BUILDING SERVICES FORUM REVIEW
Building Services Forum highlights heating and cooling role in Net Zero Drive
On the 28th of November, the Building Services Forum (BSF), was held at the Building Centre in London giving industry professionals an opportunity to hear unique insights into the future of the heating and cooling sectors and their role in the Net Zero challenge
O
rganised by the publishers of BSEE magazine, Datateam Business Media, the event was attended by professionals from across the industry keen to play a part
in the decarbonisation process. Journalist and PR consultant Ewen Rose hosted the day and set the scene by drawing attention to the recent COP28 and asked delegates to consider whether we are failing or winning in our aim to address the climate crisis. He said while the UK was ‘winning’, having switched off coal this year, there was still much work to be done in order to save money, drive growth, make people healthier and save the planet. Alfa Laval’s global head of district energy, Neil Parry, kicked off the speakers’ line up with an address about district energy and why it is key to a truly sustainable city. He said the top six renewable energy using countries are also the top six using district energy, indicating “this is the only proven methodology to get to where we need to be”.
Key to this is waste energy which he revealed “we have enough of to heat all buildings by 2050”. “District energy simply becomes a thermal battery where waste energy can be released into.”
10 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER JANUARY 2025
Kensa’s commercial director Wouter Thijssen championed ground source heat pumps as the lowest carbon way to heat, with the main challenge being the upfront cost associated with installation.
He said: “What we need to meet targets, is a
street-by-street approach.” He was referencing Kensa’s strategy which would see high efficiency low carbon heat pumps installed on a street-by-street basis making the technology accessible to more households across the country.
Olivia Smalley, Heat Pump Association’s head of policy and communications, offered some positive insight into the future role of heat pumps and revealed the soaring sales of units in 2024 – a record year for heat pump installations. Representing the BSF headline sponsor Mitsubishi Electric, Harvey Loyal focused on the future of air conditioning concluding: “What’s practical is what’s possible.”
He said achieving low carbon buildings would depend on many things including hydronic technology, advanced monitoring but that retrofit would be “absolutely key”. Other speakers included Greg Longridge, the key account manager commercial projects for Danfoss Climate Solutions, who spoke about the importance of hydronic balancing; and
Ian Butler, Eurovent Certification’s business partnership manager, who shared some insight into the work of the third party organisation that certifies performance of HVACR products. Head of specification at Ideal Heating Richard Brown said it was important to have an understanding of refrigerants and how they affected the choice of commercial heat pump while Ian Davis, S+P Ventilation’s technical manager discussed TM65, the methodology for calculating embodied carbon in building services, and its alignment with mechanical ventilation products.
The day’s events culminated in a lively panel debate hosted by Ewen Rose with panel members including Harvey Loyal, Ian Davis, Ian Butler and Neil Parry. Panel members and the audience were able to voice their key takeaways from the event.
Ewen closed the event with a fitting and thought provoking quote from Walt Disney – The Way to Get Started is to Quit Talking and Begin Doing.”
The next Building Services Forum will be held on May 22, 2025 focusing on ‘Reducing Carbon Emissions in Education, Healthcare, Local Authority and other Public Sector Buildings.
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