INDUSTRY EVENTS
BESA challenges industry to go ‘beyond compliance’
Speakers at this year’s BESA Annual Conference on Thursday, October 22 will argue that investment in workforce competence and compliance is essential for businesses to thrive in the current market conditions
T
he overall theme: ‘Beyond Compliance’: Raising Standards, Proving Competence, Delivering Better Buildings refl ects the numerous challenges facing the industry. The conference, which is sponsored
by Mitsubishi Electric, will provide a variety of routes for ensuring long-term business growth. It takes place at The Brewery, London for the third year in a row ahead of the Association’s annual Industry Awards taking place at the same venue that evening. The packed one-day programme will focus on how building engineering fi rms can turn legal and technical compliance into a strategic business advantage but go even further to raise professional standards to improve the delivery of safer, better-performing buildings. The Conference will feature twin keynote speakers including Dr Barbara Lane who is the fi rst independent chair of the Building Advisory Committee – part of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR). She is one of the industry’s foremost fi re safety engineers and is director and fellow of Fire Safety Engineering at Ove Arup and Partners. Kicking off the day will be the leading fi nancial journalist, Andrew Palmer.
He is executive editor of The Economist and oversees its business strategy and products. He also writes the Bartleby column which covers workplace matters, and hosts the management podcast Boss Class.
Business challenges
There are two CPD theatres sponsored by the BESA Academy and the whole conference is fully CPD certifi ed. There will be key sessions focused on wider business challenges such as competence strategies needed in the face of increased legislative scrutiny; the risks of becoming an ‘inadvertent designer’ under the Building Safety Act, and how to thrive and stay profi table in a high cost, high compliance environment. The BESA Conference 2026 will also examine how net zero, technical best
practice and AI are reshaping the future of the building engineering sector. A panel made up of senior fi gures from the fi rms featured in this year’s Top 30 Contractors’ Report will also examine key growth areas such as data centres, healthcare, defence and public sector upgrades. There will be the usual heavy focus on skills and recruitment with a
WorldSkills UK Training Room taking pride of place for the fi rst time. This will be a dedicated technical learning space off ering accessible and practical sessions for all conference attendees. Tickets to the Conference are available now from the BESA Conference website.
BESA Awards place emphasis on youth
The BESA Industry Awards shortlist has also been unveiled ahead of the Awards dinner which also takes place at the Brewery following the Conference. The awards, which comprise 21 categories, reward individuals, teams, and
companies responsible for delivering projects, products, innovations, and initiatives that demonstrate excellence in all aspects of building services engineering.
The programme has a particularly strong focus on young learners this year
refl ecting the industry’s need to attract more of the best and brightest and to tap into the potential talent among the ‘NEET generation’ – the one million young people not in education, employment or training. Mitsubishi Electric is also the headline sponsor of the dinner which is supported by several individual category sponsors. Categories cover the full supply chain from manufacturers and distributors though contractors, engineers, and clients, and they refl ect the industry’s eff orts to get to grips with today’s big issues like competence and compliance, building safety, and decarbonisation. This year, as well as BESA’s long-standing apprentice categories covering specialist trades like refrigeration and air conditioning, and facilities and energy management, the Awards have added a new overall Trainee of the Year Award sponsored by Milwaukee. This was created to recognise exceptional young achievers from all parts of the sector while also refl ecting fast changing routes to entry and competence development in an evolving industry. The highly sought after Rising Star Award sponsored by Mikroper is also
up for grabs again celebrating exceptional young talent from across building engineering services. In another new development, BESA is making it possible for apprentices to attend the Awards for free thanks to the generous support of the Manly Trust.
• For more information and to book tickets go to the BESA Awards website
https://awards.thebesa.com/home.
theBESA.com
12 October 2026
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