INDUSTRY NEWS
CIBSE AND BESA AGREE STRATEGIC ALLIANCE
T
wo of the UK’s main building services engineering organisations have agreed to work more closely to ensure progress on
several key initiatives including the push for Net Zero in the built environment and the delivery of the Building Safety Act. Contractors’ trade body the Building Engineering
Services Association (BESA) and the industry’s professional institution CIBSE have drawn up a series of joint projects to help achieve their common aim of advancing and promoting the art, science and practice of building services engineering for the benefi t of society. The two organisations have a long history of
collaboration but feel that the growing urgency to transform the built environment in line with the country’s decarbonisation and healthcare aims calls for a more integrated approach. “Talking about collaboration is one thing – doing it quite another,” said CIBSE chief executive Ruth Carter. “The building services industry is in greater demand than ever as it increasingly accounts for a much larger proportion of the value of construction and facilities management projects.
“There is now far greater awareness of the role played by the building services profession in addressing some of society’s most pressing challenges.”
‘Therefore, our supply chains must be more
closely aligned, and the diff erent professions more joined up to deliver the higher levels of digital sophistication and integrated design necessary to meet growing client demand and legislative scrutiny.”
The two organisations have agreed to provide deeper support for each other’s key events including national conferences, seminars, and awards, while continuing their already successful collaboration on a range of technical guidance. They will focus particularly on the Building Safety
Act, developments linked to indoor air quality (IAQ), retrofi tting and refurbishment of the existing building stock to advance decarbonisation, and the growth in heat networks. They will also work together
Ruth Carter, CIBSE chief executive and David Frise, BESA chief executive
to understand the implications of artifi cial intelligence (AI) for the industry and its potential to improve productivity. “There is now far greater awareness of the
role played by the building services profession in addressing some of society’s most pressing challenges, so this is the right time to deliver a programme of joint initiatives” said BESA chief executive offi cer David Frise. “We have worked closely with CIBSE for many
years and the two bodies have a huge amount in common, but our collaboration has always been somewhat ‘patchy’. The sheer scale of the technical, legislative, and recruitment challenges now facing the industry calls for a properly concerted and joined up approach on behalf of the whole sector,” he added.
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS ENERGY PRICE DISPARITY T
he European Heat Pump Association’s (EHPA) 2024 market report highlights the crucial impact of a low electricity
and gas price ratio in accelerated heat pump deployment. Currently, in the UK, the electricity and
gas price ratio is 3.97 which is the highest in Europe and nearly double EHPA’s recommendation of 2. The report illustrates that those European
countries with a high ‘spark gap’ (the ratio between household electricity and gas prices) also have a lower annual total of sales of heat pumps per household. A signifi cant contributor to high electricity
prices in the UK is the disproportionate application of Environmental and Social Obligations – often referred to by Government as “policy costs” and known as “green levies”. Domestic electricity consumers, bear around 85% of these levies, which means a typical heat pump consumer pays £170 more than an equivalent gas boiler consumer in levy costs per annum. In November 2023, the HPA proposed the introduction of an Interim Domestic Heat Pump Tariff Discount to provide a short-term solution to
reducing the price of electricity relative to gas, whilst fundamental reforms to the electricity market were considered and implemented. This report and extensive background analysis sets out the implications of a range of options to tackle one of the key challenges in accelerating heat pump deployment, running costs. Commenting on the recently published
report, Charlotte Lee, HPA Chief Executive said: “This latest data release yet again highlights the crucial need for the UK Government to act quickly to tackle the disparity between electricity and gas prices to accelerate heat pump deployment. The
Labour Government have been clear they are the party of delivery, and it is imperative that the new Government now prioritise the publication of a consultation on this issue.”
UK heat pump sales per household remain the lowest across Europe with
only 2.08 heat pumps per 1000 households sold. This highlights the scale of the opportunity that remains in the UK, which will only be realised if action is taken to reduce the price of electricity relative to gas.
6 August 2024
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