Colin Ashford, an active CIBSE member since 1982, received a Gold medal at the 2024 President’s Awards, for exceptional service in advancing engineering. Starting as an energy manager in 1980, he advanced his career through CIBSE committee roles, including Home Counties South East chair and CIBSE Council membership for 37 years.
Despite having no formal training, Ashford has spent part of his career developing guidance and training for building services engineers.
He has contributed to influential CIBSE documents, such as TM41 and AM15, and served on the CIBSE Domestic Building Services Panel for more than 20 years. He has also developed degree-level training, delivered more than 800 presentations, and trained more than 7,000 facilities managers on sustainability.
Career highlights include serving as energy manager at Hackney Council and Kent Schools, and working at the Carbon Trust as a principal consultant.
What was your first job in engineering?
It was at Muirhead’s, in Elmers End, Kent, where I expanded my electronics hobby into instrumentation. I worked on production design and the winding equipment for precision resistors, using wire one-tenth the thickness of a human hair.
I had to read research papers to solve challenges, which taught me to read very efficiently – balancing speed with comprehension.
How did you reduce building energy use?
By setting clear operational targets for energy efficiency and linking these to financial benefits, we aimed for reductions of at least 30%, making the impact undeniable. One memorable moment was when finance complained that our achievements disrupted their energy budget calculations – a clear sign of success!
The second key area was supporting the weights and measures officials to ensure accurate custodial transfer data on fuels and water. We installed metering equipment to determine fuel-delivery quantity accuracy.
The third was improving building services equipment and systems by changing control valves for better control authority, and minimising standing losses, such as from multiple parallel connected boilers. Over five years, Hackney’s energy and water costs across 280 buildings decreased by 35%.
For Kent’s 2,700 buildings, establishing an accurate energy and water database allowed us to spot anomalies, such as high energy use during school holidays, when boilers should have been off.
Weekly energy data provided clear insights into problem areas, enabling targeted interventions. Kent achieved a 35% reduction in energy and water costs over five years.
Apart from CIBSE, which research projects are you most proud of?
From 1990 until ‘retirement’ in 2003, I contributed to building research projects for the Carbon Trust. One key project was the development of the energy management matrix, used by organisations to assess how well they were managing energy.
This led to the development of major technical guidance on ‘Heating systems and their control’, and ‘Control of variable loads’.
From 2003 to 2013, I worked for the Carbon Trust in Northern Ireland and Scotland, focusing on problem-solving for energy in buildings and industries. Training programmes based on real-world survey findings helped audiences identify and address root causes of energy inefficiency.
What advice would you give to young engineers?
Stay curious and informed about research in the field. Sharing knowledge and presenting evidence-based insights elevates the authority of building services engineers, allowing them to lead rather than follow.
On what should CIBSE be focusing?
Improving the practical experience of engineers in addressing occupant comfort – not just thermal, but also visual and acoustic environments. Training should develop engineers’ authority in architect-led design teams.
They need hands-on experience to understand the long-term operational challenges of their designs. This practical knowledge, combined with strong presentation skills, will elevate the status of building services engineers across the industry.