The new CIBSE president has warned the building services industry to respond and adapt quickly to changes in construction processes before the organisation is left behind and becomes obsolete.
Terry Wyatt, the new president of the Chartered Institution of 星空传媒 Services Engineers (CIBSE), made an impassioned inaugural speech to the building services industry, calling for it to adapt or die.

鈥淲ithout rapid changes to its methods and focus of working, CIBSE may cease to be a big member organisation within 15 years,鈥� warned Wyatt.

鈥淚 would not be doing my job at CIBSE this year if I did not spell out what I see as trouble ahead,鈥� he added. 鈥淯nless we respond positively and step up the speed of our ability to use knowledge, CIBSE may not exist in the year 2020.鈥�

He identified globalisation, standardisation and climate change as three trends that are having a major effect on the sector, and called for 鈥渇ar greater investment in research and development.鈥�

The industry wake up call came as Wyatt highlighted these trends, stating that they are starting to affect and change the role of the building services engineer in the UK. Globalisation in the form of competition and new methods of working from the USA and Japan will soon affect the UK, leading to cost cutting in a sector already blighted by narrow margins.

Standardisation, leading to technologies such as computer-made design and off-site factory construction, is gaining influence within the sector and will soon become mainstream, stressed Wyatt. Climate change and the emergence of the carbon management market will have implications on the economics of energy and materials use in buildings, said the new president.

But all is not doom and gloom according to Wyatt. He predicts the birth of a new type of services engineer, one who prepares briefs and concepts for projects; carries out building information modelling; conducts off-site commissioning, testing and proving of modules; and carbon management planning implementation monitoring and trading.

鈥淎dapt quickly and our future is only limited to the horizons we set. Fail to adapt and we, with 150 years of heritage, will fast fade into obscurity,鈥� Wyatt concluded.

Source

Electrical and Mechanical Contractor