Controls emerge from the shadows

Building & Engineering Services Association, B&ES, controls, BMS, Energy Efficiency
Raising the status of controls as a profession — Simon Carter.

Equipment that is itself energy efficient relies on effective controls to realise its potential in an actual installation. Simon Carter of the Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES) thinks a dramatic change in the way controls engineers are trained is a major step forward for skills right across the building engineering sector.

At the launch of a new qualification for building controls engineers, Building Controls Industry Association (BCIA) president Steve Harrison told a story about the time 15 years ago when his company was struggling to attract the right calibre of new staff.

They had plenty of interest in two posts for controls engineers, but were rebuffed by a number of potential recruits because there was no appropriate professional qualification on offer at the end of the training period.

‘The best we could give them was qualified electrician status,’ he told guests during the high profile launch event held in The Shard in London. ‘We knew it wasn’t really appropriate for the skill level involved in the job, but there was nothing else.’

So it was with some delight that he was able to unveil the Building Controls Professional Assessment (BCPA). This has been developed to give apprentices, and existing industry operatives, a professional qualification at the end of their vocational training — a badge that will be recognised across the industry and by all the sector’s employers.

So, why is this significant?

The BCPA is a stepping stone to full engineering status for the controls profession and can be used as a launch pad for suitably qualified operatives to move onto a fully-fledged engineering degree and, eventually, chartered engineer.

This is a huge leap forward for the controls industry. It offers the trappings of ‘professional’ status for an industry that has long struggled to emerge from the shadows despite its vital role in making buildings work properly and the building-services systems in them operate efficiently. It will also provide a major boost to its image and make it that much more attractive to prospective new entrants — particularly young people in search of a rewarding career.

Traditionally, training in the controls sector was provided by individual manufacturers; it was therefore heavily weighted towards specific technologies. The BCIA has recognised for some time the need for unbiased training because of the growing use of ‘open’ control protocols and demand for integration of different systems using multiple manufacturers’ systems in increasingly complex buildings.

In future, traditional control-system integrators may well no longer sell equipment, but operate largely as [de facto] consulting engineers focused on ensuring building-services equipment communicates and interoperates.

The need for that role is becoming more pronounced because so much HVAC equipment these days is supplied with controls already on-board — putting even more emphasis on the integration strategy to make multiple ‘intelligent’ system components interoperate — particularly as buildings become more complex.

Building & Engineering Services Association, B&ES, controls, BMS, Energy Efficiency
The controls industry has exciting technology to excite ‘Generation Y’.

Integration, generally, is rapidly becoming the most critical aspect of building-services engineering. Adding renewables to existing buildings and trying to make them work in tandem with conventional heating and cooling systems is a huge challenge; successes are still depressingly rare. With experience this will get easier, but without a proper integration strategy there is no chance. Contractors have to crack this problem because we cannot afford to be continually returning to sites to put things right; there is absolutely no profit in spending precious time firefighting.

Building clients are also not interested in working with companies that don’t have the right skills. It was appropriate that the launch the new controls qualification was held at The Shard — a high-spec building that absolutely depends on controls to balance air flows and make sure its heavily glazed façade doesn’t lead to stifling temperatures and suffocating occupants.

Attracting suitable people to the profession is, therefore, even more important. Fortunately, the controls industry has exciting technology to excite ‘Generation Y’. Contactless systems that can drive the controls of a building from a mobile device without any electrical energy source, 3D system modelling and so on are things that can excite young people if we can get them to listen to us. They are not fazed by technology, in fact, they embrace it — we have to show them the potential for their skills in our industry and their relevance to tackling climate change, for example.

However, attracting good people to this increasingly vital profession is not just about sending a message to young people. It is also about giving the existing workforce additional skills, allowing them to develop and add to their professional qualifications while also making them more flexible and adaptable to the fast changing marketplace.

Steve Harrison and his colleagues at the BCIA have targeted the military as a potential source of future controls engineers. Those from engineering regiments have the basic skills, and the new qualification can help them find a career back in ‘civvy street’. This is an intriguing prospect as many reach the end of tours in Afghanistan, for example, and is a positive development for the wider building engineering services sector.

Wherever they come from, it is increasingly crucial that we get people with skills and ambition to help narrow the ‘performance gap’ between how buildings are designed and how they work in reality.

Integrating building-engineering systems is crucial to improving the end user ‘experience’ of their building, and far too many are currently less than delighted with how their expensive built assets do perform – both in terms of running cost and comfort.

B&ES and the BCIA are collaborating to find solutions to the problem of the performance gap and together they are staging a major conference at the Barbican on 27 November with the theme of 10-80-10. This reflects the fact that 80% of a building’s value is generated during its operation with just 10% during construction and 10% in decommissioning — putting huge emphasis on the skills of building engineering professionals to deliver properly integrated and controlled solutions. For full details visit the first link below for full details.

Simon Carter is chairman of the B&ES service and facilities group and bid manager for NG Bailey’s facilities services division.

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