INDUSTRY COMMENT


Graeme Rees casts his eye over the year in which he became BCIA President and life in the UK and the wider world got back to normal


T The year that was


he year 2022 is a year that will live long in the memory for me. I was very proud to become BCIA President in March and then just over a month later I made my first President’s speech at the BCIA Awards. Because of the uncertainty Covid has delivered over the last three years I am sure I wasn’t the only one who had a dreaded feeling in the back of my mind that it would be cancelled at the last minute. Thankfully it went ahead and another spectacular evening was enjoyed by everyone lucky enough to attend. As the year continued it seemed as though things really were ‘back to normal’ at last after we were plunged in and out of lockdown at various stages since March 2020. However, I don’t think it will ever be remembered as a normal year, not by a long way, as it also saw the very sad passing of our longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, and also three different incumbents at 10 Downing Street. At the time of writing, Rishi Sunak is now the Prime Minister and I hope that we can at last get back to some stability within government, for the foreseeable future at least.


Spanner in the works


I think one of the delegates in attendance at a recent Young Engineers Network visit to Bloomberg’s London headquarters summed things up nicely when he said: “However you may have it planned there is always a ‘spanner’ thrown into the mix.” This was actually in reference to the Roman ruins discovered during the construction of the building – and never has a truer word been spoken! The visit to Bloomberg in October was a great success, following on from the tour of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in July. Noted for its energy efficiency, Bloomberg London opened in 2017 and went on to win the Stirling Prize for excellence in architecture in 2018. The event was fully booked and during the day the delegates were given a tour of the building, which included access to one of its two Energy Centres and a detailed talk with the Bloomberg Infrastructure team, who explained the operation of building management systems within Bloomberg’s buildings across EMEA. It is fantastic that our young engineers are enjoying access to some of the most interesting and environmentally advanced buildings in the country. The enthusiastic engagement of the delegates is also very encouraging and is a great indication that the future of the building controls industry is in safe hands. More events are already being planned for 2023 and


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I am looking forward to watching this group develop and flourish.


Time for action


We have also witnessed more high profile environmental protests, from emptying milk cartons in supermarkets to climbing the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at Dartford. Whether their methods are appropriate or effective will of course divide opinion but there is no denying they draw attention to an important cause. As I have mentioned before the BCIA is very much ‘on the pulse’ of the major issues facing us in the built environment, from the rising cost of living, energy efficiency, the skills gap and net zero. The panel discussion I chaired at the Smart Buildings Show in October, alongside Andy Reakes from the Joint Industry Board (JIB), Peter Behan of training provider Group Horizon, Wendy Belfield of InTandem Systems and Jen Vickers of Crown House Technologies, showed there is cross-industry agreement that we cannot afford to let these issues carry on without prompt resolution. There are mechanisms in place to ensure that we have the right skills in place to support the industry and the challenges it faces. But it is also clear that we still have a lot of work to do and that this is an ongoing process.


The time for action is now! See you next year.


Read the latest at: www.bsee.co.uk


BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER DECEMBER 2022 15


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