BESA elects new president

Adrian Hurley, Managing Director of design, installation and maintenance contractor, FP Hurley & Sons, has been elected as President of the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) for 2024-25.

Hurley has been involved with BESA since 2019 when he joined Council as the elected representative for Wales. He joined the Membership Committee in 2021 and was appointed BESA Vice President in 2022.

He has been a powerful advocate for improving skills and training across the sector and empowering young engineers to help the country achieve its net zero and building safety goals.

Speaking at the Association’s AGM Hurley said: “We are rightly proud of our history and the impact BESA has made over the years. As we face up to another period of major transition, the Association will once again provide leadership, guidance, and expertise to ensure members seize the opportunities for growth and diversification that are essential to the future of our businesses and the people we employ.”

Call for national retrofit plan

He later told the annual BESA President’s Lunch that the Association would continue to press the new government to commit to a national programme of commercial building retrofits adding that BESA members would be essential “to this now urgent work”.

Hurley pointed out that the UK has around 30 million existing buildings many of which are “in dire need of an upgrade – and it is widely acknowledged that this will be a fundamental building block of net zero”.

He said: “The deployment of new technologies, like heat pumps, is exciting and progressive, but there is so much we could still do to improve the performance of what is already built and installed.”

However, he said he was concerned that the “enormous task” of retrofitting and refurbishing millions of buildings would be hampered by a serious skills shortage. “It will take a combination of innovation, more strategic use of digital technology, and better recruitment to address this.”

The new President also expressed concern that the number of women coming into the industry remained low and that many others were leaving early and before realising their full potential.

Commitment to the Building Safety Act

Speaking just a week after the publication of the final report from the Grenfell Tower disaster public inquiry, Hurley urged BESA members and the wider industry to prove their commitment to the Building Safety Act which he described as “groundbreaking legislation that goes far beyond safety into every aspect of our work”.

He added that the Grenfell tragedy was “a defining moment in our industry’s history” and criticised those who had fostered a “lowest cost first” culture.

“Buildings are not just investment opportunities; they are social assets critical to keeping people safe, healthy and productive. Cutting cost should not be sought at the expense of good performance.

“The good news is that the new ways of working required to make building occupants safer also have positive implications for quality. Better buildings are also safer buildings.”

However, he warned the government that it would have to properly resource and fund the building safety regime if it was to succeed and be capable of supporting its stated growth plans.

BESA has produced a summary of the key recommendations from the Grenfell inquiry report for the building engineering sector which is available here.