very civilised, and not a cut-throat race to the bottom.
What do you personally most dislike about the industry?
The frustrating challenges of legislation. Are these rules actually achieving the vision?
In fields as complicated as this, it is inevitable that despite peoples best intentions you might end up with something sub-optimal. For example, energy efficiency and climate change. We all understand the drive for what it’s trying to achieve.
But it’s inevitable in the complexity of it that you will get some sub-optimal things popping up – a result of making something more efficient will bring a consequence somewhere else.
Chief executive of the Federation of Environmental Trade Associations (FETA).
That’s just life. If you change one bit, that will knock on to something else.
What do you think is the biggest challenge ahead for the industry?
Standardisation and regulations, and also making sure that the government does not listen to those that suggest that de-regulation and getting rid of the bureaucracy is the way to go. Inevitably, Brexit is going to be deeply significant in all of this.
What do you think is the biggest opportunity ahead for the industry?
Making sure that our voice is heard, and acknowledging that we’re not at the emotive end of the market like farming and fishing are, for example. We’re working to join forces with other associations to produce a single building services voice. Ministers are bombarded with people beating a path to their door and telling them that this is the most important thing they have to deal with. We should be coherent with a critical mass from the building services, because we’re not really represented by the construction sector. We’re subtly different from that. In some ways that’s why FETA is a federation of associations who by themselves wouldn’t be heard.
How can we best encourage new people into the industry?
We should be pushing anything that attracts and educates, and it shouldn’t just be directed at those bound for college or university. This includes getting women interested in engineering. It’s about creating a solution to a problem.
What advice would you give to any youngsters about entering into engineering as a career?
Look beyond the stereotypes and keep an open mind.
www.acr-news.com
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