The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of CIBSE was held on 10 June 2024 and was conducted as a hybrid model, with participants both in-person and online via Teams. Adrian Catchpole, CIBSE President 2023-24, chaired the meeting.
Chief Executive Ruth Carter read the Notice of Order convening the meeting and Adrian Catchpole then outlined the Agenda, and the Minutes of the AGM held on 13 June 2023 were accepted as a correct record of the Meeting. There were no Matters Arising.
Annual Report
Adrian Catchpole introduced the Annual Report for 2023, pointing out that it reflected the impressive efforts of staff and volunteers in making CIBSE the global brand that it is today.
The Report illustrates CIBSE’s achievements in delivering an increased membership with a global voice, with greater investment in products and services than ever before.
Stating that his core message as President had been for engineers to show leadership, commitment to improvement, and specifically for CIBSE to make progress in helping to demonstrate competence, find new industry entrants, and deliver on its Net Zero Carbon agenda, he then detailed the highlights of the past year, including:
- CIBSE’s impact at COP28, where he had addressed no fewer than five separate sessions on embodied carbon and climate resilience.
- Collaboration: CIBSE collaborates with more than 50 organisations around the world, including the USA, Middle East, Hong Kong, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Key themes range from building safety to climate change, air quality to embodied carbon.
- Continued focus and work on the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard: developing a standard to enable industry to robustly demonstrate that its built assets are truly net zero.
- CIBSE leadership of the Building Safety workstream for Actuate UK, pro-active participation in the Construction Industry Council (CIC) and Construction Leadership Council (CLC), Climate Change Committee and other government advisory committees.
- CIBSE and Nabers announcing in March a new strategic partnership, with CIBSE taking over as scheme administrator for Nabers UK
- In 2023, the Building Safety Act enhanced the requirement to demonstrate competence, and the launch of CIBSE’s new Chartered Organisation scheme now enables organisations to achieve Chartered status, show their commitment to engineering best practice, and to demonstrate their professionalism. CIBSE was also one of the first to be authorised to provide members with the assessments needed to join the Higher Risk Buildings (HRB) Register.
Adrian Catchpole then outlined key statistics and figures for 2023:
- CIBSE Training grew to almost 1,200 attendees, with Building Safety Act courses in high demand; a 43% increase to 3,500 members now registered on the Learning Management System; and more than 50,000 have now registered for our Grow Your Knowledge webinars.
- Membership stood at 21,462 at the end of 2023, up 6%, and is now more than 23,000.
- CIBSE successfully passed its Engineering Council Audit for its licence to be renewed for a further five years.
- Strong growth in End Point Assessment saw us help 290 apprentices in 2023.
- CIBSE guidance remains at the heart of its services, and 22 new or updated Guides were produced – the fourth consecutive year in a row to deliver more than 20 – including a new Guide M (Maintenance Engineering and Management), and Commissioning Codes A and W (Air, Water Distribution).
- Technical Symposium in Cardiff attracted 200+ delegates; Build2Perform saw more than 2,000 attendees, speakers and exhibitors; and the Building Performance Awards welcomed a record 800 guests. The SLL Young Lighter of the Year, SFE and SoPHE Awards, Young Engineer Awards, and the President’s Awards recognised and celebrated the achievements and potential of engineers and engineering.
- CIBSE Journal continues to attract respect all over the world; the CIBSE website attracted nearly 600,000 users; we now have more than 74,000 followers across social media platforms; and our content on YouTube achieved more than 17,000 hours of viewing.
- CIBSE now has more than 1,000 volunteers across 20 UK and Overseas Regions, five Societies and 19 Specialist Interest Groups. Our Societies provide professional recognition, tailored engineering routes and firstclass CPD. Our Regions, Groups and Societies held an impressive 402 events with 17,500 registrants – a great credit to their committees. And they have risen to the challenge of having 10 active STEM Ambassadors in each Region: there are now more than 200, with more than 300 STEM activities taking place. Our aim now is to further increase the number of Ambassadors, and to double their activities.
In conclusion, the President thanked CIBSE staff for their work and support for members, partners and the industry, and thanked CIBSE members for the trust and faith they had shown in him. He then invited questions:
- In response to a question, it was confirmed that CIBSE’s Balham Premises had been sold and that CIBSE could, if necessary, continue to occupy Delta House for up to nine months at a peppercorn rent while looking for a new HQ building.
- Chris Jones asked when CIBSE’s Governance would catch up with respect to the Chartered Organisations scheme, and suggested that members of the scheme should be called Partners. The President noted his comment and advised that Governance, as a whole, would be addressed in the Honorary Treasurer’s presentation. The Annual Report is available at www.cibse.org/annualreport.
Report of the Auditors
Julia Poulter, from Crowe UK LLP, reported that CIBSE’s audit had been conducted in accordance with international Auditing Standards and that she had signed the audit on 23 April 2024. She had issued an unqualified audit opinion, with no matters arising to be reported at the AGM.
The President thanked Julia Poulter for Crowe’s work and introduced Vince Arnold, Honorary Treasurer, to present the Financial Statements for 2023.
Financial statements
Vince Arnold summarised the information given in the Annual Report, noting the strong performance delivered in 2023:
- Group Income: total income £9.5m (up £1m), with growth in many of the income streams of CIBSE Services Ltd and CIBSE Certification Ltd; interest and dividends up by £128k; membership subscriptions up £549k; End Point Assessment for apprentices up by £300k; other charitable activities up by £214k, reflecting increased event activity.
- CIBSE Services Ltd: training growth of £125k, with Building Safety Act courses leading the way; CIBSE Journal down £38k, reflecting market conditions; Publications down £175k after the sales success of new Weather data in 2022; Building Performance Awards up £69k; Build2Perform up £86k; other events up £48k.
- CIBSE Certification Ltd: registrations up £22k; lodgement credits level year on year; information management systems up £59k. Overall, up £81k.
- Group expenditure: trading subsidiaries up £533k in order to deliver the additional income; membership up £787k, with increased regional, society and groups activities, and full staffing impacting salary line and overhead costs; Research slightly reduced by £8k; Premises project costs £66k at year end.
- Overall, achieved an operating surplus of £181k, with investments recovering to a gain of £205k The Pensions scheme suffered a loss of £386k because of the effects of the asset ceiling applied in the actuarial valuation. Total Surplus for 2023 is therefore £5k (against £273k in 2022) and Total Fund Balance is £3.29m.
- Balance Sheet: depreciation of property and equipment results in a decrease to fixed assets, down by £105k; investments are up by £205k; debtors up £846k, mostly the result of large end-of-year invoices (which were cleared in January). Cash down £385k, reflecting the debtors figure. Creditors up £551k, largely because of income increasing the advanced balance.
- Governance: a standing item on the Finance Risk Audit and Governance (FRAG) Committee Agenda, with Vice-President Dave Cooper on the Committee. Documentation and Version Control is being reviewed with Governance input; external GDPR and Data Protection consultant in place to ensure good practice and compliance; the rules for Societies, Regions and Groups will be reviewed and updated.
In conclusion, Vince Arnold summarised the results for 2023:
- Revenue increased by £1m and is now 25% up on pre-pandemic levels.
- Membership increased by 13%, with record numbers taking the route to Chartership through CIBSE.
- Increasing content for training and events reflects CIBSE’s strong position in the sector, leading to increased investment in the Technical team resource and driving a record year for the provision of guidance.
- Significant progress has been made in the Premises relocation project.
Questions were invited and raised:
- Chris Jones asked if CIBSE had considered an independent governance review, to which the Honorary Treasurer responded that FRAG monitors governance closely and reports to the Board. However, an outside perspective might be advantageous and would be considered by the Board.
- Desiree Blamey, Finance Director, updated the Meeting on the CIBSE Defined Benefit Pension Scheme. Having conducted a review of its investment strategy, the Trustees have managed to secure a surplus and are therefore happy for CIBSE, as the employer of the scheme, to discontinue the ongoing contributions via the debt recovery plan.
Auditors
The Proposal put forward by Vince Arnold to appoint Crowe UK LLP as auditors for the financial year 2024 was passed unanimously.
Special resolution
The second Proposal put forward by Vince Arnold for the annual membership rates for the financial year 2025 was passed unanimously.
Any other business
Adrian Catchpole paid tribute to the dedication, commitment and contribution to the development of CIBSE and the profession of departing Board Members Laura Mansel-Thomas and Kevin Mitchell, thanking them for their years of service. He then formally concluded the AGM.
Board and Council for 2024-25
Ruth Carter announced the Officers, Board and Council Members for the forthcoming year.
Officers:
President: Fiona Cousins
President-elect: Vince Arnold
Honorary treasurer: Les Copeland
Immediate past president: Adrian Catchpole
Vice-presidents: Dave Cooper, David Stevens, Mike Burton
Continuing Board members: Lionel James, Ruth Kelly Waskett, Mark Walker
Newly elected Board members: Ted Pilbeam, Vincent Ma
Newly elected Council members: Jon Belfield, Jennifer Cox and Geraldine O’Farrell