The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has announced that its sixth Annual Conference will take place on Thursday, October 12 at the Novotel London West.
The theme is ‘Building businesses, building the future’ and the programme is designed to appeal to a broad range of industry professionals, young engineers, manufacturers, specifiers, and procurers of building services projects.
Mitsubishi Electric is headline sponsor of the conference, which is packed with technical and topical content aimed directly at the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration sectors. The busy one-day event is also supported by GPS Air as bronze sponsor.
BESA members and young engineers can attend free of charge, although delegates are encouraged to make a £10 donation to the Association’s chosen charity Light House Club, which is dedicated to tackling mental health problems in the industry.
There will be three distinct strands to the content with one focused on business issues including addressing the key challenges currently facing firms in the sector such as tackling the skills gap, ESG reporting, insurance and legal, managing costs and investing for the future, improving collaboration, and complying with the Building Safety Act.
The technical section will be the largest with sessions dedicated to each of the industry’s key technologies and shaped by BESA’s specialist groups. The over-arching technical theme is delivering safe, healthy, and energy efficient building services – covering the complete lifecycle of a building and progress towards net zero.
Debates
There will be individual talks and debates on ventilation and indoor air quality, fire safety, energy efficiency and carbon counting, Golden Thread; heat pumps; changes to the F-Gas regulations, heat networks and the role of heat interface units (HIUs); FM and building maintenance, overheating and climate change adaption, among others.
The third strand is made up of sessions aimed directly at younger engineers and shaped by the Association’s Future Leaders group. These will include sessions on helping employers make themselves more attractive to younger people considering their first career steps, and advice on mentoring. There will also be opportunities for younger delegates to network with each other and meet senior industry figures.
“We never tire of pointing out that, despite the massive advances made by remote meeting systems, there really is no substitute for being ‘in the room’ when it comes to key industry events,” said BESA chief executive officer David Frise.
He said there would be more interactive workshops this year along with short ‘lightening learning’ sessions to give delegates quick access to takeaway actions.
“We understand there needs to be a very good reason for people to take time away from their busy professional lives to attend events, but we also like to think that BESA has gained a measure of trust and a track record from the success of previous conferences,” said Frise.
“Our events team is fully focused on ensuring our meetings, and particularly the BESA Annual Conference, provide clear outcomes and actions for delegates to take back to their businesses.
“We will also be making a point of following up resolutions made during the Conference and directing people to sources of further information to help them address the many technical and commercial challenges and opportunities confronting the sector.”
The event will also feature an exhibition area and will be followed in the evening by BESA’s Industry Awards event, which is also sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric.
