My building services career so far - never a dull moment

Adrian Catchpole, a Fellow of CIBSE and Director of Ipswich-based engineering practice, Johns Slater and Haward, Chartered Building Services Consultants, is set to become the next President of CIBSE.

In considering his career to date and responding to current CIBSE President Kevin Mitchell's #CIBSE125Challenges, Adrian reflects on his story so far…

I was born and grew up in Suffolk, where I still live and work. Ipswich has great transport links and we do most of our work within a two-hour radius of the office, so I have never felt the urge to wander any further afield.

When I left Secondary School at 16, I wasn't interested in going to University – I just wanted to work, so I joined Johns Slater and Haward as a trainee Mechanical Engineer and attended Colchester Institute on a day-release basis for my Ordinary National Certificate (ONC).

In 1987, I joined Ipswich Borough Council as an Assistant Engineer, where I was responsible for designing mechanical services installations for its housing stock and premises such as the arts and entertainment venues, car parks, licensed premises, cemeteries and crematorium, parks and recreation, museums and art galleries and sports and swimming pools. During this time, I completed my HNC (Higher National Diploma). At this point, I realized I did need University if I wanted to go further, so I also did a part-time BEng (Hons) in Building Services Engineering at the University of Hertfordshire. In 1995, I qualified as a Chartered Engineer.

These days, of course, it is much easier to learn while you earn through the excellent Apprenticeship Schemes we now have, and CIBSE is central to these.

In April 2001, I returned to Johns Slater and Haward, as a salaried Partner. In 2004, the business was incorporated, and I became a Director and Shareholder.

Since then, I have been involved in a wide range of projects, from one-off housing refurbishments to multi-million-pound commercial developments.

I am always surprised how exciting and varied our working lives as engineers can be. I have surveyed plant and equipment on rooftops overlooking towns and cities across the county (including one that looked down into the Emirates Stadium!). I have designed close control air conditioning for the art gallery that houses artwork by landscape masters Constable and Gainsborough. I have designed the services for a community clinic 'Meccano' style, using shipping containers that were transported to Africa and then bolted together and I have developed a carbon reduction plan for the UK's busiest container port.

…as any building services engineer will tell you – there really is never a dull moment!

You can find out more about the #CIBSE125Challenges via https://www.cibse.org/about-cibse/governance/cibse-president/cibse-1-2-5-challenges or contact us at [email protected]