AUE Conference 2023
This year’s AUE Conference was hosted by University of Warwick between 6th and 8th September.
The theme was “Engineering Compliance for a Sustainable Future” 95 delegates attended a choice of 5 plenary and 6 workshop sessions covering topics from “Warwick’s Response to Net Zero Carbon – A global and institutional perspective to “Dark Skies or Safer Streets?”. These took place throughout the whole of Thursday and also Friday morning.
Our student accommodation was in Bluebell Halls whilst the Retired Group were looked after in the Radcliffe Hotel.
Bluebell Halls were a short walk from Rootes Restaurant /Fusion Sports Bar where all refreshments were laid on. Just across the road – into the blazing sunshine 30oC! – were the exhibition and plenary sessions held in the Warwick Arts Centre. Workshops took place in the Social Sciences Building. YourVision Events – familiar faces and new – ably guided us through the whole conference, always on hand with friendly assistance. A number of us drove to the conference – helpful when you had much luggage and not sure if the trains would be running – the prebooking of the car park was extremely helpful.
Wednesday afternoon was spent on one of three excursions: Windmill Hill Brewery, Warwick Castle or Coventry Transport Musueum. 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 on Wednesday evening in Rootes Fusion Sports Bar. The whole conference was an excellent opportunity for delegates and exhibitors to network face-to-face and many mutually beneficial contacts were made. The Thursday plenary sessions were hosted by Kate Bellingham (nice to welcome her back!)
The more formal Gala Drinks Reception and Gala Dinner took place on Thursday evening in the Panorama Suite of the Rootes Building. Our Gala Dinner Speaker was the fascinating Alexis Conran (writer & presenter of the Real Hustle). Three awards were presented during the dinner – the Harland Roberts Award for the best apprentice/trainee/improver was presented jointly to Dafydd Rhys Owen from Bangor University & George Stanley of University of Birmingham; the Tom Bradley Award for the best member presentation at the conference was awarded to Ged Hunter of University of Warwick (presented with Professor David Elmes and David Hammond). Finally, the John Hallett Award was presented to John Lightowler, for his considerable services to the AUE as AUE Secretary retiring after diligently keeping the AUE Executive on track for the past 10 years. Many congratulations to them all.
Well done to Jon Shortt, Neil Hughes & Heather Loosemore, YourVision Events and the whole Conference Steering Group for arranging another fabulous 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 Feed the Hungry UK/Coventry Foodbank . 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 £1,310 to this worthwhile cause.
This year’s conference was particularly important as we experience huge environmental concerns, huge budgetary limitations and (as a result of Brexit) the transfer from EU to UK Legislation.
The Conference concluded with a presentation by Nik Smith, inviting us to the 2024 AUE Conference at University of Surrey in Guildford between 4th and 6th September 2024. (Look out on the Home page of the 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
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS of Conference 2023
PLENARY SESSIONS (pdfs are attached below)
Plenary 1: Warwick’s Response to Net Zero Carbon – A global and institutional perspective
By: Professor David Elmes, Warwick Business School, David Hammond, Capital Programme Director and Gerard Hunter, Head of Building Services and Infrastructure (all of University of Warwick)
Plenary 2: The SMART approach to net zero carbon
By: Trevor Payne, Director of Estates, University of Birmingham
Plenary 3: Engineering Compliance Friend or Foe?
By: Peter D Batty CEng. FEI Owner, PDB Training Ltd
Plenary 4: Implications of recent safety developments, including the Building Safety Act, for those in leadership roles
By: John Phillips, Director of Health and Safety, University of Warwick
Plenary 5: How can we achieve resilience and net zero?
By: Professor Andrew Quinn, Professor of Climate Adaptation, University of Birmingham, and Dr Rebeckah Trinder, Instructional Designer, Net Zero Together Bootcamp at the University of Birmingham
Workshop 1A: Capital Projects the do’s and don’ts of a scheme/project
By Chris Knight BSc (Hons), Training Manager and Jim Perry, Authorising Engineer (Water,) both of HYDROP E.C.S.
Workshop 1B: Net Zero Carbon Building Design
By: Hannack Kissick, Associate and Dr Stephen Ball, Director and Head of Sustainability, both of Couch Perry Wilkes (CPW)
Workshop 1C: T5/T8 Refurbishment – Energy Savings and New Legislation
By: Graeme Shaw, Technical Director for the UK and Ireland, Zumbotel
Workshop 2A: Reducing Energy and Carbon by up to 30% using ISO 52120
By: Steve Loughney, Technical Director, SSE Energy Solutions
Workshop 2B: Dark Skies or Safer Streets?
By: Andy Etherton, Strategic Solutions Manager and Campus Lead, Urbis Schréder
Workshop 2C: Carbon savings using battery storage with or without your UPS
By: Russell Bulley, Senior Application Engineer, Vertiv