SURVEY | CLIMATE EMERGENCY Eleanor Hoey, senior engineer, Method Consulting Hitting climate change head-on has always been something we need to do and, as a young engineer, I feel its apart of my duty to do so for my generation and to protect future generations. There has always been resistance to change, and many of us can feel more comfortable sticking with how things have always been done. However, with correct knowledge and education we can collectively approach clients and colleagues with the tools to break down these barriers and make sustainable practices simple and natural. The initial response from the survey indicates that client constraints are a huge challenge when implementing change. Making the declaration brings back into focus the climate emergency and reminds clients that they too play a role when it comes to sustainability. By creating a network where expertise and knowledge can be shared among all levels within a practice, we, as engineers, can work with the client to break down constraints and resistance. Jonathan McMillan, associate, Hulley & Kirkwood It was very encouraging to see the consensus in responses that change is being driven by engineers based on principle, and that there is a passion potentially from younger engineers to break away from the business as usual approach and to apply new techniques to deliver innovative designs that will mitigate climate change. The individual responses suggest that evolving planning and regulatory policy have helped to promote climate-neutral design, but the responses also highlight that the parallel rollback of incentive schemes such as the RHI, FIT and ECA (to name a but a few) have presented financial constraints that have hindered change. Marian Ferguson, founding director of Energylab Consulting It is encouraging to see from the survey that there is an appetite in our industry to collaborate and knowledge share through the forum of Building Services Engineers Declare. While there is obviously commercial confidentiality to consider, building services engineers can see the benefit of working together and sharing experiences to help with the challenges that the climate emergency poses. Good to see that there is senior buy-in, too. CJ ASHLEY BATESON is a partner and ANDY CANE a senior sustainability consultant at Hoare Lea References: 1 www.buildingservicesengineersdeclare.com STAFF STOCK SERVICE Service & Value since... 1897 Smith Brothers Stores Ltd @SBS1897 26 June 2021 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE June 21 pp24-26 Building services declare.indd 26 21/05/2021 15:49