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| Building-controls training in action - consultant Keith Doherty leads the first session of the new training scheme administered by the Electrical Contractors' Association. |
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Training for the controls industry takes a giant step forward
The development and launch of new qualifications and training courses for the controls industry meets a long-felt need.
Collaboration between the Building Controls Group, the Controls System Specialists Group and the Electrical Contractors' Association has culminated in the development of engineering credentials for the building-controls industry.
Generic controls training
Two qualifications have been created to provide a standard of generic controls training that the three parties expect will become a standard for the whole building controls industry. The qualifications are:
- Building Controls Industry Technical Certificate;
- Building Controls Industry Advanced Technical Certificate.
Terry Sharp of Invensys and chairman of the Building Controls Group explains the need for these new qualifications. 'Building controls is a specialist discipline that also requires a working knowledge of a broad range of building-services plant and equipment. To date, controls training has been provided by individual manufacturers, which have, naturally, concentrated on the specifics of their product. A cohesive set of training modules that approaches building controls from a generic standpoint has not been widely available. The BCG and CSSG recognised the need for a comprehensive generic training programme, and, with many companies recruiting their engineers from the electrical industry, it was obvious that the Electrical Contractors' Association, would prove a viable partner.'
Modules
The training scheme comprises six modules spread over three levels.
'Introduction to HVAC & Building Technology' provides a firm foundation for those students new to building controls. Experienced engineers seeking to gain a recognised building-controls qualification can be exempt from the foundation course. To achieve BCI Technical Certificate level, students are expected to pass the fundamentals of building controls, incorporating the modules 'Measuring and control technology' and 'Hydraulics'. For the Advanced Certificate, pass rates in three further modules are required: 'Control functions in heating plants', 'Control of ventilation and air conditioning' and 'Refrigeration technology'.
BCG member Siemens Building Technologies has provided the course material. Siemens has licensed the use of its training material, which includes printed manuals as well as CD-based worksheets, to the Electrical Contractors' Association. Stephen Plant of Business Development training for the Electrical Contractors' Association explains, 'The association already has a long-established and well respected training programme and structure in place, and these new courses will become part of that operation.'
Immense support
The BCG and CSSG acknowledge the immense support that Siemens has provided in allowing the groups access to its in-house training material, which has been thoroughly updated and rendered generic in nature. The two groups also acknowledge the substantial financial support provided by their parent organisation, the Energy Systems Trade Association, throughout the creation period of these new qualifications and their launch to the industry.
Explaining the need for the new qualifications, Doug Robins of AES Controls Systems and chairman of the Controls Systems Specialists Group, says, 'Building controls represents a specialised but broad-spectrum discipline. In order to safeguard its future, we must establish a path of training, technical self-regulation and recruitment. The building-controls-industry courses offered by the Electrical Contractors' Association offer specific building-controls qualifications that we hope will encourage more people into the industry through a clearly defined career structure.'
It is expected that the Building Controls Technical Training Scheme will help fill the void of technical training caused by the virtual demise of apprenticeship schemes and publicly available academic courses caused by industry de-manning due to a rapid decline in business during the period 1991 to 1993.
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