CLIMATE CHANGE | ENGINEERS DECLARE Jonathan McMillan Associate at Hulley & Kirkwood The declaration is important because it raises awareness and, in time, will provide access to a community of designers with the experience and expertise to deliver designs in line with the declarations ethos. We want to see the underlying principles become standard practice rather than best practice. As the network grows, we hope it will provide the perspective, direction and support to drive change in the industry. Energy and sustainability tend to be seen as bolt-on services that arent part of the core building services offering. As a result, knowledge has become concentrated with specialists, who often come into a project after concepts have been developed. If practices are serious about addressing climate change, there needs to be a focus on making specialist knowledge more mainstream. Ultimately, we need to be bolder in our approach and improve how we promote the value of climate-focused design to clients early in the design stage. To be successful, climate-focused design needs crossdiscipline collaboration early in the design stage. We must move beyond the compliance culture that seems prevalent in the industry. The UK regional energy and carbon-focused building regulations revolutionised how we approached building design in 2006, but the pace has slowed to a standstill in recent years. As a result, there is little incentive to go much beyond a business as usual approach. Lee Hargreaves MCIBSE Associate director at Buro Happold The industry needs to do much more than meet minimum standards and targets. Climate and biodiversity breakdown is under way. This is, now, significantly more than a discussion on reducing energy and carbon. As engineers, we have a duty to act in accordance with the principles of sustainability and come up with innovative solutions that prevent avoidable adverse impact on the environment and society. Those who sign up to the declaration will collectively generate a shared vision that can be communicated to clients to inform them of the true consequences of inaction not just on their projects, but on the wider environment from a national and international perspective. The good news is that our sector is very well placed. We have appropriate knowledge, skills and capability; with professional responsible judgement and leadership, building services engineers can be at the forefront of solving this challenge. We can no longer waste time, the clock is ticking. W AT E R P U M P I N S TA L L AT I O N & S E R V I C I N G Unrivalled expertise With over 25 years of expertise in both sewage and fresh water pumps, we offer a complete end-to-end service from initial in-house design, to supply & installation and servicing & maintenance. Long term supplier relationships Long term, close working relationships with many of the largest and most trusted manufacturers allows us to tailor make solutions to your exact requirements. Water Hygiene We offer a full water hygiene service, from Legionella risk assessments to cleaning & chlorination of tanks along with flushing regimes. Skilled engineers Our team of highly trained specialist engineers carry out fault finding, maintenance, pump & component replacement and complete installation packages. 24/7/365 with nationwide coverage Call to speak directly to our sewage or fresh water pump experts. 01634 201 111 / willowpumps.co.uk 24 January 2021 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Jan21 pp22-24 Building Services Declare.indd 24 18/12/2020 14:29