Greater exposure and broader membership

Combining a dry wit with a steely determination to build on the work already undertaken by his predecessor, Rob Smith, to heighten IHEEM’s profile and drive its strategic direction, Paul Kingsmore made clear, when I asked him about his key goals during his two-year IHEEM presidency, that being as “visible” as possible to the Institute’s own members, and equally to those charged with driving future UK engineering strategy and direction, would be paramount. To his knowledge the first ever IHEEM President to live in Scotland during his term in office (the Institute has already had past-presidents living in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland) Paul Kingsmore was born and brought up in Northern Ireland, moving to Scotland in 1993 as estates manager at the Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline. While fiercely proud of his roots – he still regularly returns to see family and friends in Belfast, and avidly follows local Northern Irish football team Glentoran (as well as Arsenal and Dunfermline) – he says he adapted very quickly to life in a new country, aided, he is sure, by the Celtic roots shared with his new countrymen. Before talking me though a varied and interesting engineering, and subsequently estates management, career, which had an excellent launchpad when, aged just 16, he began an apprenticeship with one of the world’s leading aircraft manufacturers, Belfast’s Short Brothers, he praised the work of his immediate predecessor as IHEEM President, director of Gateway Reviews at the Department of Health Rob Smith, particularly in initiating a new strategic plan and direction for the Institute, more details of which he promised would emerge over coming months. He said: “Rob Smith managed to do a fantastic job during his two years as President, particularly in developing the Institute’s strategic direction in a determined drive to ensure IHEEM is fitfor- purpose as we enter a potentially extremely challenging time for the UK healthcare sector. Rob Smith has provided vital leadership, and been a great support to me personally in the months leading up to me taking up the presidency. I know I will continue to take regular advice and soundings from him as to how best he feels the Institute should go forward.” While his “day job”, as director of Health Facilities Scotland, is a busy and extremely responsible one, Paul Kingsmore told me he feels he may have “a slight advantage” over Rob Smith as IHEEM President in that, as his job is a high-level management and advisory role very much about driving strategic direction and providing over-arching guidance, it is “much more operationallyfocussed”, and thus closely aligns with his role as IHEEM President.

A degree of autonomy

He expanded on some of his priorities: “What I am keen to do is to really get IHEEM’s name out there as the voice of healthcare engineering and estate management, something which will necessitate me developing a close relationship with civil servants, politicians, senior personnel within other engineering institutions, and also the media. I think, in particular, that there is considerable scope to heighten our media profile, via initiatives such as issuing more press releases, not just on IHEEM achievements and activities, but equally in terms of comment on panindustry issues.” While he comes across as extremely self-assured, and has a reputation as an excellent “people person” and manmanager, Paul Kingsmore also appears disarmingly modest, despite a career which suggests an extremely hardworking, determined individual keen both to make the most of his own abilities and skills, and to unselfishly pass on his knowledge and expertise. “One thing I doubt I’ll see repeated during my time as President,” he says as an aside, “was the, as I now look back on it, extremely amusing scenario about two years ago in Glasgow when Health Facilities Scotland and National Services Scotland were working with Glasgow Caledonian University on establishing some joint healthcare engineering training and courses.