• • • EDITOR’S INTERVIEW • • • In control


Graeme Rees, the UK & Ireland digital energy marketing manager at Schneider Electric, has been involved in the building controls industry for more than 30 years. In March 2022, he became president of the Building Controls Industry Association. He tells Simon King about his career and the challenges in the sector


G


raeme Rees started his career in the electrical industry before moving into the area of building controls.


He said: “My story could be fairly easily


replicated by someone with an electrical background who moves into building controls. I did that because, frankly, I found it to be more interesting than wiring up lights and sockets. “When you go into an office building there’s


literally 1000s of socket outlets and 1000s of light fittings. I found it a lot more interesting to go into the plant room, or the boiler room, and start working on the systems.” Mr Rees started his career as a Project Engineer


at Lidworth Ltd. He later moved on to Bristol Management Systems before spending 19 years at Trend Control Systems, where he worked his way up from Regional Field Services Manager to Marketing Director. Early in 2019, he was elected onto the BCIA’s


management committee and he now, as president, uses his years of experience gained in the industry to help build the BCIA’s position as a leading influence on standards, professionalism and innovation for its members. Mr Rees said: “I knew about the BCIA and its


activities, but then in a discussion one day with the then president Jon Belfield, he asked if I had considered being part of the management group.


“Having experienced many aspects of the


industry Jon suggested that I could use the knowledge I had gained to give something back to the industry by contributing to the work of the BCIA.” Mr Rees said he was interested to see the breadth of activity that the BCIA is involved with.


“At the time I joined, the BCIA was really in the


thick of the development of the BEMS Controls Engineer apprenticeship programme,” he said. “It hadn’t been launched at that point but it was clear that it was needed because one of the biggest challenges that the industry faces is the skills gap. “The feed of young talent into the industry is


super important. Technology is moving at such a pace that it gives us a lot more potential pathways into the industry than perhaps before, and that blend of skills and experiences is terrific. “Without doubt there is a significant gap in skills


that the apprenticeship programme was absolutely designed to help fill and it has been a fantastic effort on the part of the Employer Group that worked hard to put it together.” There are now more than 100 people enrolled on


the BEMS Controls Engineer Apprenticeship and, interestingly, 25% of the apprentices have come from non-BCIA members. “The apprenticeship programme has been


superb and a definite highlight of the efforts that the BCIA has put in,” Mr Rees said. “Before the apprenticeship programme, there


was no formal qualification. When I came into the industry, I was an electrician, so I was safe, but I had to learn all about the mechanical applications, through experience and working with others. “I learned about systems from manufacturer


training programmes, but in terms of an industry recognised qualification and training programme, there was nothing, it was all very ad-hoc.”


12 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • SEPTEMBER 2022 electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk


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