HVAC Systems Group has performance gap in sights

The CIBSE HVAC Systems special interest group (SIG) was launched at Build2Perform Live, at London Olympia, and aims to bring together all elements of the supply chain to improve the performance of buildings.

It will focus on the ‘core issues’ that mean HVAC systems are ‘not designed as well as they could be and don’t perform as well as they should’, said group chairman Tony Day, of the Tyndall National Institute, Cork.

‘We need to be thinking about our designs as complete systems – not individual products – and in terms of lifetime performance,’ Day told the launch event. ‘Collaboration across the whole supply chain is crucial.’

Property management specialist Phil Draper, of Broadgate Estates – a member of the group’s
committee – said building managers were often left with the impossible challenge of making
‘incomplete systems’ work with no money. ‘We end up asking people, who don’t have the right skills, to fix the problem without upsetting the client – and they often make it worse,’ he said.

Membership of the HVAC Systems Group is free and its first event is on 24 January.