Hello and welcome. Thanks for listening to Carbon Climates, an energy podcast dedicated
to discussing all things energy, carbon and sustainability. We also like to talk about
what's getting hot, aside from our planet. I'm your host Enya and today I'm joined by
my Carbon Climate and co-host Connor. Hi Connor. Hello. Yeah. How are you doing? Yeah, very
good. It's a pleasure to be here. We touched on earlier, it's my first podcast ever and
I'm very excited. So if I go off on a tangent and you have to edit huge portions of this
out, I only can apologize. It's part of the job. So yeah, can you tell us what are you
doing this weekend? So this weekend, I'm actually going over to a good friend of mine's, Wesson
Wedding in Canterbury over in Kent. So ironically, there's myself and another one of my colleagues,
well not colleagues, but a good friend of mine who works with a competitor, technically
in terms of MEP. And then we're going over to our friends, Wedding, who's now a director
in an MEP company based down in Canterbury. So really looking forward to it and she's
been good fun and hopefully the weather kind of gets a wee bit brighter than it has been
the last couple of days. But I think it's supposed to be nice there. That's good. That'll
be nice. You have to get the sheets on. Brilliant. So can you tell us your job title? Yeah, so
I am a Principal Mechanical Building Services Engineer. I work with a company called Mott
MacDonald. I actually joined Mott MacDonald in 2012. So when I was doing a placement year
in university and then the director of the time asked me if I would stay on full time
while I finish off my masters. And I said, sure, why not? You know, makes sense to continue
learning as I'm doing work within the industry. And I kind of knew what I liked to do at that
point. So yeah, I've been with them since 2012. So that's going on 12 years. It is scary
when you say the length of time you've been working in this industry. I lied. Definitely.
So yeah, that's me. That's what I do and manage a team of engineers from graduate level to
engineer level. And then also within Mott MacDonald as a company, I sit as the global
chair for digital for building services within the company. So that's another item which
is difficult and important for the progress as a company. Very good. And so 12 years,
is that how long you've been in the sector fully? Not exactly. Because I suppose technically
from when I was about 15, I started working sort of over summers and stuff with insights.
So initially worked doing shuttering and steel time when I was 15 and 16 in the summer. Probably
shouldn't have when I was 15. But from then ago, so we just kind of do things a bit rogue
sometimes. And then after that, I was lucky enough to do some work within a combined cycle
gas turbine down in Cork with a company called Jones Engineering. So yeah, so I've been in
the industry and thereabouts since I was about 15. So wow, okay. A long time. That's brilliant.
Well, same when you were at skill. Did you ever envisage yourself in this role? Yeah,
maybe not exactly this role, but definitely within engineering. I always had a real interest
within the industry and I was always quite practical in terms of things that I would
have gone and like a mechanic was a Christmas present when I was a child. But I really enjoyed
it. And I knew that I wanted to do engineering. I suppose one of the things was the type of
engineering that I thought I was doing, I suppose it technically is, was always just
referred to as mechanical engineering. And I suppose one of the things that I found was
actually a lot of the stuff that I had done, say working with plumbing systems and sort
of been towards heating systems and ventilation, you know, sort of in summer jobs and things
like that were actually more akin to building services with mechanical bias. Yeah. So I
suppose when I went to university and I seen the course was energy and building services,
I kind of maybe was more focused on the energy aspect of that, but then transpired that I
sat in probably the first couple of lectures and realised that the second part that they're
talking about is actually what I really understand. How did I manage to stumble into this? It
was just kind of a wee bit of luck, to be honest. Very good. Yeah. But I always had
a real interest in being involved with engineering and I suppose probably coming from an early
age, my father was working in that industry as well. So I kind of thought, yeah, sure,
we'll just do the same thing. That's like, yeah, I have talked to a couple of people
who said, oh, my parents were in these roles. So it's like, yeah, like you see them, you
see them successful and you're like, yeah, I'm going to go do that. My dad's a chiller.
My mom's a holistic therapist. So I've not got like, you know, kind of nature towards
any of them. I remember doing a shift in his shop and I'm like, I'm not made for people.
I like people facing role. Not at all. Brilliant. Thanks Connor for telling us a bit about yourself.
Okay, so we're going to talk. Today's like subject is going to be just what you said
in your job title, building services, engineering and just how you became talk about how you
became a principal building services engineer. And I'm going to spit some facts at you.
They're going to be, you know, really tough. So just like, bear with me. Okay. Fantastic.
But before we delve into it, a bit of joke for you. Okay. Okay, let's go. Oh no, it is
actually terrible. No, no, I'm all for the pun joke. So I'm really excited. Okay. Did
you hear about the person who invented the escalator? No, they were mechanically inclined.
I'm holding up a sign that says laugh. That's really good. I'm definitely going to use that
this weekend. Yeah, there it is. That's my joke. Introduction joke to all the new people
I meet. You'll be like the star of the party. It was like, I know you're getting married,
but this is my time. Land wearing white as well. Okay. So we kind of touch on what building
services industry covers and then I shout out your, like, it was like your colleague,
Max McComb, his episode and just everything it touches. I just want to go a bit more into
it. So according to sipsey.org website for training under why choose building services
on the career. Well, building services affects, directly affects people's lives. And they
kind of give us an example. Have you ever thought about the room or building your in
and how comfortable you feel? And this can actually have a direct effect on your health
and wellbeing inside, like an inside us all. We were able to feel the effect of a good
temperature. So I know when it's like too warm in the room, I'm like warm, I get distracted
or fall asleep and it just makes you lose concentration. And ventilation is especially
important for the likes of think all as we all learned a couple of years ago, like mitigating
the fact of contagious diseases. So that's good. And there has been a significant increase
of people entering the building service industry in the last 10 years. I know that was a long
time period, but when I was looking off, it wasn't invest and I, it was every UK national
career service set up by engineering, like from 20, no, from 2011 to 2021, the amount
of people that entered engineering has increased by like, it's just under a million. Yeah.
And to be quite honest, I think probably still need a lot more. I'll give you a really good
factoid. This was the current president of CYPSE was over for an event actually that
Max and the team within CYPSE Young Engineers Network had arranged for a sort of a walkthrough
from Young Engineers right through to fellowship of CYPSE and everything in between. And it
was the minutes of a meeting from CYPSE originally was two separate entities. I must actually
make sure I can remember these every single time. One was effectively heating and ventilation
Institute. And then the other was the illumination, I think it was the illumination Institute
and they came together. So the minutes of the heating engineers and board meeting AGM
in 1906 was expressly calling out that there was a significant need for more engineers
and more personnel to come into this industry because they were severely lacking and still
now looking in 2024, we're probably in a very similar position that we still need more people
to be invested into this topic, into this hype of engineering because as you rightly
said it affects so many things within the spaces that we use. If we look at a perfect
example of a building, you touched on it in terms of the terminology is unhealthy building
syndrome. So you get this feeling if you don't have enough natural daylight, if you don't
have good ventilation, if you don't have good quality of air in a space, you can start to
feel very unwell and you can actually get a sickness from that. And really one of the
things that I used to think building services was hard to describe to people because it
was kind of like why work in buildings and I do heating systems, ventilation systems
and plumbing and waste systems, but it's actually sort of speaking to people I've kind of found
it's even easier to describe and it's simply saying when you go into a space and you feel
uncomfortable, how have you achieved that? Through good engineering design and that's
what I do.
That doesn't happen by itself.
No, it doesn't and it does. It takes an entire team of people and obviously I'll talk from
a more building services and mechanical bias, but there's obviously a huge focus within
the CIPSE community into the likes of mechanical design, electrical design, sustainability,
low carbon and zero carbon as well in terms of how that entire industry comes together
to deliver good building services to occupants.
Speaking of carbon, because buildings make up 40% of the UK's carbon emissions, this
is why we need as many people as possible because then we need to get these buildings
as sustainable as possible so people will live a sustainable life hopefully.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, no, okay. So thank you for listening to that. So your mechanical building services,
no mechanical building services, principal engineer or principal mechanical building
services engineer. Apologies, I'm not too sure what order they should put in.
But what do you love most about your job?
So I would say from my job, what I love the most is actually going in to probably meetings
with clients and it'll be a full multidisciplinary meeting. So you're talking like civil structures,
mechanical, electrical, you've probably got architects in there as well. Generally, we'll
be working through the whole discussion of what they want to achieve in terms of what
their outcomes are and actually going, okay, how are we going to achieve a comfortable
building? How are we going to achieve a building that you're going to walk into and say, yes,
this is operating in an efficient manner and it's a building that I'm actually satisfied
with. So I always find that a really rewarding piece where you're sitting as a part of a
multidis team and you're going, okay, how can we get towards that actual end goal? There
is also a huge portion of really getting into the nitty gritty with the client and saying,
what do you want to achieve? Because I think that's actually quite important. Sometimes
they're not fully sure, they know they want a building, but they maybe don't understand
what exactly they want to achieve out of that or how they could improve what they're going
to receive to be an improved outcome for whatever they're using that building for.
I've come across that problem before and I find in our line of work, it's often to do
with terminology. So it could be someone maybe wanting, it's like, oh yeah, show me the improvement
this wall makes. And I'm like, what do you mean? What do I need to do? And then it's
like, oh, very okay. You just mean like if you ever hit or touched on the London plan
at all or the...
Very briefly, but I've, because I haven't done a huge portion in London, I've kind
of steered clear, but there was at one stage at the hotel I was looking at that I started
reading the London plan. I went, oh, that is a document.
It is, but as a happy document it is, but for energy, it has an energy hierarchy you
divide stuff up into. So the B green is the final building. So you're like, this is what
the building is going to be. It's going to be amazing. And there's the B clean and B
lean. So I was able to show, I was like, yeah, okay, this is at the B lean stage and then
this is at the B green stage. Like, look at the difference, like, you know, the improvement.
Yeah. Like, you know, so like, yeah, it's great when you're like talking to the client
or the developer, you're just like, oh, this is what you mean. Like, you know, yeah.
It is important as well to, you know, you know, demonstrate the value that you're going
to deliver to that client. Then also when you're sitting in another scenario, maybe
on the same project, but you're dealing with maybe a contractor or somebody who's actually
in the midst of the construction is to reiterate the process and the design and the rationale
that has been put into that final systems design, you know, and what we're actually
trying to achieve there in terms of maybe, you know, set goals from a client perspective
or, you know, maybe there's a specific regulation that we're actually trying to achieve. The
rationale as to why we've gone down that route is because of X, Y and Z.
That's great. So another question just about your job title. So how did it feel when you
got principal mechanical building services engineer? Like was responsibility like automatically
thrust upon you? You're like, this is what you have to do now.
Um, I think potentially, I guess, I guess I, uh, I've always been of the opinion that
you kind of start to try to do the role that you want to have before you actually achieve
this. So, um, I kind of would have tried to just deliver what I would have perceived to
be a principal engineers and level of, you know, delivery commitment management and sort
of commercial success. And probably from when I, as soon as I became senior engineer, but
yeah, I think it's, it's a good method, I think for younger people in their careers
to take a look at and say, okay, where do I want to go with my career? What are the
steps to get there? If I happen to be a graduate engineer at the moment and I want to move
to engineer status, what do I see as being, you know, not just the minimum, but what I
see as being a good level of delivery from an engineer. Okay. Let's, let's get to that
point now. And then when it comes time to have a discussion with, you know, your senior
management or where you're talking about, um, your actual progression of the company,
it's very easy to say, this is what is perceived to be a good, you know, scope of delivery
for an engineer. I'm already achieving that. I'm actively trying to go better than that,
even though I haven't been given that. So realistically that's probably not even a,
a discussion anymore. It's like a, yeah, I'm already there. I'm thinking about the next
one though. I think that is good. And I think it is important for certain individuals who,
who maybe have that interest in progressing through a company and to, you know, to be
realistic and, and do look back at yourself in terms of what you're achieving and what
your actual like going deliverables are.
It's a good, like, you know, um, it's a good target for people coming in. Like, um, I've
seen it here where like maybe graduates or come in and they're like, Oh, you're, you're
a senior engineer. Okay. It's like someday someday they'll be me.
Yeah. And also to be quite honest, like, you know, very lucky that I've achieved a
chartership in, in my career so far. And, um, hopefully at some stage I'd like to achieve
fellow within SIPC as well. Um, but whenever you're commercially responsible for certain
products, you are aware that even the designation of chartered engineer, um, holds more value
technically from a client perspective in terms of, you know, what they will, you know, pay
for that individual. And you are commercially responsible and maybe you haven't achieved
it at that point. You do look at it and go, okay, I'm putting in just as much effort as
maybe somebody that is perceived by a client to be potentially have more value. It's not
really a nice way to put it, but you kind of maybe internally go, I'm going to get there
because I rate myself and I'm going to, I'm going to get my engineering practice report
put together and I'm going to move, I'm going to move on with this.
Just, just right. Yeah. Um, that's great. Thanks for explaining. And divide what you
love most about yourself. Sorry. So see to get here. What sort of training did you do?
I'm talking right from the start. So maybe the likes of, okay, if you're at school and
you're at A levels, like. Right. So, um, training at A levels or like
my end going through the third, even search, which, you know, they're pretty much the same.
Okay. I'll have nobody say that they're totally different. Um, but I suppose there maybe wasn't
anything too major involved that level. Um, regards like specific training. I did have
a, uh, I suppose I took enjoyment out of like STEM sort of science, technology, engineering,
and sort of style subjects, and mathematics as well. Ironically though, I will say this,
I didn't do very well in my maths in the even search. And then I went to university and
I got straight A's. So the maths ended up not being easier, but because it was more applied
to what I was actually doing, I found that like the likes of doing matrices made sense
because I was looking at how heat moved through a wall. So that made sense to me as opposed
to, you know, doing the minus, uh, the minus B formula, which in some instances I was going,
I really don't get why I'm doing this. That's, um, my stop was GCSE. And like, I had no idea
I was going to be in like kind of this sector. And then as you're saying, the first year
it's for like engineering degrees and the other day it's all pure maths. Like, not like
what is this? I'm like, Oh, okay. Got this. I got this.
Yeah. So I suppose from, from A level sort of, um, training, there wasn't anything too
major. I was very lucky then that, um, I'd say mostly due to my personal statement, because
I said I wasn't very good at mathematics, but I was all right at engineering, which
was a subject within, um, uh, the school that I had, the secondary school I'd gone to. And
I then was lucky enough to get into, um, Austria university on their B-Eng of the energy and
building services, energy and building services engineering. And, and I kind of just said,
look, I'm obviously very keen to do well in this, so I'm going to like really put in the
effort and try my hardest. And then in second year I was lucky enough, there was sort of
like a carrot that was sort of dangling in front of everybody. If you get over 60% the
whole way through, but then you can move on to the M-Eng. So in second year, I sort of
was doing good enough, but they were like, do you want to do the M-Eng? And I kind of
looked at it and I was like, yeah, I think I want to do the M-Eng and, and really twigged
this, you know, it was, I didn't know if it was going to be anything, you know, that was
going to be definitive in terms of my career or anything like that. Um, but then after
third year, which was like a placement year, um, having been in the industry and worked
in it and went, yeah, actually, you know, this is something that I do enjoy doing. Um,
I spoke to a number of engineers who had maybe gone down the route of doing the, uh, the
M-Eng or the bachelors of engineering. And then they were sort of in the process of doing
a technical report because there's kind of two methodologies towards achieving a membership
of CIPSE and then M-Eng alongside others in terms of associate, bicep, and a number of
other designations. They said that actually if they had had a masters, they felt that
it would have been maybe a more straightforward process. So I kind of went, okay, perfect.
I'm well, I'm on with the option to do the master. So I think I'll definitely continue
on and do it. And it was for one additional year and stuff, doing a part-time for maybe.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Very good. And then the rest, like as you're saying, you've been in
the industry and that practical experience probably like really helped as well. Yeah,
definitely. You know, instances of, you know, getting straight into projects where maybe,
um, I was ultimately responsible for what was being, um, delivered obviously through
the addition of there's quality assurance, quality check, checking and approving process
in my company as well as referred to. That's obviously like standard. And it's just a given
that that should really exist within any industry. To be quite honest, I would like to hope that
it's not just in building services. Um, but being responsible for, um, what was coming
out from the company and also taking the stance that that's my name on the drawings. I had
a real big thing about having my name on the drawings. That was like, I really wanted it
to be there. So like we've, uh, we used to have a thing that was like designed by drawn
by check, check by, or is that a draw and check engineer and check coordination and
the prover. So I knew it wasn't going to get a prover. I knew that I knew I probably wasn't
going to do the engineer and check, but I really wanted to make sure that the drawn
by like had actually my name against it. Cause I was like, I have this, this is, this is
my work. And then it was, I was very like proud of what I was producing. I think that
that's always kind of really driven on, you know, in terms of what was coming out for
me as an engineer. And then beyond that, Mott's were, Mott McDonald were very good in terms
of they have an entire graduate program, which runs from, as soon as you graduate, obviously
from a university or you come into the business at a graduate level, you do things like commercial
management. There was commercial management, you know, general project management. And
there's an entire thing on how to like network. There was a really good one, which was all
about presentation skills, which was actually fantastic. It ended up being a really good
two days and they sort of bring you to different offices and stuff to do that. So you get like,
I went to Bristol office and did the presentation skills. I went to Glasgow and did the commercial
management. So it's quite nice.
Yeah. Got to travel about the UK.
Yeah. So it was really good to build up my network with people within the company and
obviously get to know people and say, Hey, look, I remember we were on the same introduction
course. I didn't realize you were based in Bristol. How are you getting on? How are things?
And then like if they maybe have a particular department, you're like, I'll call Kyle in
that department.
Yeah, exactly. You know Kyle too.
He's a laugh. So brilliant. Okay. Well, thanks for explaining. I've had to put your training
and prep you did to enter the rules and obviously paid off as your principal mechanical, open
services engineer. Okay. So I like to come to the kind of section where I like to ask
a couple of questions. I kind of tailor it towards each of my guests. And then because
you're like a chair within CIPC, well, it's like, yeah, okay, so be something about CIPC.
Kind of like focus the questions around that. So this title, I kind of realized I sent this
to you this morning. And I'm like, yeah, I'm going to work on the title. Like I've got
till Friday and then just didn't realize it was today. Today's Thursday. So it has not
changed. So it is still the title. It's the principal of it. Because principal, principal
engineer. Yeah.
I like it. That's good. I was, I was thinking about as well as like, could be pull up a
chair, but I love a weed plan.
Oh my God. That's amazing.
Feel free to use it if you want.
I'm going to edit it out and then use it. Yeah. Came up with it myself. Like, it's grand.
Okay. So again, these are fun questions. So best guess whenever.
We're getting on roll.
So there are four related bodies to CIPC. Okay. And they're called the society. No,
four of them start the society of them. Can you name me them?
Society of lighting. Society of lighting engineers. Yeah. One SOPHA, society of public health
engineers. Yes. That's what we got.
I think there's one he actually mentioned and I think you're chair of it. Like the society
of, you said something about chair of digital.
Oh, so there's also digital engineering, but I'm not chair of that. I'm within my company.
I'm the chair for digital for building services, but yeah, not, not actually on that. They
actually do a whole host of really good training material on digital engineering. So especially
for people who may be working building services, but are mainly down like a more sort of technician
route. There's a whole host of really good material there. So like common data environments
and management drawings and how sort of I need to learn these off, but I remember looking
at them and they're a really nice, like neat package of maybe seven different key digital
engineering and training resources, which are quite nice. Now the last one, I'll stop.
Is it society of facade?
You're right. It's 484. Well done.
Yeah. I have been in CBC since I joined.
So then you should know. So yeah. So the society of facade. Do you have any idea of one that
was set up?
Oh, society of facades.
That's actually a hard one. Like, so
I'm going to say that it's probably 2006.
You're so close. It was 2030.
Oh, was it? All right. Yeah. Okay. I'll take that.
They probably got public in 2006. So
people only started listening to music in 2006.
Can you guess how many members the side of light and lighting has?
I'll give you a clue. It's in the thousands. Yeah. I was going to say maybe like 6,500.
You're so close again.
Six thousand?
Oh, sorry. Three thousand.
Three thousand. I'm getting old.
So many really good lighting engineers. I know. I just assumed that they were all members.
Yeah. So that's enough to have for that section. So did you know there's always also one institute
related to CBC. Do you have any idea of what that institute is called?
Like aside from CBC isn't the Chartered Institute of Building Services and Engineers?
Listen, this is what Wikipedia tells me. This institute is related to CBC. And if I can
get access to something within CBC.
I wasn't sure if maybe it was something to do with Atre. But they're obviously the American.
You're on the right lines. That's all you because it is a bit tricky. So it's the Institute
of Local Exhaust Ventilation Engineers. And that title was exhausting to say. That's the
second joke of the podcast.
These are stats. I'm definitely going to an MEP wedding this weekend. These are going
to be mega.
But yeah. OK. Well, yeah, like that's the end of the like it's Prince Louis slash pull
up a chair. OK, so I hope you enjoyed it.
I actually I have a building services joke myself. Do you want to hear it?
Yes, please.
Right. So this guy used to love tractors. Love them. Absolutely love them. Then his
partner at the time just said, look, honey, I can't keep being your partner if you don't
stop talking about tractors. I just can't do this anymore. He said, right. I'm going
to give up tractors, left them behind, moved on with his life. Ten years later, he was
in a pub. They hadn't introduced the smoking ban. He looked into the pub. It was full of
smoke. His partner said, I don't want to go in there and clothes are going to stink of
smoke. I just I can't. He looked into the pub. He opened up the door and he just took
one big breath and blew it all out the door, sucked all the smoke from the room straight
out the door. And one of the patrons in the pub said, oh, my God, how did he do that?
His partner turned around said extractor fan.
That is amazing. I am telling them that to be full lights. OK, well, well, hold on.
That's a lot more than that. OK, that gets that wins an award. OK, well, OK, well, yeah,
that's the official press round and officially closed. So we're going to get back to you
guys. So can you give an overview of the list of buildings you have worked on? List of buildings.
So earlier in my career, I did a number of projects with a like a local housing body.
So I was actually going in and doing adaptations for people with the special needs or who required
sort of additional care within within the home. So although it wasn't, you know, a building
that I look at and say it was that building, sometimes when I'm driving in and around
Northern Ireland, I'll randomly say to my wife, I did I did an adaptation.
Small stuff, but it was actually really good to kind of get involved within the deal with
contractors dealing with and OTs within the health care trusts, dealing with clients,
actually going out there and doing surveys. So weirdly, like a lot of small little villages
and stuff all across Northern Ireland have little buildings. I go in a madhouse, which
is an odd one to say to people. And one of a really interesting project that I did as
well was in the Shetland Islands. So there's a resource center there called the Eric Gray
Resource Center. It's again for adults with learning disabilities. And so it has it has
a trampoline room, which I thought was the coolest thing ever. And yeah, it was really
interesting to do design of MEP services. So like full spec in terms of domestic services
about ground waste and heating and ventilation systems. And within that facility, it was
all a single floor with some really quite interesting architecture. So we worked with
a Shetland Island based architect on that one. And then we delivered that whole thing
to the Shetland Island Council. And we linked into the the funniest district heating system
or heat network I've ever heard in my life. It's called SHEEP. What is the SHEEP? So
Shetland Heat Energy and Power Network. Oh, and I just thought that was really funny.
But had some engagement with a Danish company from Denmark, so Danish, and did a bit of
work with them as well in terms of how we integrate the actual heat network into the
building. And there was like some sort of penalties effectively if you deliver heat
back at a higher temperature, because then the entire system wouldn't be as efficient
because your delta T is too small. And then that means the pipe sizes are under pressure.
That means you've got an excessive pressure through the system. So then your pumps need
to operate more heavily. And so yeah, we did a really interesting, I did a really interesting
schematic and it was probably the first and only time that I landed the site and it was
exactly how I had it drawn. And I went, yeah, this is one of those ones that if it's gone
wrong, it's totally going to be Connors fault. But yeah, it worked really well. And they
were really quite happy and they managed to deliver back, I think, at like 30 degrees
Celsius return temperatures. They really brought it all the way down. It was using like a CT
circuit linked back into the CT circuit, linked back into an underfloor heating circuit. So
it had like three stages of heat reduction and heat rejection effectively. So it was
interesting. And also worked as the mechanical lead for the TransLink North West Transport
Hub, which I would lovingly refer to as Derry slash London Derry train station. And so yeah,
that's actually a really nice space. I don't know if you've been in it. But there's an
entire internal landscape architect has come in and done fully planted trees within the
station and completely separately. I was chatting to one of my little cousins who was in University
in Coleraine. I was asking, how do you get up there? And she goes, I normally go as far
as up to Derry, London Derry. And then I just get in the train. And I was like, oh, cool.
And she said, yeah, I sit in the train because it's like, it's a way nicer building. And
I was like, do you know who designed that nice building? It's heating and ventilation
systems and plumbing. And she was like, no, I don't really know what I want to. It was
me. So it's quite a nice.
You need like, you know, discount real classes. It's okay. I've got some strengths.
I wish I got discount. But yeah, that was a really interesting one as well. And then
aside from that, I've been on a number of projects that have kind of ran for a long
time. So it's a project that I'm on, like still technically on. I've been working on
it since 2016. So it's quite a long, long project to be on. But hopefully it gets built
and then I can talk about it lovingly. Well, we'll have you back on when it's built.
And then you're just like, yeah, you know that building.
Then sort of a whole host of other things. I've done a number of school projects and
did the Carlo and Kels PPPP schools projects, which were all done in 2015, 2016. That was
full 3D first introduction into using Revit. Right. And then at that time, kind of decided
I would figure out how Revit can size Pipework for me. So figured that out, which was a good
button and it saved me a lot of hassle on the job. And I think some of the team recently
have been doing some work on a project. That's quite confidential. But when they were asking
questions because something wasn't happening, I was like, oh yeah, I did that in 2015. I
made a video in 2017 here. And they sat down and watched it. They only went, oh yeah, there's
a problem. So that's how we fix it. So it's funny to see that sort of stuff come back
the way through. Wow. That's funny. And you've had an extensive experience.
A lot better. A long time. Yeah.
It's funny. Someone today was telling me this story, but we have a couple of senior engineers
up in the office and have been with the company for about 20 years. And they got plans in
for a Revit in a house. And it was from an architect and they were looking at, or maybe
it was the architect and then the MEP drones that they were using. And they're kind of
looking at the drones. And I was like, I drew this. I drew this. And I was like, when I
was a student, 30 years ago. And they just layered it over. It's like, yeah, this is
how we're going to do it. I was like, oh my God. But yeah, I've had a couple of projects
where I've seen it from maybe stage two. And then you go all the way to stage five or six
and you're like, yeah, it's done. That is one thing that I think is very rewarding
within this industry that maybe sometimes like, maybe if you're only working in say,
and not only that's, I don't want to belittle it, but if you're working solely in construction,
you actually don't get that sometimes that opportunity to be involved in the design phase
where you're starting to work out how things could be better, how they could be improved.
And maybe you're looking at a set of drones and you're like, okay, we need to construct
this and you might look at it and go, this could be improved. I think we can put in for
change in that. Now actually, this could be a better design, but you may not always get
the opportunity for that if that's what you happen to be doing or vice versa where you've
done a lot of work on design and then ultimately something doesn't get built. Sometimes that's
a hard one to take where you go, that would have been a really, really good project. I
really wanted it to go ahead.
I can't wait to hear more about your future projects next time you're on. That's me, I
do this to everyone, it's like, well, next time you're on, you can talk more about this.
I'm like, yes, sure guess.
Yeah, definitely.
Well, thank you very much for talking to me today and talking about yourself and your
career as a kind of engineer. You've been brilliant to have on and to have lots of useful information.
Brilliant, no, delighted. And yeah, from my perspective, I hope that anybody who's listened
to this gets involved with engineering. You don't have to go into building services, I
should say that. Secretly, you should go into building services. It is actually a really
interesting job. I would say it's very rare that you get massive repeats of doing the
exact same thing day in, day out. It is always quite varied. And if you think that that's
something you'd be interested in, then I could only hope to plug the idea of joining up with
SIPSE and becoming a member because when you're in education, it's totally free. And you get
access to SIPSE journals.
All the guides.
All the guides as well. And even just a resource to see what's actually happening in terms
of the building industry.
That was actually a really good piece of advice you've given. My next question was going to
be, do you have any advice for future prospective engineers looking to get into this sector?
Oh yeah, definitely.
But yeah, that's good. That's good. Do you have anything to round it up with? Like, you
know, a snappy, like, you know, sign off, please, or?
A snappy sign off, please.
Oh, I should have given prep for that. Like, apologies.
Building services is not just a career, it's a lifestyle.
Oh my god.
That's so corny.
That's actually the new title now.
Oh bless.
Well, no, brilliant. No, thanks, Connor. So my kind of sign off, or like just advice.
So just sticking with the principal thing, because I was like thinking when I think principal,
I think principal Skinner from The Simpsons. So I was trying to look for a quote that he
says that's about engineering, and like, it kind of maybe fits into the context of the
episode.
Yeah.
Best thing I could find was, like, no, I'll say it in the right, like, you know, right,
you know, setup. So my advice is to quote principal Skinner. There's nothing more exciting
than science. Right. And that's a direct quote.
I thought potentially with the recent solar flares that you were going to go down the
route of, you know, the Arrol Coriolis in your kitchen at 12 o'clock on a Tuesday.
At this journey.
At this time of year. And then he's like, yes.
Yes.
Can I see it? No.
No.
I should have gone for that.
Oh, I wouldn't worry about it.
So no, thanks, Connor, and you'll definitely be back on.
Yeah, no, hopefully, that would be fantastic. And I will say, like, obviously, having listened
to a number of the podcasts, this is actually really, really good. I'm really impressed
with just everything you're doing here, because to be quite honest, I was like, where is the
podcast talking about, like, building services and, like, the actual industry that exists
in terms of sustainability structures, civil infrastructure, and actually then into, like,
you know, architecture. And I was like, well, this is a really, really, really good example
of talking about, like, a type of industry that needs probably more attention towards
it.
Yes.
And it is, there's so many opportunities for careers coming off the back of it that, like,
you know, I think I remember coming into university and they effectively said to us, OK, there's
plenty of you in the room, there's probably 40 jobs. So, yeah, take off that what you
will.
And if anything, because I remember the anxiety at the time, we're like, when are we going
to get a job? Like, are we going to be penniless? Like, you know, what's going to happen? And
then just even the comfort of knowing that there is a job out there for you, like, it
makes you, gives you that confidence. And you're like, yeah, I'm going to do well in
this industry because this industry needs me. And then, yeah, and I'm very much a sentient
beginning. Before we started recording, I'm very much in the opinion that, OK, when you're
like 17, 18, 19, you're going to change throughout. And what you want to do, like it might not
be like what you want to do for the rest of your life is going to change. And it's OK.
Like, that's OK. Like, there shouldn't be any worry about that. And a lot of people
do worry. I definitely worried about that. And I'm like, what am I doing with my life?
But just showing, like, you know, this industry, it accepts, like, everyone. Like, there's
so many different areas. Like, if you don't know, if you don't want to do engineering,
if you don't want to do marketing, if you don't want to do any sorts of maths, there's
like promotion of carbon courses. Like, there's so many areas. And it's like, it's a pretty
cool career. And as you said, this industry, yeah, needs people. There's so much scope
for young people to be involved with it. Like, you could very easily, like if I was even
being a principal engineer specializing in what I specialize in, I could decide that,
you know what, actually, I want to be way more involved in actual building physics.
I want to move into being really detailed thermal modeling. That's something I think
I would really like to do more of. And most companies will go, well, yeah, we think that
you're very capable. We, you know, we've obviously backed you for a number of years.
We haven't said that we don't want you to be involved anymore in the company. Yeah,
that's something that you want to get heavily involved in. Let's go for it. Or maybe you
want to become part of a team that is focusing on winning bids or, you know, obtaining new
clients and stuff. And most companies will fully back that. And I think one of the really
important things in building services in this whole industry is that a lot of really good
companies give you that opportunity. I don't want to come across wrong, but an opportunity
to potentially fail at something, as in to try it. Like, and when we're looking at designs
for buildings, we will go through maybe a lot of concept designs and we might say, okay,
we're going to use a ground source heat pump here. That's the type of technology we've
decided we're going to look at. We're going to look at boreholes. We're going to look
at extracting heat from the ground. That's what we're going to spend a bit of time investing
into. And generally, you know, in some instances, there's a, there's a portion of, of maybe
leeway to go, okay, investigate it. Let's see is it a viable option, you know, through
maybe the likes of a low zero carbon assessment on a building. And you can go into the detail
and say, yeah, it would work. It's actually not going to be as efficient if maybe we go
around the route of say another technology or combining two pieces of technology together.
Maybe we run air source heat pumps and we do PV and then sort of work and sort of a
synergy between them. And then you've got, you've had that opportunity to test it, to
learn about it, to develop your understanding. Maybe in more product's time, that ground
source heat pump that you investigated is actually so perfect for this that it's a no
brainer. Yeah. And I think that's, that's nice as well. There's a lot of scope for that
type of thing within the, within the industry. Like there's so much potential, so much.
Yeah, that's exactly it. So much potential energy. Like I'll stop. Okay, I'll do the
actual sign off. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thanks for listening to carbon climates. If you follow
us on Instagram at carbon underscore climates, you can keep up to date with all our latest
news, posts and episode uploads. But yeah, thanks for listening. Bye. Do you want to
say bye? Bye.