Stars in our eyes

Following another successful National Apprenticeship Week which gained all of the media oxygen it rightly deserves, let us also showcase our own young talent in the dynamic world of building controls. Encouraging new talent into the controls industry and unleashing all of this undiscovered potential is exactly what the BCIA is about. Together, we have the wonderful opportunity to launch and develop a lot of fulfilling careers.

Whatever your age or your skillset, it is a great time to be working as a building controls engineer. New and existing buildings are becoming increasingly sophisticated and, yes, this means they are becoming more complicated but complicated in an extremely positive way to create the better performing buildings that we need. When we say ‘better performing’ this means both energy efficient operation and increased productivity from that building.

With technology evolving at such a pace, the building controls industry is creating huge opportunities for innovative and creative engineers to get their teeth stuck into delivering complicated buildings that perform. With so many talented people in the industry doing great things as they continue to adapt to the meteoric advances in technology and what is becoming possible, it is important once a year to draw breath and reflect on these achievements being made up and down the country by large and small companies.

These achievements need to be recognised, celebrated and put in the spotlight so that they raise the benchmark for the whole industry to build on and ensure that we have the skills and products to match the performance expectation of our buildings that will be demanded by the market. Being good enough isn’t good enough, we want what is considered excellent today to become expected tomorrow.

This is precisely why we hold our annual BCIA Awards. For one night only, all of this incredible talent comes together under one roof to celebrate the stars of the building controls sector. It is a huge privilege to be present at the exclusive awards ceremony and to rub shoulders with the crème de la crème of the industry.

The number of entries submitted for 2019 smashed previous records. With so many smart and innovative people at the forefront of our fast-developing industry, it underlines the strength and depth we have as the healthy battle for excellence is played out at the awards.

A particularly significant talking point for this year’s Awards is that an incredible 12 young engineers (aged 35 and under) have been named as finalists in The Young Engineer category and this alone is cause for great celebration.

These Young Engineers know they are good, and they also know that they are pitching themselves against the best. They are fully aware there can only be one winner, but they will still back themselves which in itself shows true grit and determination. For these reasons alone, our future is safe in the hands of Young Engineers such as this magnificent dozen!The distinguished Awards ceremony gives each Young Engineer a well-deserved platform to be recognised for their achievements and to gain further confidence, respect and credibility in front of their peers. This feeling is something you can’t buy, this is what drives people on to want to succeed and develop further in an industry with evolving demands and challenges to overcome.

Of course, it’s not just young engineers that we are celebrating, the BCIA Awards recognises products that will redefine how the industry will operate, as well as innovative projects and the best training opportunities around.

All of this goes hand in hand with a fantastic night of entertainment, a three-course dinner and a host of networking opportunities. It is a hugely inspirational evening and if you want to discover the best new talent in the building controls industry, join us at the awards ceremony and dinner at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole on Thursday 09 May 2019.

www.bcia.co.uk/awards/