SoPHE dinner

The dinner was kindly sponsored by Andrews Water Heaters, A O Smith, Blücher UK, Douglas Controls, Geberit Sales, Honeywell Control Systems, Hydrotec, Lochinvar, Oventrop, Pipex, Reliance Water Controls, Roth UK, Saint-Gobain Pipelines, SAV and Tour & Andersson.

Chairman Martin Shouler spoke of the achievements of the past year: a 15% growth in SoPHE membership and a 50% increase in the Industrial Supporters Group. The North West regional group has gone from strength to strength and a South West Group was set up this year. A new group in the North of England and Scotland is planned.

Guest speaker Professor John Swaffield of Heriot-Watt University, president-elect of CIBSE, spoke of the importance of water and sanitation to society, especially in the face of climate change.

“Public health engineering is essential to all our lives,” he said, “despite the fact that it succeeds when it is not noticed.” Professor Swaffield welcomed the link that CIBSE and SoPHE provide between government, the industry and academia, and their commitment to public health provision through engineering. He highlighted the importance of training, education and recruitment of professionals.

“At present there is no graduate engineering entry for the design, provision and maintenance of water within the building envelope,” he said. He applauded the efforts of Greenwich University to set up a degree course in public health engineering. The course should be running by October.