Sponsorship support for the first Building Controls Industry Association (BCIA) Training Awards Ceremony has been overwhelming, reports Doug Robins, BCIA President. “Sponsors for the six award categories were identified within a few weeks of publicising the event, which clearly demonstrates the value that our members place on good, independent training. Until the Association developed the current generic-based training scheme, which offers two levels of qualification, engineers had to be recruited from other industries and then retrained in-house, which was patently unsatisfactory.”
The BCIA Technical Training Programme is run by the Electrical Contractors’ Association (www.eca.co.uk) and has been granted CPD accreditation via the IEE and CIBSE. The courses have been purposely structured to enable the widest range of people, whether directly involved with controls engineering or in a supervisory role as undertaken by a consultant or contractor, to reach an accepted level of controls understanding and engineering excellence. Classroom numbers are purposely kept low in order to encourage personal interaction between the trainer and each student, who is issued with extensive course notes and CD-based instruction.
Encouraged by the success of the training programme and as a result of enquiries from outside of the industry, such as facilities managers for example, the BCIA is now investigating developing a suitable introductory course that will provide managers with a good understanding of the controls systems in their buildings. In addition, the Technical Training Programme itself is on course for NVQ accreditation.
“It has been an interesting period since the training programme was instigated some three years ago. What fundamentally started as a means of providing generic training to engineers in the building controls industry has, in a very short time, become a recognised industry standard and is on line to become a national qualification,” concluded Doug Robins.
The awards ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday 24 May at the Hilton Hotel, Coventry.
The six award categories are as follows:
Building Controls Engineer of the Year
Best Overall Technical Training Student
Frank Dennis OBE Marketing Award
Training Advocate of the Year
Initiative Award
Industry Newcomer
BSEE will be exclusively covering the awards in this and the June issue.
Awards & Sponsors
Best Overall Technical Training Student – sponsored by TAC Satchwell
This award is open to all students who have attended the BCIA Technical Training Programme in the last twelve months.
Sponsor
TAC Satchwell is committed to being the highest value provider of the technologies and services that enable management of buildings. Its integrated, open systems create flexible buildings that are safe, secure, comfortable, and environmentally efficient, while their portfolio of services deliver the intelligence required to manage and optimise building assets for their complete lifecycle.
The challenges involved in environmental control, access and security can vary considerably from one type of facility to another. Even subtle differences among related facilities can translate to vastly different priorities for their managers, engineers, owners, and occupants. Finding the right system to address each customer’s unique challenges and priorities requires an in-depth understanding of how that customer does business - in every room of every building and at every campus or complex regardless of location.
For that reason the company is committed to raising building controls standards. “Engineers represent the backbone of this industry,” said Paul Fileman, Marketing Manager for TAC Satchwell. “As a consequence we are constantly seeking ways of ensuring they are given the development and investment that they deserve and the BCIA Technical Training Programme is a vital first step in their advancement.”
TAC Satchwell is a leading provider of building environment services based on Open Integrated Systems for Building IT. “A building’s systems draw on many disciplines and the cohesive factor is inevitably the building management system (BMS). The engineers that design, install, commission, and maintain the BMS need to be highly skilled and our sponsorship of best student will ensure that the engineers of the future are rightfully recognised,” said, Paul Fileman.
The Frank Dennis OBE Marketing Award
The Award will be presented to a member of staff who is responsible for marketing. This can be someone who works in a marketing department or where marketing is just one element of their responsibilities.
Sponsor
The Frank Dennis OBE Marketing Award is in memory of Frank Dennis who died in 1989. Frank worked tirelessly on behalf of the HEVAC Association of FETA and was a driving force in establishing government links so that FETA’s voice would be heard. His regard throughout the industry was such that following his death colleagues moved to establish the Frank Dennis Trust.
“He was a marketing man of the old school and specialised in export,” explained Gerry Stapley, Chairman of the Frank Dennis Trust, “working for leading instrumentation manufacturers including Searle Products and Temperature Ltd.”
Throughout his fifty years in the HVACR industry Frank Dennis proved to be a committed advocate of the importance of sales and marketing training, alongside accepted technical training. One of the Trust’s first activities was to provide marketing bursaries for the Institute of Marketing enabling worthy applicants to further develop or commence a career in marketing. “This has now evolved to supporting the BCIA Training Awards,” said Gerry Stapley, “and the Trust is particularly pleased to see that the personal effort that Frank invested in raising professional standards within the building services industry is being continued by another association within the FETA organisation.”
Currently the Trust is developing a series of financial seminars, to be available throughout the UK. The seminars aim to provide basic financial advice to managers and other staff that may not be financially trained, but require a knowledge of such matters.
Training Advocate of the Year – sponsored by Honeywell Control Systems
The Award will be presented to the person who has demonstrated their commitment to building controls training.
Sponsor
With over 5,000 home and building controls products and many new innovations each year, Honeywell Control Systems is easily one of the leading controls suppliers. A browse through the Honeywell online catalogue reveals not only many familiar, trusted friends from the company’s vast range of environment and water controls, but also many new products and features to improve building services and the bottom line.
Smile, a versatile new heating controller for both underfloor and radiator heating, is designed for simple operation together with easy and fast commissioning, while providing excellent value for money. Its ingenious user panel has a large back-lit LED display and a single rotary control that is also a push button. It makes it easy to select, change and confirm set values and times.
The Honeywell SmartAct direct-coupled actuator series is designed for fast installation, increased reliability and extended life. Features include a self-centring shaft adapter, mounting in any direction and a detachable wiring box. Inventory is reduced, as products offer more than one control function, including modulating, floating and two-position.
Honeywell technology and expertise is applied in the CentraLine: networked automation for energy-efficient HVAC in small and medium sized buildings. CentraLine is available through ‘Partner’ companies – experienced, independent control system specialists listed at www.centraline.com.
“The BCIA is committed to advancing the skill-sets of the building controls industry,” said Doug Robins. Since the launch of the Technical Training Programme the Association has awarded over 800 module certificates, but more importantly, during the last three years some 48 companies, drawn from numerous building services professions, have proved their commitment to building controls training by enrolling their engineers on BCIA courses.”
For more information about the Technical Training Awards Ceremony visit the BCIA web page (www.feta.co.uk/bcia) or contact the Executive Officer on 01249 720303 or by email (bcia@feta.co.uk).
