Modern Building Services

20 MODERN BUILDING SERVICES JUNE 2022 FEATURE COMMISSIONING Commission Specialists Association (CSA) and its members demonstrate strong resilience Everyone will agree that it has been a rough couple of years. But – and it’s a BIG but – once again the construction industry has shown its willingness to adapt and adjust. The general consensus is that it has done well to be where it is today. In this article, Keith Barker of the CSA, illustrates how resilience throughout the COVID pandemic has paid dividends. T he CSA and its Members have more than played their part and shown great flexibility and a ‘Can-Do’ attitude. Our members have managed to progress commissioning onmost of their major projects such as Crossrail, the Northern Line Extension, Battersea Power Station, and UoMManchester Engineering Campus Development to name just a few - all while working within the Covid constraints and keeping themselves and others as safe as possible. We have maintained services to the commissioning companies via the secretariat turning their homes into makeshift offices and using lots of video conferencing and traditional phone calls. We’ve kept going throughout, including keeping our highly respected training courses fully operational and well attended. Unfortunately, the pandemic did cost us in some particularly important areas. We reached our 30th Birthday in 2020, and we had plans for quite a celebration of such an important milestone. Sadly, those plans had to be put aside, and now we are in 2022, celebrating our 32nd Birthday doesn’t quite have the same resonance. Never mind, we’ll look forward to our 40th celebrations! Another casualty for us was our Conference which was due to be staged at the end of March 2020 under the headline title of ‘Making Buildings Work’. Fortunately, we’ve managed to keep it all together and there is a full day’s program in place, whereby eminent speakers from across the construction industry will be providing insights into how commissioning interfaces and interacts with each and every stage of a construction project. The presentations will be supported by a range of trade stands and product displays by leading suppliers, so it promises to be a highly practical and informative day. The event, which is fully endorsed by MBS magazine, will be held at 30 St Mary Axe, in the building in the City of London known as the ‘Gherkin’. Most people don’t realise that there are very well appointed and serviced event spaces on some of the upper floors. Delegates can even treat themselves to some fine dining afterwards in Searcy’s Helix restaurant. The conference will take place onWednesday 22nd June, so if you haven’t yet booked your place, you can do so by visiting the dedicated website - www.csa-conference.co.uk/ and completing the online booking form. Heavily subsidised by us, this is a ‘must-attend’ event for anyone involved in property development, architecture, services consultancy, main contracting, MEP services and of course commissioning.