TRAINING The opportunities are out there
As the demand for sustainable building continues to grow at a considerable rate, Vicky Kenrick from Allen & York explores career opportunities within building services, specifically looking at new roles that are developing within the energy and environmental arena.
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enior engineers that have been out of work during the recession may be finding it tricky to get roles within the building services industry but there are many benefits for building services professionals who move into environmental, sustainability, and energy management skills positions, specifically in areas such as low carbon, BREEAM assessing, and building modelling.
Building information modelling
Fuelling an increase in building services job opportunities across the environment sector is the new regulation detailing that Building Information Modelling (BIM) needs to be implemented across all public sector projects. Chair of the government construction board and respected leader across the industry, Paul Morrell OBE, is mandating the use of BIM on all public sector projects by 2016.
BIM allows engineers to generate and manage massive amounts of data by checking for structural, architectural and building services clashes within existing structures. It also analyses geometry, spatial relationships and geographic information, which is vital if working with a site that comprises a large transport network and major utilities.
BIM has recently successfully been used on the development of Bond Street tube station as part of London Underground's Tube Upgrade Programme, Paul Clark- Edwards, London Underground’s BIM coordinator for capital programmes, said: “London Underground now specifies the use of BIM on all complex projects to mitigate risk during the design and construction of major assets in a live working railway environment.”
The government has been working towards a phased approach towards BIM and it is now expected that BIM will roll-out to all public sector projects from 2012. Not only is it the government emphasise the need to use BIM, it is also the positive outcomes of utilising BIM in complex
projects that is creating a demand for Building Modelling professionals to be skilled in using BIM due to the programmes ability to facilitate well-organised building life-cycle management. The Public Sector in particular is currently searching for all building services professionals and those with experience working on projects within healthcare, prisons, education and rail are highly sort after for senior level roles. Richard de Doncker, Senior Building Services Consultant at Allen & York comments: “We have witnessed a demand for building modelling candidates; many of our clients are leading the way in sustainable design and candidates that operate at the forefront of new technologies such as BIM are of great use to them.”
It is also likely that we will see the application of BIM in non-public sector projects as well, as organisations strive to trim down energy costs by ensuring optimised sustainable designs in all new buildings.
A cross over
Our low carbon revolution is creating an increase in the application of environmental technologies in building services and companies are beginning to invest time and money in skills acquisition and development to best utilise these new technologies. One of these emerging technologies is Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) software that is increasingly helping businesses reduce the carbon emissions of buildings and in turn, supporting and enhancing their triple bottom line. There is a rise in creating low energy and high quality/performance sustainable buildings. This, supported by the UK Government target of an 80% cut in carbon emissions by 2050 (as outlined in The Climate Change Act 2008) and the full commitment of the independent Committee on Climate Change, who has suggested that we should be reaching the 50% point by 2025,
24 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER JANUARY 2012
emphasises the importance for organisations to ensure their buildings are designed in the most sustainable manner. Therefore candidates that can demonstrate knowledge and understanding of IES software are likely to be at an advantage when seeking a career within building modelling. In addition, their ability to use IES to integrate performance analysis for sustainable building design early in the design process will soon be a prerequisite for building design projects and thus give the candidate a competitive edge when selling their skills to potential employers. Tools included in the IES software surrounding tracking operating performance including thermal comfort, sustainability compliance, building metrics, carbon footprint and energy use, are pivotal to sustainable building design and candidates that can utilise these tools effectively are in growing demand. When applying for the role of Sustainable Building Modeller, candidates should expect a salary of up to £35K, with a primary responsibility for computer modelling and analysis for building energy performance and efficiency.
It is positive to foresee a stream of graduate engineers entering the sector with good project experience within modelling, particularly with an understanding of IES. Nevertheless Richard de Doncker notes: “There are a lack of junior engineers entering the building services sector; instead many seek a role within renewable energy, leaving a big demand within building services.”
Building services roles
A highly energy efficient building can help define its success and therefore developing low carbon buildings that meet both regulatory and customer needs should become a key priority of the building services professional. With the first CRC performance league table published by The Environment Agency
in November 2011, it was revealed that only 60% of CRC organisations had taken steps to improve their energy management. Although companies recognise that energy efficiency in buildings is an important part of their triple bottom line, there is still a need for more businesses to address their carbon emissions. The fact that more than 40% (including many big brand names) failed to score a single point is a clear indicator of this.
The increasing number of building services/engineering candidates moving into the energy sector bring valuable additional skills, particular as the majority of energy managers have no engineering qualifications. This transition of building services into the energy management arena can provide organisations with new tools and skill sets to enable decisions to be made with the knowledge and understanding of new technologies within the engineering processes, such as building energy modelling.
Building energy modelling is an up and coming role within the building services industry as it is their responsibility to ensure the organisation complies with regulations and to generate energy performance certificates. Professionals that possess the skills to use the modelling tools; SAP (Standard Assessment Procedure) on the domestic side and SBEM (Simplified Building Energy Model) on the non- domestic side are well placed to apply for such roles.
It is clear that our nation has seen an exponential rise in the sustainable building movement; BIM and IES are increasingly transforming the nature of project delivery in the construction industry; from design through construction to the operations life- cycle. The growing demand in skilled building modellers and the growing number of opportunities for building services professionals within the environment and energy sectors reflects this.
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