UCL Guidelines Win CIBSE Award
University College London in collaboration with Buro Happold has won the “Learning and Development” award at the 2021 CIBSE Building Performance...
Read Full ArticleIncoming CIBSE president Stuart MacPherson has made an appeal for net carbon standards and a programme to refurbish existing buildings.
In his inaugural address via video, MacPherson called for targeted investment in low carbon solutions to drive recovery from the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic.
"We need to be designing all new buildings to net zero carbon standards and embark on a much more ambitious programme of refurbishment of existing buildings, combined with ways of de-carbonising the energy supply to those buildings.”
– Stuart MacPherson
Incoming CIBSE President
Citing the experience of previous economic shocks, MacPherson suggested that the natural reaction of governments when faced with the urgent need to stimulate economies was “to de-regulate and delay further change for fear of inhibiting investment. This is one time where this must not happen.”
“There is an opportunity to invest in structural changes, such as clean technologies and the education and training of the workforce who will implement the changes that will bring about reductions in emissions as economic growth returns.
“It is going to require a step change. We need to be designing all new buildings to net zero carbon standards and embark on a much more ambitious programme of refurbishment of existing buildings, combined with ways of de-carbonising the energy supply to those buildings.”
MacPherson went on to cite specific areas of research and development where building services engineers are leading the field. District heating and energy from waste, demand management, realistic building performance modelling and energy infrastructure resilience were some of the issues highlighted.
In his address, the new CIBSE President paid tribute to the commitment of the CIBSE community of staff and volunteers who continue to support its membership and society at large during the COVID-19 crisis.
He praised the speed at which the organisation’s central role of spreading information and learning had migrated into an online environment, and the valuable consultative role CIBSE members are providing to the Construction Industry Task Force and Royal Academy of Engineering in government advisory work.
Using CIBSE’s response to the crisis as an example, MacPherson speculated that this seismic change gives everyone, at both personal and government level, an opportunity to re-evaluate our behaviours. The potential is there to create working environments that are better than they were before – returning to business as usual should not be the limit of our ambition.
Stuart MacPherson succeeds Professor Lynne Jack as CIBSE President and will, in turn, be succeeded by Kevin Kelly, CIBSE President Elect.
MacPherson is a Director at Irons Foulner Consulting Engineers and holds a BSc in physics, an MSc in building services engineering, an MBA and a PhD. He has served on the Scottish Region Committee for many years, including a time as Chair. He is a membership interviewer. He joined the CIBSE board in 2009 and has served as the Treasurer and a Vice President before being elected President.
Picture: Photograph of Stuart MacPherson
Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 06 May 2020
University College London in collaboration with Buro Happold has won the “Learning and Development” award at the 2021 CIBSE Building Performance...
Read Full ArticleWith most of us favouring a long weekend at home, might the office close on Mondays and Fridays permanently? With the government revealing its roadmap for the lifting...
Read Full ArticleGiles Fuchs, CEO at Office Space in Town, reacts to Boris Johnson’s latest roadmap out of lockdown in England, and predicts what this will mean for the return to...
Read Full ArticleCEO Noel Quinn has announced in a full-year result presentation that the bank will free up its office footprint by forty per cent. Quinn however confirmed that HSBC...
Read Full ArticleAI has many applications in buildings, from AI-enabled IoT sensors to facial recognition, and it’s now helping to support COVID-safe workplace...
Read Full ArticleA new alliance for the multi-billion UK engineering services sector has launched today via a virtual industry event. Actuate UK is an alliance of eight leading...
Read Full ArticleAfter working from home for almost a year, a third of UK workers say they miss their morning and evening commute. Recruiter Randstad UK, asked home workers how they...
Read Full ArticleThe Society of Light and Lighting has published its first guidance document designed specifically to address the key lighting tasks required of facilities...
Read Full ArticleIt’s been almost a whole year of working from home for many of us, and some are predicting when offices will reopen. 54 per cent of us are apparently happy to...
Read Full ArticleEight organisations in the built environment sector are forming an alliance to champion sustainable change in the industry. The new alliance brings together the...
Read Full Article