CIBSE's new international president, Peter Kinsella, has called for a global response to global challenges.
Speaking at the Royal Society in London on 8 May, Mr Kinsella said that as global challenges are faced, building services engineers have an exciting opportunity to become part of the global response. There has never been a better time to be a building service engineer, he said.
Mr Kinsella, who is associate at Lehr Consultants International (Australia), is CIBSE's newly appointed, first president to be based outside the UK and Ireland.
He said: 'amongst the uncertainties of the future, our profession can only grow in stature and relevance'. He described the context of a rapidly changing world which will require continual adaptation of the built environment to meet future needs and demands, and stressed the vital role of building services engineers in delivering this.
'Buildings and their services play a very large part in a nation's energy consumption and the resulting carbon emissions. Buildings are responsible for approximately 40-45% of aggregate energy demand. Delivering significant cuts in this demand and balancing the economic and the environmental imperatives will require very careful management,' said Mr Kinsella.
In terms of the voluntary measures driving building performance in Australia, he said the two main sources (NABERS - National Australian Built Environment Rating System - and The Green Building Council's Green Star Rating Scheme) had inspired change and raised the profile of building services amongst other professions and the interested public in the region.
He also commented on 'the elephant in the room' - that a very large proportion of the buildings that will be here in 40 years' time are here already. He said: 'We cannot wait 'til they are knocked down to make their replacements better... payback periods on energy efficiency measures [on existing buildings] are of course longer than on new build, but can still be very clearly justified.'
Mr Kinsella outlined the priorities for his term of office as: developing CIBSE's influence worldwide; promoting a more comprehensive feedback loop for the design and operation of buildings; and driving forward the benchmarking of energy use in buildings.
'This is our era to make a real difference in this world through our expertise, experience and networks to help deliver a built environment that meets the challenges of the years to come.'
The new CIBSE president will be based in Australia during his term of office and is the Institution's first 'international' president, not based in the UK.
The Presidential Address was given after the appointment of the president, president elect and vice presidents at the agm that also took place at the Royal Society, London, chaired by outgoing president, George Adams.
CIBSE officers appointed were: president: Peter Kinsella CEng FCIBSE; president elect: Nick Mead CEng FCIBSE; vice president: Prof Tadj Oreszczyn FCIBSE; vice president: Cathie Simpson CEng FCIBSE; continuing vice president: John Field MCIBSE.
Honorary fellowships were awarded to: Dr Eur Ing Gina Barney CEng, Derrick Braham CEng FCIBSE and John Stephen Wynn.
