George Clarke to open BESA Conference

UK: This year’s Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) National Conference will be opened by TV personality and architect George Clarke.

Best known for the Channel 4 programmes The Home Show, The Restoration Man and George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces, Clarke will give an opening keynote and discuss a range of industry topics at this year’s conference, which will take place on November 3 and 4.

An online event, once again, the conference will be structured around an overall theme of Building Back Better, Safer, Greener. According to BESA, it will focus on the detailed technical elements of rebuilding from the pandemic, delivering the requirements of new building safety legislation, modernising the sector’s workforce, and pushing on towards a net zero emissions future.

“The building engineering sector is in a fascinating place right now,” said Clarke. “There is huge demand for specialist services that can deliver healthier, safer and more comfortable indoor spaces. The pandemic has thrust this industry into the public eye as people have become much more conscious of the role buildings play in their health and wellbeing.

“I am really looking forward to sharing my thoughts and ideas with BESA, its members and the conference delegates. I am also hoping to gain greater insight myself into some of the exciting technologies and new working practices that will transform building engineering in the coming years as we all take on the massive net zero challenge.”

Challenges

BESA says it intends to use the two-day event to run a series of specialised technical sessions that would dig into the details of the main challenges confronting the building services sector.

Last year’s conference had 1,200 registered delegates and BESA is returning to a similar format, but with an even stronger technical focus, it says. It will reflect the steep learning curve experienced by building engineering contractors during 2020 as they answered the call from essential services like hospitals, schools, and supermarkets for critical building services support.

“Having hosted more than 100 webinars that attracted almost 20,000 attendees since the start of the pandemic, we have gained valuable insight into what our members and the wider building engineering sector wants and needs,” said BESA chief executive David Frise. “The detailed technical sessions have proved incredibly popular and the National Conference is an opportunity to consolidate all the specialised knowledge and experience we have built up during the pandemic.”

Further information here.