INDUSTRY COMMENT Time to act on Net Zero
Following the recent Building Services Forum at the Building Centre in London last month, Stacey Lucas, President of the BCIA has called on the building controls sector to act now to meet the sustainability challenge
T
he Forum highlighted the need for significant investment in the training of industry professionals, with a particular focus on sustainability and energy efficiency.
The need for immediate action is exacerbated by the fact that, according to UKGBC calculations, embodied carbon only fell by 4% between 2018 and 2022, significantly lower than the 17% reduction needed to meet net zero targets in this period. Furthermore, it’s vital that industry professionals acknowledge the fact that in 2021 the UK set a target for reducing final energy consumption from buildings and industry by 15% by 2030. Giving industry professionals and sector leaders an opportunity to get together and
debate the major issues facing the industry, the Building Services Forum primarily focused on the significance of investing in training and education of industry professionals in retrofitting and the decarbonisation benefits it will offer. This is particularly relevant given around 80% of buildings that will be standing in 2050 already exist today.
While many in the industry are acutely aware of the need for close collaboration and taking a holistic approach to decarbonisation, there is still a lot more that needs to be done to educate industry professionals and those outside of the sector on the benefits of improving the performance of buildings.
Investment in training should be a major focus for the industry
While the building controls sector is full of talented and dedicated professionals, there is less knowledge when it comes to sustainability and the important role building controls will play in helping building developers and asset managers meet energy efficiency targets. It’s therefore down to industry leaders and owners of companies to further this knowledge. Encouraging their employees, whether experienced or new to the industry, to pursue further education and training will help to improve that individual’s skills and expertise when it comes to sustainability and energy efficiency. This could be anything from an online course to on-the-job training or PhDs. To further support and encourage learning, the BCIA and BEMS employers came together to develop the Building Controls Engineer higher-level apprenticeship, the only focused apprenticeship available to the building controls
sector. Run since 2021, the programme offers a superb balance of technical training and on- the-job assessments to help building controls engineers keep the buildings of tomorrow running efficiently. Training enables those in the industry to truly expand their knowledge and gain a greater understanding of sustainability and the role building controls has, whether the application of an integrated BMS system is in a new-build or existing building. Indeed, the successful implementation of building management systems into retrofit buildings could see a huge reduction in energy consumption, leading to cheaper energy bills for the end user and a lower carbon footprint.
Educating those outside of the industry is just as important
More recently, government awareness for the building controls sector and the important role it plays in the decarbonisation of UK buildings has increased. Lord Callanan, the current Minister for
Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, recently addressed the BCIA’s Annual Members Conference where he recognised the role of building controls in net zero and called on members to continue engagement with the government on policy development. However, there is much more that can be done to help policy-makers and politicians understand the issues. In fact, the UK lags far behind countries in mainland Europe, where governments work more collaboratively with the built environment and have a better understanding of building controls’ increasing importance in the fight to reduce carbon emissions.
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BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER JULY 2024 19 20/6/24 09:44
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