Serious about CIBSE

David Hughes is clearly a man on a mission. Sitting in the third floor meeting room of Jaros Baum & Bolles' Thameside offices where he is a director, he wastes no time in getting round to CIBSE's place on the worldwide stage.

"When I was in China in April, we signed an agreement with Chongquing University Press," he says. "They're going to translate CIBSE's Guide B and distribute it to the student and academic market in China." This, he believes, is a significant step forward in raising CIBSE's profile across a booming economic region where professional institutions are vying to get a foothold.

Hughes is no stranger to foreign shores. In his time at design contractor Matthew Hall, he established an office in Iran, from which undertook projects in Tehran and the Caspian Sea coast - and as vice president and president elect, he's been responsible for championing CIBSE's place in the international arena. He's keen to see the initiatives he helped set up in these roles bear fruit and particularly wishes to grow CIBSE's numbers overseas.

In 2004 the Institution's membership hit above 17,000 for the first time, but he admits that when it comes to membership abroad, "we have perhaps been a little bit lethargic.

"If you look at our database, we have members in more than 80 countries - primarily in Hong Kong and Australia, with a fair sprinkling in North America. But to increase membership you need to go to markets that are receptive".

China, he believes, is just such a market and the agreement with Chongquing University Press is just the beginning.

Hughes has helped to set up the PIUK (Professional Institutions UK) initiative. This sprang from the Construction Industry Council's China Group and is made up of 12 professional institutions from the construction and built environment field, working together to promote their interests in China. "One of our objectives is education and we're working with China to say what we as professional bodies can offer young Chinese people as part of their ongoing learning throughout their professions," explains Hughes. The British Council in Shanghai has added its weight to the initiative with funding and expertise.

The next step for CIBSE is to find out what kind of membership packages the market can support. "All the institutions are trying to improve membership, but we have to structure it differently. We can't put a membership package in place that's the same as in the UK, and that's one of the things we're looking at."

Opportunity for development

The boom in China in recent years has attracted many CIBSE members from Hong Kong to Shanghai and they have subsequently collaborated to form a CIBSE chapter in the model of those operated in the Australia/New Zealand region. "Again, this gives us the opportunity to develop our initiative in the areas and to grow our membership base," says Hughes.

It is very much about CIBSE working with others in an exciting framework of development

In fact Hong Kong, which accounts for 20% of CIBSE's membership, could soon be getting its own secretariat. It has been run by members in the past - but, says Hughes, "with the size of the membership we've got down there they deserve a permanent secretary and facility to do the management. We've been looking at various partnerships as there is no point in employing a secretarial person to work in an office alone. If they can work share with a similar body it's much more supportive."

But size isn't everything, according to Hughes, who says the recent merger of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the Institution of Incorporated Engineers to create Europe's largest body of professional engineers isn't an option CIBSE would consider. "CIBSE has no initiative or momentum to go down that route at all. We take the view that it is much better to consolidate what we're good at and to work with others towards a common benefit, such as the IPUK project.

On the education side, CIBSE is also looking at proposals to develop specialist Masters courses through distance learning, with London South Bank and Cambridge Universities. Again, these would involve Chongqing University.

"The course structure will involve membership of CIBSE and the Institution would deliver a professional development component of the course, which might also afford opportunities for student and academic exchanges," explains Hughes. "China is moving very fast and the companies there are very astute - they know that to be international, they need their skills to be recognised abroad."

Back in the UK, Hughes is working hard promoting CIBSE's low-carbon initiatives, balancing work with his presidential duties. JBB is supportive, he says, though in the practice he has his own portfolio of jobs which he will keep running throughout the year. "You just hope you don't fall sick," he jokes.

The first of these initiatives is the ‘100 Days of Carbon Clean-up' campaign (see CIBSE News, page 81 for details). The scheme has attracted the interest of between200 and 300 companies so far, but Hughes won't be drawn on any big names until the launch.

Another major initiative is the CIBSE Low-Carbon Consultants Register. This, like the 100 Days campaign, has the backing of the Carbon Trust and is a register of professionals capable not only of undertaking and verifying the design of buildings under Part L, but of going beyond those minimum requirements. The register won't just be open to CIBSE members. "At the moment we're looking at two strands - designers and those who are involved in operation and facilities management. However, there will be other interested bodies such as surveyors and architects".

Running in parallel with this is the creation of a Competent Persons Scheme, whereby certain members of the register will be able to sign off their own work and that of others as meeting the Regulations - something CIBSE is working with the government on.

But is there one thing in particular that Hughes would like to be remembered for in his year as CIBSE's president? Despite the initiatives mentioned to help CIBSE develop internationally, he says he wants his year in office to be one of consolidation. "What I want to do is have a year where we embrace all the very good initiatives that are around both internally and externally, so that the whole of our membership, both nationally and internationally, could be part of it. It is very much about CIBSE working with others in a very exciting framework of development."