Lord Deben to open CIBSE conference

UK: Lord Deben, the chairman of the Lords Committee on Climate Change, has been confirmed as the keynote speaker at the CIBSE Conference and Exhibition.

The Rt Hon John Gummer, Lord Deben, will open the first day of the Conference on November 3 with a speech that will welcome over 300 of the UK’s top building services professionals.

The Conservative member of the House of Lords has been a vocal champion of improving the energy performance of buildings, a key aspect of CIBSE’s aim of improving building performance. He is committed to helping reduce the building services industry’s impact on the UK’s energy usage.

At this year’s Conference, to be held at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London on November 3 and 4, Lord Deben will address the theme of this year’s event: How collaboration between building services disciplines and with the wider world can improve building performance and cut waste.

Nick Mead, president of CIBSE, said: “Lord Deben’s presence and continued support is a perfect example of what can be achieved when the building services industry looks beyond itself for allies in other fields, and the potential for developing shared aims and goals within the industry itself. This year’s conference and exhibition includes some of the most talented minds in the business speaking on the important topics of the day, and will be of immense value to all who attend.”

Other confirmed first-day speakers include Professor of Systems Engineering & Innovation at Imperial College London David Fisk, Mike Simpson of Philips Lighting and Mark Hawker of Sainsbury’s Supermarkets. They will be speaking on the subjects of security in building systems, lighting and wellbeing and reliability centred maintenance respectably, around the main theme of collaboration within the building services industry.