Professor Michael Gallimore and CIBSE President Kevin Mitchell (right)
As part of CIBSE’s 125th Anniversary year commitment to engage and inspire the next generation and strengthen international ties, CIBSE President Kevin Mitchell FCIBSE and CIBSE CEO Ruth Carter visited the United Arab Emirates last month.
The five-day trip included a visit to De Montfort University Dubai, and included the signing of an agreement to launch a CIBSE student group at the university.
The agreement, signed by the CIBSE president and Professor Michael Gallimore, the university head of campus, is a testament to the mutual commitment of both parties to deliver a sustainable, safe and healthy built environment through the building services profession.
Accompanying Mitchell and Carter on the visit were CIBSE UAE committee member Marc Lynch and CIBSE YEN UAE representatives Fahim Ahmadi and Mohammed Shamroukh. CIBSE would like to thank the faculty and students of De Montfort University Dubai for their hospitality and look forward to a mutually beneficial partnership.
The trip also saw Mitchell and Carter visit the One Za’abeel project site along with CIBSE UAE committee members Mohd Imran Shaikh FCIBSE and Isaac Coker FCIBSE. The guests were given a tour of the building and an overview of the building services system.
A visit to the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Dubai, provided another opportunity for Mitchell and Carter to engage and inspire the next generation. They addressed the students delving into the CIBSE 1-2-5 Challenges: Celebrate, Inspire, Boost, Share and Engage.
An agreement was signed by Mitchell and Dr S Sudhindra, academic president, of Manipal University, to launch a CIBSE student group. The visit concluded with a question and answer session with Mitchell and Carter fielding questions from the inquisitive and curious minds in the audience.
Mitchell also participated in a UAE panel discussion on the topic ‘Cross-collaboration for Net Zero transition’.
This included embodied carbon statistics for the region; a discussion on cross-disciplinary communication at university level; the need to create platforms to promote ideas around sustainable development; and the need to reduce current energy consumption rates by retrofitting buildings.
Mitchell and Carter also visited Ramboll Middle East, where the President and Michael Rimmer MCIBSE, director of MEP at Ramboll, signed a letter of intent to develop their CIBSE training and development scheme, to attract and qualify more building services engineers.
Upon successful implementation, Ramboll Middle East will be the first in the region to achieve this milestone.
The full itinerary included visits to Masdar Institute, the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum – a building Kevin Mitchell worked on – and a trip to the Jumeirah Living Marina Gate Hotel, also in Abu Dhabi.
As CIBSE’s global reach grows, it is imperative we continue to strengthen our international relationships and build on the work of building services engineers in ensuring our buildings are safe
Speaking about the trip, Mitchell said: ‘It was a privilege to visit the UAE and see the scope and impact the UAE region and committee have.
‘As CIBSE’s global reach grows, it is imperative we continue to strengthen our international relationships and build on the work of building services engineers in ensuring our buildings are safe, healthy and delight the occupants while mitigating the effects of climate change. And we must inspire the next generation of engineers to future-proof the industry.’
The trip was organised to coincide with the UAE Awards, which took place on 8 September at the Armani Hotel, Burj Khalifa, Dubai, and was the final event of the President’s and CEO’s visit.
CIBSE reveals annual UAE Award winners
The annual UAE awards, which this year took place in person at the Armani Hotel, Burj Khalifa, celebrated and showcased the outstanding individuals, companies and projects across the UAE region.
This year’s winners were:
Graduate of the Year
Winner: Suvarna Kumar, Buro Happold
Runner-up: Krishna Ajith, Manipal University Dubai
Young Engineer of the Year
Winner: Munis Hameed, Black & White
Engineering
Runner-up: Sumith Sunil, AECOM
Manufacturer of the Year
Winner: Grundfos
Runner-up: Trosten
Consultancy of the Year
Winner: Cundall
Runner-up: WSP
The President’s Prize – the CIBSE Undergraduate Award– was also presented on the night to winner Khushbu Mankani ofHeriot-Watt University, Dubai.