After the University of Bradford’s unprecedented second win of the top prize at the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Building Performance Awards, CIBSE’s Technical Director Dr Hywel Davies explains what makes the University’s work stand out The University adopted a 'fabric-first' approach, renovating outdated and inefficient elements The University of Bradford’s Department of Estates and Facilities is no stranger to the Building Performance Awards – they won two awards in 2012, including the overall Champion’s Award, for the impressive work they had carried out under their imaginative ‘Ecoversity’ programme. That they are back again in 2017 with another two wins under their belt proves the effectiveness of the strategy they created and their long term commitment to buildings that perform to meet the needs of the University. In common with many universities in the UK, the Bradford has a large and varied building portfolio, which often...

Towards the end of 2016, the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA) partnered with CIBSE and Scottish electrical trade body SELECT to produce a survey that assessed how much built environment professionals know about 'smart' technology. With the results in Steve Martin, ECA Head of Specialist Groups , goes over what we've learned Just 20 per cent of the UK’s commercial buildings are considered to be ‘smart’ at present. It’s likely that as this vast market grows, many building clients, such as architects, consultants and facilities managers, may not be ready for this technological revolution. With this in mind, the ECA, CIBSE and SELECT launched a ‘connected technology’ survey for clients last year, to help understand the current state of play. Overall, there were 229 responses to the survey over a three-week period in November and December, including responses from consultants, engineers, end clients and facilities managers. The survey show the UK lagging in kn...

On the 7th of February, the CIBSE Building Performance Awards celebrated it's tenth anniversary at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London and announced it's 2017 winners in front of over 760 guests.  PR and Communications Executive Matt Snowden presents a selection of the best pictures from the night The annual Building Performance Awards rewards the projects, teams, products and organisations that truly excel and provide exceptional building performance in an industry focused on delivering value to clients. Focusing on real, measured performance rather than promises or plans, the Awards are a true mark of excellence in building and demonstrate a real commitment to improving well-being and sustainability in our industry. Below is a selection of images from the night, and the winning projects behind the awards. (Note: The slideshow is best viewed in full screen mode. To access full screen mode, click the arrows in the bottom right-hand corner. To view captions, click ...

The CIBSE Technical Symposium is always a tinderbox for the rest of the year, sparking discussion, debate and ideas that will set the agenda for the next twelve months and beyond. To get us in the mood, Technical Symposium Chair Prof. Tim Dwyer is here to give us a sneak preview of some of the highlights. It’s a long and difficult process to go from the bare bones of an idea to a fully-fledged academic paper on a subject in building services, but it’s also where some of the biggest new ideas in the industry are born. After all of the hard work, this period is perhaps the most exciting: Where the work of the dedicated authors emerges in its final form at the CIBSE ASHRAE Technical Symposium. The practitioners, researchers and academics have devoted many hours to their posters, case studies, technical notes and papers. Now the scientific committee, of over 70 willing and knowledgeable volunteers, is poring over the submissions, providing the essential appraisal and feedback to ensur...