Incoming CIBSE president David Fisk used his first presidential address to call for more real performance data and less greenwash in building services systems.

Speaking at the CIBSE AGM, Fisk used his speech, titled 'Reality Check', to say it is time for the industry to rethink fundamentals.


The inauguration of the president, president elect and vice presidents took place on 10 May at Imperial College London.


Fisk argued that the right response to the industry’s uncertain times was to get back to fundamentals, reassert normal engineering values and challenge spin. Looking at issues from the Shard to Sustainability, he asked why engineering institutions were reluctant to take on exaggeration and misinformation.


A ‘normal engineering’ approach, he suggested, would probably have produced at least as much reduction in greenhouse gases by focusing on energy efficiency and the UK’s emerging energy situation without any of the complication of many of the current ‘low carbon’ schemes.


Fisk said the industry now needed to concentrate on measuring and learning from the performance of real buildings not on greenwash.


He commented: “I urge DCLG (Department for Communities & Local Government) to unlock the rich benchmarking database that underlies the Display Energy Certificates to put the UK back in the lead in tracking building performance.”


The CIBSE Knowledge Portal was key to providing a basis of sound engineering, Fisk said. The Portal had already received 40,000 visits, "proving the appetite" for a knowledge system for normal engineering and that reinforcing it with real performance data was essential.


“CIBSE is about better building performance in the most rounded sense. We need to make that clear in how we present ourselves in the role we play,” he contended.


Fisk is currently director of the Laing O’Rourke Centre for Systems Engineering and Innovation at Imperial College London. He was previously chief scientific adviser to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department of the Environment, and Head Mechanical & Electrical Engineering Division BRE.