IT & Controls Group Committee 2023 - 2024
Chair Peter McDermott
Hon Secretary Tom Randall
Hon Treasurer Jon Belfield
Elected Members
Saadia Ansari
Kate Rotheram
Matthew Wallace
Ian Newman
Jamie Goth
Kat Kelly
Tom Hopton
Neil McLean
Avi Baidya
Harriet McKerrow
Anthony Dann
Sam Yu
Officers
Peter studied mechanical engineering at the University of Bristol before five years’ post-graduate experience in manufacturing where he developed controls and instrumentation for nuclear, defence and process industries including aerodynamic testing of Formula 1 racing cars in wind tunnels.
Like many people he did not envisage a career in building services but found himself involved in that field when he joined a new technology start up called Trend Controls which was pioneering the implementation of digital technology in buildings. Peter began a prolonged fascination with designing and implementing intelligent digital systems to control environments and reduce energy and carbon use in buildings. For the last 35 years he has led teams of engineers in successfully delivering integrated digital solutions for large buildings including BMS, BAS, BEMS, BACS, iBMS, CCTV, Access, Security, Fire and Power Metering.
There is a growing awareness that there is a major “performance gap” between the predicted efficiency of building designs and what they actually deliver when occupied. Building Management Systems provide the data, diagnostic tools and method of rectification for many of the performance issues. What is often lacking is the knowledge and skills to design, install and use them effectively.
When Peter first moved into the control of building services, he sought out information on automatic building control fundamentals and found it readily accessible in the CIBSE Applications Manual: Automatic building controls and their implications for systems design, published in 1985. When the opportunity to update and expand this knowledge came, in the form of a brand new CIBSE Guide H, Peter helped produce the original edition in 1999 and the update ten years later.
We are now updating Guide H again to reflect recent changes in digital technology and welcome enthusiastic volunteers keen to make sure we capture the latest and best practice so that we can inform our wider profession and help improve build environments and reduce carbon emissions and climate change where we can.
Tom is a Chartered Building Services Engineer in the Building Performance and Systems team at Arup. Starting as a sustainability consultant Tom’s career steadily evolved to focus on investigating and addressing the performance gap between design intent and operational performance. Tom developed a view that both building controls and facilities management were highly influential areas that were not being given sufficient attention and, as professions, were not being supported enough by others as they should to deliver buildings that perform well. This is what led Tom to join both the CIBSE Controls, and FM groups.
Elected Members
Co-opted Members
Harriet is a senior digital buildings consultant at FPC Global. Harriet has an MEng in mechanical engineering from Newcastle University, and started her career as a graduate engineer in mechanical building services design at Arup. She has worked in Newcastle, London, Sydney and Mumbai. After taking an opportunity to interrogate the performance of completed buildings, Harriet developed an interest and specialism in controls and BMS, and has more recently been working on cloud based digital building solutions. Harriet is driven by a desire for buildings to meet their users’ needs and be resource efficient. Harriet is also a member of the CIBSE Womens committee (WIBSE) and is committed to promoting equal opportunities for women in engineering.
Neil McLean is the International Standards Leader for Lutron Electronics where he is responsible for supporting regulatory developments relevant to lighting controls and solar-shading systems. Neil graduated from Heriot-Watt University with an honours degree in Environmental Services Engineering and has since occupied a number of senior UK and international roles in the Lighting industry including with Philips Lighting, Sylvania and Recolight before moving to Lutron. Neil is an active contributor and chair at various groups in lighting and shades trade and professional associations including Lighting Europe, The Lighting Industry Association, The European Solar-Shading Organisation, The British Blind and Shutter Association and the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers.
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