AUE Conference 2019
This year’s AUE Conference was hosted by Lancaster University, between 4th and 6th September.
The theme was “The Resilient Estate – Engineering Continuity in Higher Education”. 100 delegates attended a choice of 11 plenary/workshop sessions (see below for more details) covering topics from “Smart Energy Networks and Hydrogen Blending”, “Mindfulness for Engineers – Enhancing Wellbeing and Focus” to “What Happens when the Lights go out?” The plenary sessions took place throughout the whole of Thursday and also Friday morning. It was good to see so many new members attending and the Retired Group was also well represented.
Delegate accommodation was in Cartmel Student Accommodation, a short stroll to Barker House Farm where Breakfast and the Informal Dinner were to be found, while the Trade Exhibition was well situated within the Marquee in Lancaster Square. Assured Events and university staff were available to ensure the whole conference ran as smoothly as ever. There was ample parking for those of us who chose to drive to the conference.
Wednesday afternoon was spent on one of the three excursions: Lancaster Canal Kingfisher Cruise, Lancaster Castle and Lancaster Brewery. This was followed by the official opening of the Trade Exhibition – our first chance to meet up with the 50 exhibitors. The delegates, exhibitors and retired members enjoyed an informal buffet dinner in Barker House Farm where we tasted a range of Lancashire fare from hotpot to Eccles cakes.
The whole conference was an excellent opportunity for delegates and exhibitors to network face-to-face and many mutually beneficial contacts were made. The parallel plenary sessions held all day Thursday and Friday morning were expertly hosted by Kate Bellingham, (TV Presenter and Engineer) and Henry Gun-Why (long associated with the AUE).
The more formal Gala Drinks Reception and Gala Dinner took place on Thursday evening again on campus within the LICA Building. Our Gala Dinner Speaker was the hilarious Chris Barrie of Red Dwarf and Spitting Image fame. Three awards were presented during the dinner – the Harland Roberts Award for the best apprentice/trainee was presented to Charlotte Richardson of University of Kent and the Tom Bradley Award for the best member presentation at the conference was awarded to Paul Richards and Ashley Hulme both of Keele University. Finally, the John Hallett Award was presented to Simon Corless for his considerable services to the AUE, in chairing the North West Region since 2015 and also hosting this year’s very successful conference (for the second time). Many congratulations to them all.
Simon Corless paid tribute to John Hallett, one our founder members who played an active role in the association well into his retirement, who sadly passed away on 29th June 2019, following a bravely fought battle with cancer.
Many thanks to Simon Corless and the whole Assured Events team for arranging another show-stopping conference.
As always, we are indebted to our Sponsors and Exhibitors, without whom the conference could not take place. Please click here for contact details/profiles.
Charity
This year the AUE are proud to be supporting Cancer Care. To help raise funds, a special fundraiser game was organised for the Gala Dinner “Heads or Tails”. Attendees at this year’s AUE Conference donated a total of £1,170.46 to this deserving cause. https://www.cancercare.org.uk
In the ever-changing climate, engineers are responsible for ensuring that their buildings and campuses are resilient against both internal and external factors and operate in a productive and cost-effective manner, as well as providing a pleasant working environment and experience for all staff and students.
The diverse programme presented key insights into system resilience through innovation, energy savings and risk management; using contemporary case studies to provide examples of how institutions are future-proofing their estates.
The Conference concluded with a presentation by Lewis Matthews, inviting us to the very special AUE 50th Annual Conference at University of Stirling between 9th and 11th September 2020. (Look out on the Home page of the AUE website for more information and your chance to qualify for the limited early bird rate.) See you there!
Click here to see some more photos taken during the conference.
Conference Highlights Video 2019
Click here to view Case Studies
Exhibitor/Sponsor Contact Details
Plenary Sessions
Plenary 1: Smart Energy Networks and Hydrogen Blending
By: Ashley Hulme, Head of Engineering Planning and Paul Richards, Principal Mechanical Engineer, both of Keele University
Plenary 2: Mindfulness for Engineers: Enhancing Wellbeing and Focus
By: Martin Summerfield, Mindfulness Trainer, Anchor Point Mindfulness
Plenary 3: Delivering Better Returns from HE Estates and Facilities Investments
By: John O'Brien, Founder and MD, LCMB Building Performance Ltd
Plenary 4: What Happens when the Lights go out?
By: Simon Corless, Electrical Engineer and Julie Ferguson, Emergency Planning and Risk Manager, both of Lancaster University
Workshop 1A: Resilience of Building Services Engineering Systems
By: Stephen Dunne, Engineering Services Manager, Solent University and Gary Orchard, Compliance and Improvements Engineer, Southampton University
Workshop 1B: Energy Savings Through Transformer Losses
By: Erika Wilson, Managing Director, Wilson Power Solutions
Workshop 1C: Wind Turbine Tour
Workshp 2A: Water Management
By: Michael Spray, Project Manager and Keith Stoops, Techical Specialist - Water Infrastructure, both of Waterco Limited
Workshop 2B: Resilience Through Innovation
By: Andrew Howard, Innovation Programme Manager and Delroy Ainsworth, Innovation Project Manager, both of Electricity North West Limited
Workshop 2C: Energy Centre Tour