2010 CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE Dear Members The important role that buildings and their services have on energy efficiency and a nation's carbon emissions continues to gain recognition and importance. As far as Australia is concerned, NABERS and Green Star projects continue to grow in popularity and both existing and new tenants are taking an active interest in how well their building or prospective new building rates. The Building Code of Australia has significantly increased the standards required by Section J with regards to energy efficiency changing the basis for acceptable benefit to cost ration down from 5:1 to 2:1. Amongst other things, this has led to substantial incrases in stringency for insulation requirements, and maximum allowable fan and pump power limits. Measures are likely to continue to increase on perhaps a more regular basis, and items such as commissioning may form part of future codes. Deferred from June is the issue of Mandatory Disclosure Reporting for Commercial Office Buildings Energy Efficiency, which will again put the spotlight on buildings services and the reduction of greenhouse gases. It is intended that this will use the NABERS energy rating tool to form the basis for reporting energy efficiency to prospective buyers and lessees of areas greater than 2000m2. It will be interesting to see how this is received when, or if, it is implemented as it would appear that many owners are not yet fully prepared for it and a prudent measure might be to check there are enough assessors available and prepared to take on the required assessments. Whilst the pressure is on to ensure that new buildings are built to a high energy standard, it will surely follow that the more difficult proposition of improving the existing stock of buildings will need to be addressed, and soon, if there are to be meaningful reductions in energy use and corresponding emissions in the medium term. Apart from attention being placed on existing buildings, I would expect a strong emphasis over the coming years on examining how well some of the higher profile buildings are performing in reality. This is an important step in obtaining useful feedback to shape the design of future buildings and their services. Another step in ensuring that buildings perform to their original targets is to make sure that the original design is practical and workable, and that this design intent is then carried through the construction and commissioning process into the day to day operation of the building. How much better would it be if the designers and commissioning engineers could stay actively involved with fine tuning the building with the client and building for a few years after project handover? All of these things are good for the majority of Building Services Engineers. Most engineers take pride in being able to work on projects where good design providing a high level of comfort, energy efficiency, reliability, maintainability and life costs take precedence over cheapest initial cost. CIBSE have been at the international forefront of encouraging good practice for the design of efficient and effective buildings through education and research, and have a comprehensive range of publications available through its bookshop. If you haven't looked for a while then I would encourage you to take a look soon, by visiting www.cibse.org Amongst the more renowned Guides, they have a comprehensive range of publications available which include the following: It is very pleasing to report that CIBSE continues to expand its International outlook hand in hand with increasing its geographical membership base, particularly in our Australia and New Zealand region. During the last year, the three Chapters of New Zealand - Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington - have been holding regular video conferencing between their committees. This should help in the delivery of a more unified service to the local members and more sharing of the technical sessions. With the ANZ Region there have been several presentations made in the past twelve months. All foru recipients have done a tremendous amount of work for the Region. Mike Garton of WA was awarded the CIBSE Bronze Medal for outstanding service to the Region; Grahame Gibbs of NSW was awarded the Silver Medal for services to the Institution and, both John Tyerman of SA and Jack Pirie of Victoria were inducted into the ARBS Hall of Fame for outstanding service to the industry. The whole of the ANZ Committee are very thankful for the work these four people have done on behalf of all CIBSE members over the years and are pleased that their efforts have been able to be recognised in this way. As mentioned in last year's Chairman's Message, your personal input into the official CIBSE Journal is welcomed so I encourage you to contribute to matters relating to building services in general or those specific to our Region. I take this opportunity to remind you of the extensive coverage of our ANZ Region, consisting of nine Chapters, three of which are in New Zealand, being Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington and six in Australia, being ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. If you find yourself moving within the Region, please feel free to make contact with the local Chairman. The CIBSE Young Engineers Network continues to expand both overseas and within our Region. CIBSE YEN ANZ is currently based in New South Wales and has been created to provide a support network for young engineers already within the industry and to encourage other young engineers to consider a building services career path. The network aims to provide a range of activities encouraging a social network and stimulating the exchange of knowledge and information. If you are interested in joining YEN, please visit the CIBSE website at www.cibse.org.au and download a membership form. CIBSE YEN ANZ did a terrific job of designing, organising and manning the CIBSE stand at the successful ARBS exhibition in Sydney last month. The technical events and activities that are held in each of the Chapters are intended to be informative, relevant and of interest. The work that each of the Chapter Chairmen and Chapter Committees carry out in organising these events is invaluable and it is this commitment which makes CIBSE such a worthy organisation to be involved in. If you do not laready attend technical sessions and wish to do so, or if you feel that there are some topics that should be explored further, or you are contemplating becoming more involved, please do not hesitate to contact either myself or your local Chairman. The relevant contact details can be found by following the links on the CIBSE website at www.cibse.org.au On behalf of the CIBSE ANZ, we thank you for your patronage over the years and hope you choose to be actively involved with our future events. Yours sincerely Peter Kinsella
TM23 Testing Buildings for Air Leakage
CIBSE Commissioning Codes
Guide M Maintenance Engineering and Management
TM31 Building Log Book Toolkit
TM38 Renewable Energy Sources for Buildings
Regional Chairman - CIBSE ANZ