Eight prominent building engineering services organisations have come together to launch a new ‘building services alliance’, Actuate UK, that will represent a sector comprising some 60,000 businesses, employing 350,000 skilled professionals.
Speaking at the official launch of the new body on 10 February, David Frise, chief executive of the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA), said that the name ‘Actuate’ had been selected since those delivering building engineering services ‘actuated’ the buildings that ‘90 per cent of us spend 90 per cent of our time in’, while if such services operated optimally, few building occupiers would even be aware of their presence. Actuate, would – he and a subsequent speaker, Steve Bratt (pictured), the CEO of the of the Electrical and Engineering Services association (ECA), explained, bring together all those responsible for designing, manufacturing, installing, commissioning, and maintaining building services to ensure that the sector was represented with a strong, unified voice, and could contribute ideas, thought leadership, commercial and technical expertise, and guidance, both to the construction sector as a whole, and to government and other influential bodies
Steve Bratt said: “Building engineering services play a vital part not only in the safe and sustainable operation of a wide range of public and private sector buildings, but of course such services, and the buildings they serve, also contribute around 40% to overall carbon emissions, so the sector has a major part to play in combating the global climate crisis and taking the UK towards its net zero carbon targets.”
The ECA and other speakers at the launch that the success of the sector was ‘vital’ to national initiatives including:
- The Construction Leadership Council’s Recovery Map;
- Recovery and economic plans in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland,
- Net Zero Carbon.
While it will have a broad -ranging remit, Actuate UK intends to focus particularly on four ‘vitally important areas for the economy, society, and the environment’:
- ‘The ‘post-COVID world of business’ - not just ‘traditional areas’ such as contracts, procurement, and payment, but also fields such as air quality, wellbeing, and 'smart’ offices / cities;
- ‘After Grenfell Tower’ – safety, quality, and competence – through ensuring and developing a well-trained, qualified, competent, and appropriately skilled workforce.
- The Climate Crisis – with the services the sector installs important not just at the construction / commissioning phase, but throughout a building's lifecycle, and
- ‘Skills for tomorrow’s bult environment’ – to improve productivity, quality, and to be ‘greener’, necessitating new ‘green and ‘digital’ skills in particular.
The eight organisations that have formed Actuate UK are:
- the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA);
- the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA);
- the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE);
- Electrical and Engineering Services Association (ECA);
- the Federation of Environmental Trade Associations (FETA);
- the Lift and Escalator Industry Association (LEIA);
- the Electrical Contractors’ Association of Scotland (SELECT),
- and the Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers’ Federation (SNIPEF).
ominent building engineering services organisations have come together to launch a new ‘building services alliance’, Actuate UK, that will represent a sector comprising some 60,000 businesses, employing 350,000 skilled professionals, accounting for 40 per cent of total UK construction value, and – through the buildings and facilities served – contributing over £100 bn annually to GDP.
Speaking at the official launch of the new body on 10 February, David Frise, chief executive of the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) said that the name ‘Actuate’ had been selected since those delivering building engineering services ‘actuated’ the buildings that ‘90 per cent of us spend 90 per cent of our time in’, while if such services operated optimally, few building occupiers would even be aware of their presence. Actuate, would – he and a subsequent speaker, Steve Bratt (pictured), the CEO of the of the Electrical and Engineering Services association (ECA), explained, bring together all those responsible for designing, manufacturing, installing, commissioning, and maintaining building services to ensure that the sector was represented with a strong, unified voice, and could contribute ideas, thought leadership, commercial and technical expertise, and guidance, both to the construction sector as a whole, and to government and other influential bodies
Steve Bratt said: “Building engineering services play a vital part not only in the safe and sustainable operation of a wide range of public and private sector buildings, but of course such services, and the buildings they serve, also contribute around 40% to overall carbon emissions, so the sector has a major part to play in combating the global climate crisis and taking the UK towards its net zero carbon targets.”
The ECA and other speakers at the launch that the success of the sector was ‘vital’ to national initiatives including:
- The Construction Leadership Council’s Recovery Map;
- Recovery and economic plans in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland,
- Net Zero Carbon.
While it will have a broad -ranging remit, Actuate UK intends to focus particularly on four ‘vitally important areas for the economy, society, and the environment’:
- ‘The ‘post-COVID world of business’ - not just ‘traditional areas’ such as contracts, procurement, and payment, but also fields such as air quality, wellbeing, and 'smart’ offices / cities;
- ‘After Grenfell Tower’ – safety, quality, and competence – through ensuring and developing a well-trained, qualified, competent, and appropriately skilled workforce.
- The Climate Crisis – with the services the sector installs important not just at the construction / commissioning phase, but throughout a building's lifecycle, and
- ‘Skills for tomorrow’s bult environment’ – to improve productivity, quality, and to be ‘greener’, necessitating new ‘green and ‘digital’ skills in particular.
The eight organisations that have formed Actuate UK are:
- the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA);
- the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA);
- the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE);
- Electrical and Engineering Services Association (ECA);
- the Federation of Environmental Trade Associations (FETA);
- the Lift and Escalator Industry Association (LEIA);
- the Electrical Contractors’ Association of Scotland (SELECT),
- and the Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers’ Federation (SNIPEF).
