ChapmanBDSP was commended on its diversity and inclusion approach
ChapmanBDSP has been crowned overall winner at the CIBSE Employer of the Year awards, the engineering consultant also triumphing in the medium company category.
Fairheat won the small company award with ATAL Engineering Group claiming the prize in the large company category.
The judges said ChapmanBDSP’s commitment to being an active and engaging sponsor for young and early career employees was clear.
Its impressive support for its engineers includes mentoring, training, a CIBSE-approved training and development programme, regular CPD, and technical sessions, and the company encourages employees to be STEM ambassadors.
ATAL Engineering Group won in the large company category
Judges commended ChapmanBDSP on its diversity and inclusion approach, saying it was ‘exceptional’.
Kathryn Cox, HR director, ChapmanBDSP, said ‘We continue to put all our employees at the centre of everything we do, encouraging them to achieve their full potential and be proud of this fantastic industry at a time when there is so much potential to achieve sustained and lasting change.’
Fairheat won in the category for firms with fewer than 50 employees, with judges saying it showed a clear commitment to developing young engineering talent and creating opportunities for young people to grow and thrive.
In the past five years, 70% of Fairheat’s 23 employees had been through, or were in, the company’s graduate programme. ‘The role of heat networks in decarbonising heat in the UK will require fresh ideas and approaches, and we have every faith that our young engineers will be at the frontline of this change,’ says Fairheat.
‘We are particularly proud of the opportunities we are giving engineering graduates to work, and see the impacts of their work, from an early stage.’
ATAL Engineering Group won in the large company category, the first time a firm from Hong Kong has won. Judges commended the firm for its clear paths for development across the organisation in preparing young engineers for their professional careers.
Their outreach includes a scholarship programme for students in vocational training and universities.
‘Nurturing of young engineers is one of our key corporate social responsibilities, to prepare them for the professional career of their choice,’ says Dr Ir Otto Poon, group chairman and founder at ATAL.
‘Our programmes are comprehensive and robust, producing engineers of the right calibre for the industry at large.’
Fairheat won the category for firms with fewer than 50 employees
In presenting the awards, CIBSE president-elect Kevin Mitchell thanked the judges for their hard work and time, and emphasised how impressed they had been with the high quality of entries this year.
‘If these employers are representative of building services employers overall, the picture is very positive indeed for young engineers entering our industry,’ he said.
The awards, together with Graduate of the Year and Apprentice of the Year, form the Young Engineers Awards, recognising the best new talent entering our industry, as well as those companies that go the extra mile to support and nurture them.
The Employer of the Year award highlights the commitment and achievements of employers in supporting young people entering the industry, encouraging their growth through training, mentoring and initiatives that place them at the centre of their business.
The CIBSE Young Engineers Awards 2021 took place online on 14 October.
They were delivered in partnership with CIBSE Patrons and sponsored by Ideal Heating, ACV and Swegon.
See full details of the winners on the CIBSE website.