CIBSE welcomed professionals from across the built environment to its Skills and Future Workforce Conference 2026 on 24 September, bringing together industry leaders, employers, educators, policymakers and key stakeholders to address one of the most pressing challenges facing the building services sector: developing the skills and workforce needed for the future.
Held at CIBSE headquarters in London, the conference provided a platform for the industry to examine the scale and nature of the skills gap and explore how employers, industry leaders and the wider profession can work together to attract, develop and retain the talent required to deliver a safer and more sustainable built environment.
Building the workforce of the future
Across four key sessions, speakers and delegates explored the changing skills needs of the building services sector and the steps required to build a workforce equipped to respond to both current and emerging challenges.
The transition towards a more sustainable built environment is changing the knowledge and capabilities required across the profession. The conference explored the growing importance of skills relating to renewables, digital tools and sustainability, alongside the technical knowledge that remains fundamental to building engineering.
Discussions also considered the wider skills that engineers need to succeed in an increasingly complex and collaborative industry, including problem solving, communication and collaboration.
A central focus throughout the programme was how the sector can strengthen its approach to talent development. This included exploring strategies for attracting new people into building services engineering, providing effective education and training, supporting people throughout their careers and retaining skilled professionals within the industry.
Bringing together expertise from across the sector
The conference brought together a broad range of perspectives from industry, academia and the wider engineering profession.
Speakers represented organisations including Hoare Lea, EngineeringUK, the Technical Apprenticeship Consortium (TAC), The Retrofit Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering, UCL, the Engineering Council, Foster + Partners, Greenworkx, London South Bank University, the University of the West of England and Energy Systems Catapult.
Their participation reflected the breadth of collaboration required to address the skills challenge. Developing the future workforce cannot be achieved by any one part of the sector alone; it requires engagement between employers, educators, professional institutions, policymakers and those responsible for supporting people into and throughout engineering careers.
Supporting a resilient, diverse and future-ready profession
As the built environment responds to decarbonisation, digitalisation and evolving expectations around building safety and performance, ensuring the sector has access to people with the right skills and expertise will be fundamental.
The CIBSE Skills and Future Workforce Conference provided an opportunity to bring those conversations together, examining both the challenges facing the profession today and the opportunities to develop a stronger and more diverse talent pipeline for the years ahead.
Through events such as the Skills and Future Workforce Conference, CIBSE continues to provide a platform for knowledge sharing, collaboration and industry-wide discussion on the issues shaping the future of building engineering.