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Companies Warned Not to ‘Fake’ Diversity

Built environment firms shouldn’t do anything about improving the diversity of their workforces if they don’t truly believe in it, according to a leading construction industry diversity champion.

Amos Simbo OBE told the latest edition of the ‘Behind the Built Environment’ podcast that firms would be better off doing nothing if they were just responding to pressure from their clients.

“If you're faking it rather than actually doing it, you're just wasting your time,” said Simbo, founder of the Black Professionals in Construction (BPIC) network. “You might as well use your resources properly because what's the point of investing in something and then just going halfway?”

Simbo told podcast host David Frise, CEO of the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA), that companies who only acted on diversity because their clients forced them into it would not see any benefit.

“[Then] what will happen…companies would employ people, but they're just not empowered to do anything. So…you're [just] wasting money on employing those people. In that case, it would be better to do nothing at all because you won’t get anything out of it.

“For companies of all sizes, authenticity matters…so go all in, make it real. Inclusion isn’t a trend; it’s good business,” he added. “And even if you don't want to go all out, try and do the bare minimum properly, at least. Then you can say, you know what, we're not doing everything, we're just doing this, but we're doing it properly…we’re committing.”

Success Stories

Currently, just 7% of workers in construction and related fields are from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community in the UK even though it accounts for more than 18% of the overall population. Simbo told the podcast that people from BAME backgrounds were often unaware of the industry and the opportunities available. Also, they don’t see “success stories” from their own communities.

“People are well paid in this sector, but people don't know about it. So, that's one element of education. But then some of the reasons why people wouldn't know about it is [because of] where they're from. Perhaps there aren’t any success stories [from their community].”

A shortage of mentors and role models also leads to more people from those backgrounds being encouraged by their parents to become doctors or lawyers instead, Simbo added.

“[They don’t see] people progressing, and then they end up leaving. So, you're losing a lot of leaders, losing a lot of role models. This is such a people-oriented industry, but you often end up with people [staying] in their groups and cliques.”

He also said there was a misconception that inclusivity was “a competitive issue” with winners and losers, but everyone should gain. “Diversity and inclusion should not be to the detriment of something else. It’s about inclusion not exclusion to make space for others. It’s not a competitive thing,” he told Frise.

Simbo, who is also managing director of the independent construction consultancy Winway Group, said a more inclusive approach should lead to greater innovation, business growth and staff retention. He added that companies also needed to be wary of getting sucked into the political debate around the issue, particularly with the current climate in the US where President Donald Trump is waging war on the ‘woke agenda’.

He said this was putting businesses in a difficult position because many want to be inclusive but are being told they could lose government contracts. “But what happens if there is a change of government…you can’t just go back and say ‘we care now’.”

Instead, he urged employers to make their business a place where “[all] people feel welcome, and talent can thrive,” said Simbo. “We focus on ethnic minority inclusion, but [it] should be for everyone – women, older people. It makes a good business and makes good business sense and that translates into growth, people retention – values come first and then growth comes from that.”

Talent

He said the message of the BPIC network was that construction was an industry for everyone. It is a hub that aims to help employers improve their inclusivity and gain access to talent. It offers advice and examples of best practice for attracting diverse talent and provides opportunities for ethnic minorities to access the industry and its related sectors.

Simbo said addressing the low participation of the BAME community was part of the wider government-led drive to grow the number of skilled people in construction. BPIC works with a range of training providers and has launched its own skills academy to help improve opportunities for ethnic minorities.

BESA is also addressing this challenge through its online Academy and is recognising employers who champion inclusion, break down barriers and are working to create a more diverse and equitable industry through its industry awards programme.

For more information and to enter the ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’ category at the BESA Industry Awards 2025 visit the website here.

BESA Sets Ambitious Growth Target For 2025 Awards

The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has launched its Industry Awards 2025 adding ten new categories and giving the programme a completely new look and feel.

Entries are now open for the 28 categories and the Association said it was aiming to increase participation by 25% despite hitting a record 101 entries in 2024.

The BESA Awards are sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric and designed to recognise and reward the achievements of individuals, teams, and organisations that have significantly contributed to the development of the building services sector in the last 12 months.

The deadline for entries is July 4 and the awards ceremony returns to the historic Brewery, Chiswell Street, London for the second year in a row on October 16 following the BESA Annual Conference at the same venue earlier in the day.

Some awards are exclusively for BESA members, but many are open to the whole sector to ensure the programme reflects the full breadth of building services expertise, innovation and talent. They are free to enter and include awards for outstanding projects and firms as well as individuals who have gone above and beyond the call of duty for the greater good of the industry.

Categories

New categories for this year include Offsite Project of the Year, Excellence in Commissioning, a REFCOM Environmental Excellence award, Service and Maintenance Contractor of the Year and Ventilation Hygiene Contractor of the Year.

There are also new Contractor of the Year awards for Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England, alongside an overall National Contractor of the Year award, which is sponsored by Groupe Atlantic.

As usual, the BESA Awards celebrate and champion the emerging generation with a range of categories aimed at young engineers and apprentices. This year each nominated apprentice will be asked to complete a 45-minute online test.

An expert panel of judges chaired by BESA technical director Kevin Morrissey has been assembled and expanded to take on the additional workload created by the new categories.

“We are extremely excited about this year’s awards,” said BESA’s group events manager Charlie Ward. “Following the success of last year’s event, which attracted more than 400 guests, we are looking forward to growing even further and cementing the BESA Awards as one of the top celebrations in the industry’s calendar.”

For a full list of categories and to enter click here. Closing date for entries is July 4.

There are also several sponsorship opportunities still available. For more details please email: awards@theBESA.com

BESA Announces 2024 Award Winners

The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) unveiled the winners and highly commended in its record breaking 2024 Industry Awards during a sparkling dinner at London’s historic Brewery, Chiswell Street.

Outstanding businesses and individuals were recognised across 14 awards categories covering innovative projects, products and initiatives supported by a new record of over 100 entries.

More than 450 industry figures attended the awards dinner sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric which followed the Association’s Annual Conference at the same venue earlier in the day. The event was hosted by celebrity compere Tom Ward and supported by CIBSE and the Installer Show.

There was a special presentation in memory of Skanska’s Rob Lambert who died earlier this year having been a long-standing and much respected member of BESA’s technical committee.

The President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement went to Dave Kieft of EFT Consult for his pioneering work on driving the UK’s first technical standard for health & wellbeing in buildings.

BESA’s first Rising Star award was presented to the incoming chair of its NextGen Network Ibrahim Qadir from Vital Energi reflecting the Association’s ongoing commitment to support emerging talent and the next generation of building services engineers.

Several other new categories were introduced for 2024 including Retrofit Project of the Year to reflect the growing focus on refurbishment of existing buildings to meet net zero targets and improve occupant health and well-being.

The increased focus on training and skills led to the first Training Provider of the Year Award for BESA’s training partners. A new Competence and Compliance category also celebrated the growing focus on raising professional standards and helping building engineering firms prove their ability to comply with increasingly stringent legislation.

The awards categories covered the full supply chain from manufacturers and distributors through to contractors, engineers, and clients, and reflected the industry’s efforts to get to grips with some of society’s biggest issues like building safety, indoor air quality, and diversity.

Full details of the winners of the BESA’s Industry Awards 2024 can be found online here.

BESA Supports Findings of Grenfell Tower Report

The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has welcomed the publication of the final report into the Grenfell Tower tragedy saying that it should add greater urgency to promised reforms of the construction industry and related engineering disciplines.

The Association added that the report should serve as a further reminder of the serious and wide-reaching impact of the disaster. It also paid tribute to those who lost their lives and said it was important to recognise the continued impact on residents and the immediate community.

BESA said the report shone a light on the systemic failings that led to the tragedy and vowed to work closely with the government and other industry bodies to bring about the necessary culture change that would ensure similar disasters could not occur in the future.

It thanked the public inquiry panel for their diligence in investigating the root causes of the tragedy and particularly noted the comments of panel member and architect Thouria Istephan who called for a greater commitment to the development of professional skills.

“If we are not professionally curious, we will not become technically competent,” she said. “If you work in the construction industry and do not feel the weight of the responsibility you have for keeping people safe, you are in the wrong job.”

While continued legislative change and regulatory reform is clearly required, BESA said it was anxious that there should be no loss in momentum on progress already being made under the Building Safety Act, specifically around the need for everyone involved in construction to provide evidence of their competence and compliance.

The Association added that it had already suspended companies from membership who failed to meet their technical and professional obligations under the Act and would not hesitate to do so again.

“The report reminds us that the industry’s operating model had evolved to a point where cutting cost was pursued at the expense of building safety and performance,” said CEO David Frise.

“We must build on the progress made since the tragedy, evolving into an industry that can clearly demonstrate its competence and compliance in delivering a built environment that is safe and sustainable.”

BESA has produced a summary of the key recommendations from the report for the building engineering sector which is available here.

BESA Announces Record Awards Shortlist

The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has launched its Industry Awards shortlist for 2024 having received an all-time record high number of entries. The awards, which were free to enter, reward individuals, teams, and companies responsible for delivering projects, products, innovations, and initiatives that demonstrate excellence in building services engineering.

The winners will be announced at this year’s BESA Awards dinner at the historic Brewery, Chiswell Street, London on October 17 following the Association’s Annual Conference at the same venue earlier in the day.

The headline sponsor of the gala event hosted by celebrity compere Tom Ward is Mitsubishi Electric and the dinner is also being supported by CIBSE and the Installer Show.

There were more than 100 entries, and several new categories were introduced this year including Retrofit Project of the Year to reflect the growing focus on refurbishment of existing buildings to meet net zero targets and improve occupant health and well-being.

The increased focus on training and skills has led to the first Training Provider of the Year Award for BESA’s training partners. This sits neatly alongside the new Competence and Compliance category which celebrates the growing focus on raising professional standards and helping building engineering firms prove their ability to comply with increasingly stringent legislation.

Rising stars

The BESA Industry Awards 2024 also continues the Association’s long-standing tradition of celebrating and rewarding apprentices and other emerging building services talent, and this year sees the first Rising Star of the Year award. Nominees were drawn from the growing ranks of impressive young engineers employed by BESA member companies.

Entries were also received for the relaunched Manly Trust Management Training Award that provides valuable support for a particularly promising individual who shows leadership potential.

Although some awards are exclusively for BESA members, many were open to the whole sector to ensure the programme reflects the full breadth of building services expertise.

There are awards for outstanding projects and firms as well as individuals who have gone above and beyond the call of duty for the greater good of the industry. Categories cover the full supply chain from manufacturers and distributors though contractors, engineers, and clients, and they reflect the industry’s efforts to get to grips with today’s big issues like building safety, indoor air quality, and diversity.

An expert panel of judges was assembled from across the sector and includes both the current BESA President Claire Curran and President-elect Adrian Hurley. Young engineers were also well represented on the panel which included members of BESA’s NextGen Network.

The full shortlist for BESA’s Industry Awards 2024 can be found online here and you can book your places at what is expected to be the Association’s largest ever awards dinner here.

BESA Urges Young Engineers to Use Their Vote

Young building services engineers have particularly strong reasons to vote in the general election, according to the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA).

BESA’s NextGen Network, which represents younger industry members, said the emerging generation often felt frustrated and ignored by the UK’s politicians – and so was less engaged in the political process, but had “most to gain from voting”.

“We are troubled by the cost-of-living crisis, social inequality, lack of progress on climate change, the shortage of affordable housing for younger people, and poor rates of pay that make it harder to save for our future,” said BESA’s group digital marketing co-ordinator Curtis Armstrong.

“However, we also have to live for longer with the consequences of the decisions made by the next government…and the incoming Prime Minister has a bulging in-tray: Climate change, energy security, health & wellbeing, economic growth/stagnation among just a few,” added Armstrong, writing in the latest BESA NextGen Blog entitled: ‘Vote because your lives depend on it’.

He said the emerging generation of engineers was in the “privileged position” of being able to influence many of these issues directly during their careers. This should make them keener than most to influence the outcome of an election that will decide who will be making crucial policy decisions about the built environment.

However, recent pre-election analysis suggests that members of Generation Z (people born between 1997 and 2012) and Millennials (1981–1996) are far less likely to use their vote than Generation X (1965–1980) and Baby Boomers (1946–1964).

BESA has been working with other industry bodies and political lobbyists to put pressure on the main parties to make commitments around key built environment activities including the urgency of improving the condition of the UK’s existing 30 million buildings.

It calculated that annual retrofit rates would need to rise from around 2% a year to 5% to meet climate change goals. The Association also said the country needed to get to grips with “whole life carbon” to achieve the UK’s legally binding net zero commitments. This is the combination of operational and embodied carbon, 21% of which is accounted for by building services systems and equipment.

Members of BESA’s NextGen Network said their work would be central to these issues as well as the health and wellbeing of building occupants through improved building ventilation design and maintenance. This is urgently needed to address increasingly poor indoor air quality (IAQ), along with mould and damp in homes and public buildings, which have a severely adverse effect on human respiratory and cardiovascular health.

The next government will also have to play its part in addressing the skills gap in technical professions so there are enough young people in the engineering workforce to deliver net zero and other long-term goals, according to BESA.

It cited the Conservative Party’s promise to deliver 100,000 ‘high skilled apprenticeships’ a year by the end of the next parliament – a 30% increase on current numbers – as one potential positive policy.

Labour has also proposed a ‘growth and skills levy’ that would allow employers to spend up to half of the money they receive from the government to train existing staff in "high-level technical skills" including building retrofit and engineering.

The party pledges to reserve at least 50% of the money from the training levy for apprenticeships and to create 150,000 traineeships for young people.

BESA has argued for some time that degree courses should not be the “default option” for young people and that technical apprenticeships offer a valuable and rewarding alternative. However, it pointed out that employers would also need much more financial support to take on the greater number of apprentices proposed.

“So, the next government has some big decisions to make that could have a direct impact on both our working and domestic lives as citizens of the UK, but if we don’t vote, we can’t really complain if the wrong people get elected and go on to make the wrong choices,” said Armstrong.

“The next five years will be crucial for our country’s future, so let’s make sure the right people are in power to influence the journey towards lower carbon, and healthier and safer buildings.”

BESA has also produced a comparison of the main parties’ pledges on issues linked to building engineering services: 2024 General Election Manifesto Summaries.

Suzan Shares Vision of High-Tech Growth Built Off-Site

The building services industry can fire up growth by taking advantage of digital tools and processes, and by making better use of off-site assembly, according to the head of one of the sector’s largest firms.

Remi Suzan, the newly appointed managing director of Gratte Brothers Limited, told a podcast hosted by the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA), that it was a positive development that more M&E firms were taking on the role of principal contractor on major projects in high tech sectors like data centres where building services accounts for an increasing proportion of the value.

However, he cautioned firms about the need to find staff that could understand the different aspects of the role and said Gratte Brothers had actively recruited more expertise in construction, structural, and architectural engineering “to take ownership” of the responsibility. “That was a bit of a lesson for us in that you've got some very good M&E project managers, but that doesn't necessarily mean they can build staircases etc,” he told BESA chief executive David Frise who hosts the podcast ‘Behind the Built Environment’.

“In terms of risk, so long as you are managing the process and you are not making any mistakes in that side of things, the risk is the same. If I'm main contractor and you're working as a sub-contractor, if that job goes off the rails, then you're all in the lifeboats together. It's no different,” said Suzan.

Repeat business

He added that he was optimistic about the future of the company which was benefitting from a high level of repeat business.

“We're taking on projects that we would never have taken on 10, 15 years ago in terms of build content,” he said. “We've learned our lessons along the way, and we seem to have quite happy clients behind us.”

He said the industry could also make better use of digital technologies to help improve quality, productivity, and project delivery, but said there were some problems with how BIM was deployed.

“The concept of BIM is brilliant. The idea to digitally build something before you take it to site is a brilliant idea, but it doesn't work,” said Suzan. “It costs an absolute fortune. That's because people don't put in the level of detail needed.”

However, he said M&E firms were better at providing the level of complex design information required [to make BIM effective], and the rest of the construction supply chain needed to catch up.

“Until the rest of the industry catches up with the M&E, and they really do model what they're going to install [that’s when] you'll see the benefit,” he said.

Off-site assembly, on the other hand, was already proving highly effective in improving workflows and working conditions, he said. Gratte Brothers operates two off-site facilities and is currently delivering between 30 and 40% of projects that way – with the aim of raising that to 80%.

“We're making all sorts of things [off site] from full electrical risers to distribution boards, to mechanical pipework, pump skids, but we do it all with our own labour…there’s no de-skilling,” he said. “People have argued that you could save money, but that's where you drop off on the quality side of things.”

He added that off-site production reduced material waste and speeded up the production of many building services modules. It also improved co-ordination of project delivery for clients.

Massive change

This kind of progression could also help contractors cope with the “massive change” being brought about by the Building Safety Act, added Suzan.

He said the construction industry should “should hang its head in shame” that politicians had to step in and “actually tell us how to build things”, but said it was now down to companies to make sure their entire supply chains were competent and capable of delivering quality work that complied with the new safety legislation.

Frise suggested that the whole future of the design & build approach was now in question as contractors were required to produce more design detail before projects would be allowed to go ahead.

The BESA podcast also addressed the industry’s skills gap. Suzan blamed the historic recruitment shortfall on competitive tendering, which resulted in less investment in training because of the pressure it puts on budgets. He also said the industry didn't help itself by “focusing entirely on the academic”.

“Basically, if you want a career in this industry now, you have to have…a master's degree,” he told Frise. “When they come out of university, these graduates are more focused on design [and lack the practical knowledge and experience of previous generations].”

Gratte Brothers has sought to address this through its four-year graduate trainee programme, which allows apprentices to work in different parts of the business. They bring “buildability skills” to the design team and an understanding of some of the practical elements that academia does not cover like project and labour management.

The full podcast recording is available here and for more information about the Building Safety Act visit the BESA HUB.

Building Services Sector is ‘Turning the Corner’

Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) contractors are increasingly optimistic about their future growth prospects, according to a new report from the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA).

The Association’s latest annual Top 30 Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) Contractor report, produced in partnership with the construction consultancy GHCS/GH Engage, found the sector’s largest companies in good spirits despite most experiencing severe difficulties over the past few years.

Collective turnover is up by 16% on last year and most reported robust growth prospects for the next two to five years.

The 5th edition of the report did reflect on the string of high-profile insolvencies suffered by the sector recently, notably Michael J Lonsdale, and continuing consolidation across the sector. However, it also found senior managers in a more hopeful frame of mind, with most firms saying they had “turned a corner”.

The UK M&E contracting market is worth approximately £20 billion* and constitutes around a fifth of the UK construction sector's GDP. Those interviewed for the BESA report said that value was likely to increase over time as building engineering services became increasingly sophisticated and technology driven.

Gokhan Hassan, managing director of GHCS/GH Engage, said the report showed that the industry was “heading in the right direction”, but he warned that financial headwinds would persist for the next two to three years.

Market Conditions Remain Tough

BESA’s chief executive officer David Frise agreed that market conditions remained “tough”, and that profitability was still “relatively low”, but he praised many of the sector’s larger firms for refocusing their businesses on high value, fast growing sectors, such as data centres, research, and healthcare, and for “avoiding low bidding as much as possible”.

Growing pressure on clients to meet net zero targets and greater investment in refurbishment and retrofit of the existing building stock were also contributing to better market conditions, according to the report. However, investors are still treating construction-related businesses with caution.

“The sector is seen as ‘risky’ and cash poor by the money markets and shifting that perception will take some time,” said Frise. “However, our report and the interviews with leading contractors demonstrate that most large MEP firms have a strong foundation for progress and are focused on reducing their exposure to risk, which should go down well with insurers.”

BESA also believes that project bank accounts will play a larger part in industry financing over the next few years as more clients recognise how they can be used to insulate them from risk while ensuring better cash flows through supply chains.

The report also revealed that more MEP firms were being asked to take on the role of principle contractor on large multi-million pound projects because the building services elements account for an increasing proportion of the overall value.

Abdul Tantouch, head of content at AMA Research, said the M&E contracting market had demonstrated “significant resilience” having rebounded from a 12% decline in 2020 caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The sector has not only recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but is now on a trajectory of robust growth,” he added. “This is being driven by the integration of innovative practices and technologies aimed at advancing towards net zero carbon emissions.”

Increased Demand for Data Centres

Tantouch said the market was expected to achieve a value of almost £21 billion next year, supported by key trends such as increased demand for data centres and green energy solutions.

Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) legislation is also expected to fuel further growth as commercial building owners and managers look to avoid ending up with unlettable ‘stranded assets’. This will lead to more MEP contractors working directly for end clients, according to the report.

Along with promising UK-wide GDP growth in the first quarter of this year, another key development is the easing of inflation pressures. While material and labour prices remain at historic highs, pricing stability has returned making it easier for companies to plan.

However, most of the firms interviewed said it would take time to adapt to the biggest change to building safety regulations in a generation in the shape of the Building Safety Act.

The industry also has some major problems around productivity and skills that will have to be addressed if growth is to be sustained, according to BESA, which emphasised the importance of increasing the level of digital skills in the workforce and improving diversity.

“The financial stability of our largest firms is important because it feeds down through supply chains and has a direct impact on the profitability of thousands of smaller, specialist contractors,” said Frise. “It is, therefore, heartening to see our top 30 in a better place following the extraordinarily challenging conditions created by the unprecedented combination of the pandemic, Brexit, and the war in Ukraine.”

You can view the full report here.

*Source: Barbour ABI, AMA Research, M&E Contractors Report, UK 2021 to 2025.

BESA Launches NextGen Network to Support Young Engineers

The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has launched a dedicated group for young engineers and newcomers to the industry.

The BESA NextGen network replaces the Association’s ‘Future Leaders’ group which was formed in 2017 to support young engineers working for member companies who were seen to have future management potential.

The new network is more broadly based and aims to provide technical knowledge, career support, and networking opportunities for younger engineers and those in the early stages of a building engineering career working for both member and non-member companies. It is also open to young people employed in non-engineering roles in the building services sector.

Ryan Walton, specification engineer at Panasonic Heating and Cooling, is the first chair of the network having already served as chair of the Future Leaders group since April last year.

“It is a real honour and a great opportunity to work with my fellow young engineers through this exciting initiative,” he said. “We have a lot to offer the Association and the wider industry, but it is often hard for us to make our collective voice heard.

“It can also be an intimidating experience for younger people to network with older, more experienced engineers, parti