Organisations are setting ambitious 2030 targets in response to the climate emergency, but how do they decarbonise property assets in such a short period of time? Andy Pearson looks at how SNC-Lavalin is using data to assess buildings and set clients such as HM Treasury on the road to net zero
Author: Alex Smith
International Women’s Day: walking the talk
To celebrate International Women’s Day, Liza Young and Alex Smith talk to prominent female engineers to find out what CIBSE is doing to make the building services industry more attractive to women
How Britain’s film industry was saved from the London fog
In the early days of cinema, the UK’s biggest studios were in central London, but pervasive fog – ‘pea-soupers’ – was entering film sets and causing huge disruption. Richard Farmer describes how pioneering air cleaning techniques saved the studios
To automate we must accommodate the ideas of others
Automation in building services will continue to thrive, says XCO2’s Aidan Kelly, but only if engineers collaborate and share knowledge through industry hackathons and bodies such as the Society of Digital Engineering
Renewable heating is the future for commercial buildings
Modern heat pumps are suitable for all types of commercial buildings and can be used in conjunction with renewables to help the UK meets its climate change targets, as Mitsubishi Electric’s James Chaplen explains
Dual purpose: evaporative cooling
Switching between modes in dual evaporative coolers can result in large operational savings, according to a recent B&SERT paper. Tim Dwyer looks at the latest research on hybrid direct and regenerative evaporative cooling
Winning returns: The CIBSE 2022 Building Performance Awards
CIBSE’s Building Performance Awards returned to a new venue in London last month to celebrate the cream of the building services industry with prizes for the best projects, innovations and processes
Live and kicking
CIBSE is planning an extensive schedule of events for 2022 – both in-person and online. Simon Parker focuses on some of the highlights and reveals plans for the industry’s first Building Services Week this autumn
Digging for Britain: Swaffham Prior’s heat network
Escalating energy prices and the urgent need to decarbonise means communities are looking to move away from fossil fuel as a heating source. A pioneering heat network in the Cambridgeshire village of Swaffham Prior is aiming to use a hybrid heat pump system, coupled with a solar farm, to provide ultra-low carbon, affordable heating for every resident, business and school.
Andy Pearson reports
Max Fordham 1933-2022
Building service’s most influential engineer took an integrated approach to design based on first principles that focused on occupant comfort and optimal building performance