INDUSTRY COMMENT: BCIA Vision to reality
In last month’s column, BCIA President Graeme Rees discussed the organisation’s role in delivering the UK’s green agenda through an increased understanding of building controls. Here he goes into more detail about how the BCIA aims to make this happen
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concluded my last column for BSEE by highlighting how the BCIA aims to work effectively to represent the value and contribution the Building Controls sector can make in helping to achieve the Government’s long-term objectives for the built environment. In order to deliver on its ambitions, the BCIA has developed a series of strategic priorities. These priorities include; placing Building Controls at the heart of policy and legislation, increasing the value placed on Building
Controls, and ensuring Building Controls is a career of choice, with ongoing progression, learning and development.
Policy and legislation
Building Controls are not currently mandated by legislation as a core component of new developments or refurbishment/retrofit. This makes it easier for developers and end-users to value engineer the BEMS system. Also, following the UK’s departure from the EU and with some high profile agendas (such as Net Zero, UK Building Safety Act) the policy landscape is ever- changing. This makes it harder to push the case for Building Controls for the good of the industry. By placing Building Controls at the heart of policy and legislation, we will be able to increase the inherent value of systems to an overall project to all of the stakeholders, and in the future, with the work the BCIA is undertaking to promote and influence policy, the ambition is for Building Controls to be widely recognised as delivering quantifiable benefits to the environment, to developers/clients and to occupiers and users of buildings.
Increasing value through improved understanding
The BCIA’s vision is for Building Controls to be embedded in building design with the benefits, from construction through to occupation, understood and prioritised. The value add of a BEMS, and the quantifiable outcomes, are still not fully understood by many of the high level stakeholders and design makers in the supply chain. There is limited awareness of Building Controls as a solution, the benefits delivered, and without policy mandates, the rationale for investing in BEMS isn’t always recognised with solutions often being value engineered as construction schemes develop. The objective here is to get Building Controls recognised as delivering quantifiable benefits
regarding operational efficiency, minimising impact on the environment and improving wellbeing, benefiting the developers/clients and occupiers and users of the building. Through education and promotion, elements of standardisation and sharing best practice, we will pursue a position whereby BEMS can be considered an essential component to those not only specifying projects but to all in the value chain.
Career of choice
The industry is suffering from talent shortages in the same way many other industries are, however, the profile of Building Controls generally, and with academia, is low. The industry is undersold currently and is not a widely known career option at entry level. The BCIA will champion the industry as a career of choice, with clear career pathways and accessible routes to learning. This will help ensure a strong, diverse and growing, highly skilled talent pool that is supporting sector growth. We want the industry to be a champion for best practice in relation to attracting and retaining talent, pro-actively supporting students and new entrants, and promoting equality, diversity and inclusion. The BCIA will be the organisation that sets the strategic direction for a progressive continuous
learning and development framework to support workforce development at all levels. Working with business, we will identify and meet learning, training and skills gaps so that the sector continues to raise the bar in quality and competency standards.
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