EVENT | BUILD2PERFORM LIVE PLATFORM FOR CHANGE CIBSE Build2Perform Live was a platform for industry professionals and academics to highlight the issues vital to the built environment tackling its net zero challenges while ensuring the safety and comfort of end users. Alex Smith, Molly Tooher-Rudd and Mike Sewell report DOS AND DONTS OF LIGHTING A Light2Perform session on the Top 10 Dos and Donts of Lighting was a popular draw. Experts discussed the importance of a wellcrafted specification that balances innovation, client budget, and sustainability. A good spec will set out the requirements of the employer, but in a way that the engineer can design an innovative solution while taking into account all of the standards, said Sophie Parry FSLL, head of Trilux Akademie at Trilux Lighting. Hoare Lea project director Ruth Kelly Waskett MCIBSE FSLL highlighted that the process needs continual client involvement when considering each aspect of a project, including energy reduction, disassembly, repair, and reuse. Parry agreed, emphasising the importance of education and awareness in lighting, and advocating for open sharing of knowledge with designers and clients. The discussion delved into the significance of energy reduction, sustainability and cost. Simon Robinson FCIBSE FSLL, technical director at WSP, stressed the importance of these criteria for engineers in achieving energy certification. Anything that helps get us there should be entertained. Lighting is visible, so we can make a statement with this, he said. W ith CIBSE involved in key policies and guidance around net zero and building safety, CIBSE Build2Perform Live 2023 offered insight into the engineering strategies and technologies that are dominating the industry at the moment. Speakers and exhibitors focused on key topics, including the impact of the Building Safety Act, embodied energy, heat pumps and digital tools. There was time for celebration, too, with the CIBSE Building Simulation Awards and Society of Digital Engineering Awards held during the event (see page 11). Among the seven stages at London ExCeL was, for the first time, Light2Perform, and content around building safety was provided by CABEs Built Environment Live, which ran alongside the main event. Build2Perform Live was opened by CIBSE vice-president David Cooper FCIBSE, who told delegates that it had attracted a record number of registrants. He was followed by a keynote from the team developing the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard (NZCBS), which includes Julie Godefroy, head of net zero policy at CIBSE, and Katie-Clemence Jackson, sustainability associate at QODA and chair of the NZCBS technical steering group. The group aims to achieve a robust definition for net zero buildings in the UK and create a rule book to assess new and existing buildings. A new tool is also being developed to balance top-down budgets and bottomup performance levels to produce net zero carbon pathways and limits. We have modelled different scenarios of decarbonisation to help set new limits and requirements in the standard, treating operational energy and embodied carbon as one entity, said Clemence-Jackson. Godefroy spoke about future updates. We need to look at district heating and cooling networks, and how we assess these and set limits, she said. Andrew Moore, from the Health and Safety Executive, led a talk on the Building Safety Act. He explained that there are significant new requirements to demonstrate competence on all regulated building work, not just on higher-risk buildings. Competence cuts across the whole of the Its about data-driven decision-making; without data youre just another person with an opinion Phil Birch, Amazon industry. Its a key driver to improving the built environment, to reach all of our strategic aims, not just building safety, he said. We want to see how you ensure that your work is in compliance with the Building Regs; industry needs to step up and take responsibility for its designs. TM65s growing influence CIBSEs TM65 series has helped engineers understand and calculate embodied energy in designs and systems. A further four TM65 documents are set to be published around calculating embodied energy, including local addenda for the USA and the UAE. Francisco Sierra, senior lecturer at UWE Bristol, highlighted the lack of data in the UAE on embodied carbon. He said the TM65 aligns with local decarbonisation policies. 20 January 2024 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Jan 24 pp20-22 Build2Perform.indd 20 21/12/2023 17:51