HVCA prepares to meet sustainability demand

A perceived demand for sustainable solutions has prompted the Heating & Ventilating Contractors’ Association to develop an agenda for action on sustainability. Its primary focus is on the design, installation and maintenance of low- and zero-carbon (LZC) technologies. David Frise, chairman of the HVAC Sustainability Issues Group, stresses that the growing appetite among domestic and commercial clients for sustainable solutions represents a huge commercial opportunity for building-services engineering. He says, ‘Contractors cannot afford to wait until legislation forces them to comply with new, higher standards and new, higher client expectations.’ This initiative aims to position HVCA members in the marketplace so that they can gain commercial advantage by being recognised as experts in LZC systems and solutions. David Frise explains, ‘Renewables provide a huge opportunity for the building-services-engineering sector to show that it can do a good job — and increase its profits at the same time. The Climate Change Levy is expected to rise in 2007, and ever-more-stringent waste, air-pollution and water regulations will radicalise the current approach to the design of building-services engineering.’ He also describes the growing commitment among clients to corporate social responsibility as the ‘triple bottom line’. One of the key objectives is to identify and, where necessary, develop the standards against which actual and potential sustainable solutions can be evaluated. The next stage is to define the additional skills demanded by the sustainability challenge and to facilitate vocational training and workforce development to meet them. A series of ‘green’ specifications and guides to good practice will also be developed. Finally David Frise says that HVCA members will be promoted as experts in ‘integrated energy systems, able to take an holistic approach to the growing building-services-engineering needs of customers and clients.

Related links:

• www.hvca.org.uk