About Building Services

Ken Dale Travel Bursary 2010

Entries for the 2010 Ken Dale Travel Bursary have now closed. 

CIBSE would like to invite all of our members to read the 2009 Ken Dale winner, Ross Smith's, excellent report on his research into "Traditional approaches to water management in the Levant and their applicability to contemporary development".

Click here to download Ross' report (2.72 Mb)

You can also read Ross' blog of his trip here

Information for the 2011 bursary:

Are you in the developmental stage of your career?

Would you like to spend up to 4 weeks researching building services engineering overseas?

The Ken Dale Travel Bursary makes awards available of between £1,500 and £4,000 to CIBSE members in the developmental stage of their career who wish to spend three to four weeks outside their own country researching aspects connected to their field of work and which will benefit CIBSE, their employer, their clients and the profession. CIBSE is especially keen to encourage applicants to take-up the award for research that articulates CIBSE's concern for the environment.

The Bursary also offers the candidate the opportunity to experience technical, economic, environmental, social and political conditions in another country and to examine how these factors impact the practice of building services engineering.

Ken Dale Biography

Kenneth William Dale was born in Birmingham in 1925. He attended the Moseley Grammar School before serving the RAF from 1942 to 1946. Ken joined the National College of Heating, Ventilating, Fan Engineering and Refrigeration as one of their first students. After working in various contracting and consulting engineering firms, Ken started his own practice, K W Dale and Partners, in 1954. Later Ken became Senior Partner, then Chairman and Managing Director, of Dale and Goldfinger Ltd.

Ken designed the engineering for notable UK and overseas buildings -  such as Chatsworth House, Sheffield's Crucible Theatre, the Royal Opera House, Westminster Hospital, Trellick Tower in West London, the Mecca and Riyadh Hotels and Conference Centres, the British Embassy in Riyadh, and the British and Indian Antarctic Survey Bases. He was also on the EEC team seeking solutions to the heating problems of Romanian orphanages.

In 1974, Ken served as President of the Institution of Heating and Ventilating Engineers (IHVE) when negotiating for a grant of a Royal Charter as part of the formation of the Chartered Institution of Building Services (CIBS). CIBS was formed in 1976 with Ken as Chairman of the Charter Panel. Working with the Secretary and Past-Presidents, Ken contributed to the Institution gaining recognition as the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) where corporate members could submit registration to the Engineering Council as Chartered Engineers.

Ken was Honorary Fellow of CIBSE, a Life Fellow of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, and President of the Federation of European Heating and Air Conditioning Associations (REHVA) in 1993. He also served on the Building Regulations Advisory Committee for nine years, the Building Services Advisory Panel as Chairman, and as a tax commissioner. In 1982, Ken received appointment as officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) after serving as a Colonel in T&VR and Aide de Camp to the Queen from 1977-1979. He became Commander of the Royal Engineer Specialist Pool Officers T&VR and Specialist Teams, and Colonel in the Engineer and Transport Staff Corps.

Ken contributed to teaching fellow engineers with academic appointments as Lecturer for Regent Street and South Bank Polytechnics, and as External Examiner for UMIST MSc Building Services Technology. Ken also published numerous technical papers.

Ken Dale Model for Development within Building Services Engineering

• Working closely with clients and industry colleagues across disciplines
• Striving for engineering services to be in harmony with buildings - functional, efficient, easily operated and maintained
• Designing engineering with rigorous research into the requirements of each building and its occupants
• Achieving intuitive and elegant engineering solutions
• Avoiding inappropriate solutions - whether fashionable or traditional
• Sustaining highest professional standards
• Being a ‘hands-on' member of the Institution
• Persisting to further goals
• Participating internationally in building services engineering
• Making time for hobbies, community, and public service