News analysis with BESA
Turning up the heat on retrofi t in 2025
The need for a national programme of building retrofi ts with full government backing is becoming increasingly urgent, according to the President of the Building Engineering Services Association
L
ooking ahead to the priorities for 2025, Adrian Hurley said that many of the UK’s 30 million existing buildings were “in dire need of an upgrade”. “It is widely acknowledged that this will be a fundamental building
block of net zero so the government must get to grips with it,” he added. “The deployment of new technologies, like heat pumps, is exciting and progressive, but there is so much we could still do to improve the performance of what is already built and installed.” However, he said he was concerned that this “enormous task” could be
hampered by a serious skills shortage. “It will take a combination of innovation, more strategic use of digital technology, and better recruitment to address… along with a commitment to create a more diverse workforce.” Hurley added that the number of women coming into the industry remained far too low and, once recruited, many still leave between the ages of 35 and 44 so don’t get the chance to reach their full potential or rise to leadership positions.
Workforce
According to EngineeringUK’s latest workforce data women now make up less than 16% of the workforce and, strikingly, the average age at which a female engineer leaves the profession is 43 – compared to 60 for men. Out of the 6.3 million people working in engineering and technology
occupations in the UK in 2023 just 15.7% were women down from 16.5% the previous year. This equates to a drop of around 38,000, and shortages are particularly pronounced between the ages of 35 to 64. “One of the building engineering sector’s greatest weaknesses is its lack
of diversity,” said Hurley. “The ‘male, pale, stale’ image seems to be a self- perpetuating curse that restricts our ability to reach outside of our traditional recruitment fi elds. And women leave the profession at twice the rate of men, often citing a lack of support, career progression, and challenging work-life balance. “It is very hard for a business to properly serve its community if its workforce does not refl ect the ethnic and gender make-up of that community. We also miss out on so many great ideas.” Therefore, he said BESA would be “relentlessly pursuing” ways to improve
training and attract new talent throughout 2025 as well as accentuating the opportunity for people already working in the industry to learn new skills. He explained that the Association was restructuring its training and skills
service and revamping how it helps members provide evidence of their technical and professional competence and compliance with legislation, industry standards and best practice.
Much still to do on building safety
This will also be important if the industry is to properly get to grips with the Building Safety Act which Hurley described as “groundbreaking legislation that goes far beyond safety into every aspect of our work”. He said that the Grenfell tragedy was “a defi ning moment in our industry’s
BESA President Adrian Hurley
history” and criticised those who had fostered a “lowest cost fi rst” culture. “Buildings are not just investment opportunities; they are social assets
critical to keeping people safe, healthy and productive. Cutting cost should not be sought at the expense of good performance. The good news is that the new ways of working required to make building occupants safer also have positive implications for quality. Better buildings are also safer buildings,” said Hurley. However, he warned the government that it would have to fully resource and fund the Building Safety Regulator. “Without a well-funded planning and enforcement system, vital projects including housing developments, mixed-use projects and hospitals, face delay, additional costs – and possible cancellation. “The government made construction growth one of its fi rst priorities when taking offi ce in July, but this must not lead to another generation of rapidly built, poorly designed homes and commercial buildings,” warned Hurley. “We need more homes but they must be high quality.”
Implications
Research published by BESA in late 2024 showed that, while awareness of the legislation and its implications was growing, meaningful action remained worryingly slow. The industry-wide survey, carried out by AMA Research on behalf of the Association, reported that 88% of respondents showed some awareness of the Act with almost a third claiming to be “fully aware”. There were higher levels of awareness among BESA members than the industry as a whole, but detailed understanding of roles and responsibilities is mixed and varies by building and project type. Most contractors said the Act was only having a minimal impact on their businesses – and just 9% reported making “signifi cant changes” to help them comply with the legislation. “We were pleased to see that the level of awareness of the Act is highest among BESA members,” said the Association’s director of specialist knowledge Rachel Davidson. “However, detailed understanding is patchy at best and varies considerably by building and project type. “We must be realistic and acknowledge that the pace of change is too slow and there is still a lot of work to be done to shift the industry’s focus from speed and cost to putting quality fi rst.” BESA chief executive offi cer David Frise said the Association was determined
to keep playing a leading role in driving culture change and raising standards of building quality. “BESA was 120 years old in 2024 and our members have spent much of that time ensuring buildings can be ‘safe havens’ for people from the deprivations of cold, heat, pollution, noise etc,” he said. “These aims are even more important in the modern world and the fact that the occupants of Grenfell Tower were failed so desperately was an almighty wake-up call for how large parts of our industry had lost their way.
“Most people do not go out deliberately to do a bad job – a fact that was acknowledged by the Grenfell public inquiry,” said Frise. “However, changing the
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January 2025
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