Hong Kong was the location of a recent joint IHEEM/ CIBSE and Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) technical seminar considering the “external human environment”, which was attended by over 100 Chinese CIBSE and IHEEM members and facilitated by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and HKIE.
Andy Parry, an Astra Zeneca facilities engineer, opened by examining different types of “green roof” applications and each’s pros and cons. Based on his recent technical paper: Green roof technologies and the reasons for their increasing use in the UK, his presentation looked at how green roofs are becoming an “extremely economic system”, and can often help speed up and simplify the UK planning process. He also covered such systems’ use in achieving a BREEAM rating and meeting the Code for Sustainable Homes.
WSP Group’s Paul Angus drew on his technical paper: Conservation of energy from waste water, in discussing global warming trends associated with growing fossil fuel consumption. He highlighted the important role building services engineers can play in providing sustainable solutions to climate change. The paper focused on a project investigating the potential energy savings achievable by recovering energy from waste water and then using this to heat water for both domestic and commercial applications.
Ian Hinitt, deputy estates director, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and chairman of IHEEM’s Yorkshire branch, drew on his 28 years’ healthcare built environment design, project management and operational maintenance experience in examining the environmental aspects of infection control, how infection is spread in the built environment, and how it can be contained via ventilation systems.
His presentation was based on a paper co-authored by Dr Catherine Noakes, lecturer at Leeds University, entitled: Modifications to multiple-bedded hospital wards: Can infection control be improved through the application of physical barriers and mixed mode ventilation?. It focused on proposed “low-cost, low-tech” modifications to naturally ventilated multiple bedded hospital accommodation. All three speakers highlighted the “essential, often understated” role of building services engineers.
Pak-leung Yuen, Hong Kong IHEEM branch chairman, presented his IHEEM and CIBSE UK colleagues with a memento and token of appreciation each, comprising a leather-bound pen holder, from the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers on behalf of CIBSE and HKIE.
