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BESA Annual Conference 2024

The BESA Annual Conference took place last week, and four members of the Swiftclean team attended. The event was held at The Brewery in London, where Swiftclean hosted a stand in the skills area. The stand was managed by Richard Crews, our head trainer at the Swiftclean Academy, along with Vinney Wall, our Integrated Systems Support Administrator.

Vinney and Richard

Gary Nicholls, our Managing Director, and Martin Hembling, our Commercial Director, attended the conference to learn about industry developments and updates and attended panel discussions including the update on DW145, the Guide to Good Practice for the Installation of Fire and Smoke Dampers.

David Frise, BESA Chairman

Gary said, “The conference is a great way to be kept updated on the latest thinking in the industry. One thing that struck me was the mention by one of the BESA Conference Keynote Speakers – Pete Apps (Author of ‘The Bodies’) – about the Grenfell disaster, calling it ‘A black elephant event’ – a known potential disaster waiting to happen.

It made me wonder if kitchen extracts are yet another ‘Black Elephant’ waiting to happen? We know how many fires break out in extraction ducts where they are not maintained to TR19® Grease and regularly people are evacuated from buildings, sometimes treated for smoke inhalation.

If anyone responsible for the maintenance of kitchen extraction had listened to the Keynote address today, I guarantee they would take this so much more seriously”.

The conference emphasized four key themes, known as the “four Rs”—Roles, Responsibilities, Risks, and Rewards—highlighting the growing legislative pressures and contractual risks, while also addressing new business opportunities. 

Key discussions covered technical topics such as the impact of the Building Safety Act, net-zero initiatives, indoor air quality, and water efficiency.

The event also featured a strong focus on skills development and training, with BESA’s “Play it Safe” campaign guiding participants on their roles under new legislation.

Young engineers from BESA’s NextGen Network led discussions on emerging technologies and demonstrated how AI can enhance productivity.

Martin added, “It was interesting to learn more about the role of AI particularly in our industry, and how this could impact our reporting moving forward.”

Richard and Gary stayed on for the evening celebrations including the industry awards, sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric and hosted by stand-up comedian Tom Ward.

At the awards ceremony, Swiftclean was nominated for the Training Provider of the Year category. Although we didn’t win, we want to take this opportunity to congratulate Ideal Heating for their victory in that category, as well as all the other award winners of the night!

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