IHEEM WALES REGIONAL CONFERENCE, EXHIBITION, & AWARDS
‘Rugby legend’ entertains guests at Gala Dinner
Nearly 250 guests from across the healthcare engineering, estate management, and healthcare construction sectors gathered in the Augusta Suite at the Celtic Manor Golf Club on 7 May for a Gala Awards Dinner on the first night of the IHEEM Wales Regional Conference and Exhibition 2025, held at the Celtic Manor Resort Hotel near Newport. There, as HEJ’s editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports, they were able to network, witness the presentation of seven awards, hear about the work of local children’s charity, Sparkle, and enjoy a wry and retrospective after- dinner speech by Sir Gareth Edwards CBE, arguably Wales’s greatest ever rugby scrum-half.
The IHEEM Wales Gala Dinner 2025 took place after the opening day of the IHEEM Wales Regional Conference and Exhibition, which was held again this year – following last year’s success – at the ICC Wales, just a stone’s throw away. Themed ‘Pioneering Estates for Tomorrow’, the two-day conference covered high-profile issues including the challenges for the healthcare engineering and estate management sector in reaching Net Zero, the importance of involving both Estates and clinical personnel in the design of healthcare buildings, alternative fuel and energy sources – with a particular focus on hydrogen fuel technology, sustainability and the future of NHS estates, and the opportunities to ‘transition’ to an all-electric vehicle fleet.
Among speakers at the conference – which was complemented by an exhibition featuring 20 companies offering everything from steam systems to AI-based software, were Judith Paget, Director-General for Health and Social Services and CEO at NHS Wales; Stuart Douglas, Director, NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership – Specialist Estates Services; Des Keighan, Assistant Director of Commercial and Contract Management at Swansea Bay University Health Board; Clive Nattrass, Programme Manager at NHP Power; IHEEM’s President-Elect, Simon Adamson; Tracey Gauci, Consultant Practitioner, Infection Prevention, at Hywel Dda UHB; Caroline Finlay, COO of MTS Health, and Carl- Magnus von Behr, co-founder and CEO at
innex.ai.
A chance to relax and network After a busy first day at the conference and exhibition, delegates were looking forward to the Gala Dinner and the chance to mix with colleagues, see colleagues’ achievements being recognised at the Awards, and hear
from Welsh rugby legend, Sir Gareth Edwards. Following pre-dinner drinks, guests took their place for a three-course dinner in the Augusta Suite at the Celtic Manor Golf Club, where they were greeted warmly by the evening’s host, former international squash player, Adrian ‘The Wizard’ Davies. Before dinner, the host announced that the evening’s chosen charity was Sparkle, a Welsh charity founded in 2001 which supports hundreds of Gwent children and young people with complex needs, and their families. Dinner guests were able to donate to the charity via QR codes at their table or by inserting cash into a series of ‘golden envelopes’. Sparkle says of its work: “The number of local children and young people with complex needs, and their families, that need our help rises every year, with demand for our services increasing even faster. Our aim is to help as many children as we can, so that they are fully supported, and able to participate in the same valuable childhood experiences, activities, and leisure services, as any other child and their family.” Sparkle says it needs over £750,000 every year to fund its ‘vital services’, and is entirely dependent on donations and individual grants for this money. Its head of Operations, Rebecca Tyrrell, gave a short presentation, describing some of Sparkle’s work, accompanied by a video. After dinner, and before
the awards, Adrian Davies ‘interviewed’ Sir Gareth Edwards, who will be 78 in July, and who in a Rugby World magazine poll was declared ‘the greatest rugby player of all time’. Born a miner’s son in Gwaun-cae- Gurwen in Glamorgan, he attended Pontardawe Technical School for Boys, where he was ‘taken under the wing’ of sports
Sir Gareth Edwards, the legendary Welsh scrum- half, reminisced about a memorable career, including his scoring of what many rugby pundits reckon was the game’s ‘greatest try ever’, against the All Blacks in January 1973.
Left: Almost 250 guests attended the Gala Dinner on 7 May.
June 2025 Health Estate Journal 23
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