100 years of collaboration

Time travel has long fascinated writers. In one of the most famous examples, HG Wells' Time machine, the author ponders whether future generations will prove to be responsible custodians of our planet.

This premise was used to dramatic effect at the opening of the HVCA's recent Centenary Convention in Harrogate when David Nesbit, the first ever president of the National Association of Master Heating and Domestic Engineers, as it was called in 1904, travelled forward 100 years, accompanied by dazzling audio-visuals, for a chat with current HVCA director Robert Higgs.

Surely the issues facing today's m&e contractors would bear no relation to those at the sharp end 100 years ago? Sadly, it seems little has changed: "Retentions are still here? What have you been doing Higgs?" questioned Nesbit. He would also have drawn little cheer from seeing profit margins for contractors eroded from the 20% level in his time to the 2-3% many see today.

Does the future look any rosier? The industry appears to be on the cusp of eradicating retention monies and greater use of integrated teams to the benefit of specialists is starting to snowball. But Terry Wyatt, immediate past president of the CIBSE, warned delegates that unless the UK industry modernised, made better use of IT and prefabrication to deliver buildings that "we actually need", it would go the way of shipbuilding and see all of its work disappearing overseas.

In an impassioned plea for sustainability issues to be addressed, Wyatt lambasted architects for "losing the plot" and designing unsustainable signature buildings that take a terrible toll on natural resources and are "not what we require in any case".

"Why are people putting up huge glazed towers like the Gherkin (Swiss Re's new high profile office at St Mary Axe in London)?" he asked. "People are too easily wooed by 'wow' and what employer aware of his liability is going to force his staff to work on the top floors of a terrorist target like that? These buildings are not defensible, they are not sustainable – they are just plain wrong and are not even what we want in line with current lifestyles."

Increased homeworking will dictate a future vision of a very different type of office hub, predicted Wyatt, one where high quality communications technologies allow fast interaction with colleagues and customers.

This is a medieval industry, with skullduggery on site

Terry Wyatt

These offices will be designed using powerful 3D modelling techniques, contractors will be manufacturing installations off site for plug and play and there will be much greater emphasis on the operational side of buildings, not least because of increased controls on energy labelling and the buying and selling of carbon emissions.

"This is a medieval industry," claimed Wyatt, "with skullduggery on site. Unless attitudes change, most of our people will go out of business."

Nesbit had earlier claimed that one of the reasons for setting up the Association was "to crush the influence of the Union". One hundred years later and of course it's all peace, love and harmony between employers and m&e union Amicus.

HVCA president elect Mike Taylor of m&e contractor Lorne Stewart and Jim Simms of Amicus were questioned by the audience on industrial relations issues. Taylor called for a radical "culture change" among the industry's workforce.

"There is no evidence that there is more output," he told the conference. "There are workers now earning £50 000 or £60 000 a year, which is not a bad thing, but what are employers getting in return? Modern projects demand a more multi-skilled workforce," added Taylor. "Yet there seems to be a resistance in the union to even utter the word 'multi-skilled'."

Simms agreed with the need for a cultural change and saw projects featuring integrated teams, such as at Heathrow Terminal 5, as bringing an improvement in the effectiveness of the workforce. "At T5, through the Major Projects Agreement, BAA are paying a premium in return for getting something back," said Simms.

We take on clients’ risk for free and sell our design expertise too cheaply

Roger Flanagan

The widespread use of agency labour undermines attempts to drive up standards through training and Taylor called on employers to face up to their responsibilities for recruiting and training.

The financial advantage agencies and labour-only contractors have over mainstream firms needs to be removed by ensuring everyone contributes to training. "I would like to see a training fund established and agencies would have to put something into that pot," said Taylor.

The future could look very different with training levies, no retentions and contractors as manufacturers. Roger Flanagan, professor of construction management at the University of Reading, thought the future will belong to those that manage risk more effectively and charge more for their design expertise. "The problem is not profit margins," he said. "It is that we take on clients' risk for free and sell our design expertise too cheaply."

He predicted that the UK would soon see contractors coming into its market from the emerging Eastern European and Baltic states and that consolidation of companies would take place on an even more dramatic scale than we have seen to date, producing a whole raft of "mega-players" with interests all over the world.

More gazing into the crystal ball came from futurologist Peter Kingsley, who predicted that engineers will be able to grow buildings in years to come using biotechnology. "Nano fabrication plants will be able to produce totally smooth, hard and curved structures, which can be delivered complete to site taking prefabrication onto the next stage," said Kingsley.

Building materials would be able to adapt to changing climatic conditions and would allow mankind to overcome the problems created by the overheating planet without driving up energy consumption, he predicted.

PFI projects being built now will be redundant long before their 25 year contract terms

Peter Kingsley

He questioned the wisdom of building large schools and hospitals under PFI schemes, which anticipate 25 to 30-year lifetimes, because the rapid progress in communications technologies will lead to the decentralisation of services.

"Totally immersive digital places mean we won't need large schools and workspaces after 2020, so the PFI projects being built now will be redundant long before their 25-year contract terms," said Kingsley.

It was up to former Tory cabinet minister Michael Portillo to round things up and he was positive that the drive for sustainability will make the building services industry more attractive to young people. However, employers need to work more closely with schools to get the message over.

Portillo believes that the current generation of young people is educated to be sceptical, and they are disillusioned because they don't think they can make a difference. However, they are also interested in the ethical dimension of the careers they are considering so it is important for companies to communicate with schools and talk passionately about what they do.

"The [hvac] industry has a role to play in sustainability, which gives you a strong moral case to make," said Portillo.

With all the talk of organically grown buildings, temperatures soaring to 43°C in London by 2050 and competition from the Baltics, I'm sure Nesbit was quite happy to leap into his time machine and get back to 1904 and his 20% profit margins.