About BESA
BESA For Better Buildings
For more than 120 years, BESA (The Building Engineering Services Association) has been driving excellence so everyone can expect and experience better buildings, and better buildings support better lives.
We were formerly known as the Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association (HVCA).
We provide standards to measure up to. We do this so building engineers and operators know what best looks like and what it takes to achieve, helping them make the right choices.
We’ve Got Your Back
As a trade body and membership organisation, we’re here to help our members and their customers deliver or specify better building engineering services and a better built environment.
We support members of all shapes and sizes across the UK, from SMEs to global organisations across design, installation, commissioning, maintenance, control and management of engineering systems and services in buildings. BESA provides a wide range of support services from training courses and advice to sharing best practice and opportunities to network and secure new business.
Passionate About Building Engineering Services
The bedrock of a better built environment is best practice. At BESA we are on a quest to instil higher technical excellence, robust skills and clear accreditations across the industry. Our mission is to help our members demonstrate competence and evidence compliance to essential standards.
We work ceaselessly to understand the issues, best practice and changes needed to deliver better buildings. We help firms active in the sector meet these challenges and their businesses thrive.
As a community, we are all striving for a safer, greener, fairer, built environment. We believe that excellence and best practice should win the day and mean success for those who believe in it too.
To make change in the status quo, BESA campaigns, champions and consults on all these issues with influencers, decision makers and government.
We are the voice of our members, listening to their needs and concerns and making them our passion.
Our focus in on four key areas:
Safe Buildings
The Building Safety Act will bring about much needed radical change to ensure the safety of our buildings. BESA provides expert input on legislation, guidance, technical standards, competencies and industry processes.
We will also ensure that all our contractors, large or small have the tools they need to meet these new requirements.
Healthy Buildings
We spend 90% of our time indoors so the quality of indoor air can have a massive impact on all our lives.
BESA works with campaigners to raise awareness of the importance of indoor air quality (IAQ) and adequate ventilation. We also develop guidance, best practice and technical specifications to help us all enjoy healthier buildings, making them our safe havens.
If we are to have better buildings, we need skilled and competent engineers who know how to comply with industry standards and deliver the job properly.
We champion the recruitment, training, development and retention of skilled workers in our sector. Quite simply we need more of the right people, with the right skills delivering the right work. To achieve this we need to encourage greater diversity in our industry.
We are involved in supporting the whole skills process. From developing the technical standards and competencies needed, to the relevant skills training and the way to prove you have them.
We help contractors and individuals prove they can do the job right.
Engineering services are a vital component of the UK’s drive towards net zero carbon. Our members have a real role to play by designing, fitting, retrofitting and maintaining efficient heating and cooling in buildings.
BESA are working with partners to help this drive to net zero.
We support the CLC Domestic Retrofit Strategy, changes to more sustainable practices and promote low carbon technologies.
We can't deliver better buildings without better business practices to support the companies doing the hard work.
We support a whole-life, value-led approach to procurement, leaving the race to the bottom behind. This means ensuring the design, specification and contracting of buildings is fit for purpose at each stage.
We also need to improve payment practices to protect our sub-contract supply chain. Companies can't deliver great work if they are not paid fairly or on time.
Companies And Industry Services
In addition to our core trade association and membership body role, we also operate a number of additional companies and services, all providing essential services and support to building engineers from training and certification to software and employee benefits.
BESA Academy - Online courses, training centres, welding centres, apprenticeship and experienced worker information.
Vent Hygiene Register - is the UK's number one register for vent hygiene contractors. The vent hygiene community for demonstrating organisational compliance, helping you win more work and evidencing technical excellence.
Competent Person Scheme - Industry recognised scheme allows businesses to self-certify that their works comply with the building regulations without the need to notify Building Control in advance or incur costly local authority inspection fees.
SKILLcard - Many construction and site managers request that their workers hold a SKILLcard before coming on site.
REFCOM - the leading F-Gas register in the UK, plus REFCOM Elite, an Elite voluntary best practice registration scheme, to promote environmentally responsible refrigerant management, and REFCOM Elite Supplier, which is for manufacturers, distributors or wholesalers to demonstrate they have signed up to and been assessed against a voluntary code of conduct designed to level the playing field on the supply chain and better enforce the F-Gas Regulations.
Heat Interface Units - The UK test standard for Heat Interface Units, developed to assess UK heat network operating parameters, is regarded as an important step towards improving the overall performance of British district heating schemes.
SFG20 - A unique, mobile-enabled, maintenance system that’s essential for anyone who owns or manages facilities.
Welplan - Providing benefits can be a cost effective way to recruit and retain employees. Whether you have one employee or thousands, Welplan is your one stop shop for employee benefit solutions.
Our Partners
BESA are partners and members of a number of leading industry trade organisations and associations. This enables us to provide our members with access to exclusive and valuable industry insight, forecast and analysis, helping you get ahead of the curve, win more work and futureproof your business.
Meet Our Teams
As a membership organisation, our Presidential team is an essential part of our structure. Elected every year from our membership, they provide valued insight, guidance and direction. Our executive and management teams lead on strategy to deliver organisational objectives and deliver day to day operations.
Read more about our governance and constitution.
BESA Presidential Team
- ADRIAN HURLEY - BESA President
- PETE CURTIS - BESA President Elect
- ANNA SHEPHARD - BESA Vice President
- CLAIRE CURRAN - Immediate Past President
Executive Team
- DAVID FRISE - BESA Chief Executive
- SKYE HARDY - BESA Group Finance Director
- KIRSTY COGAN - Managing Director of Commercial Services
- DEBBIE PETFORD - Director of Member Services | Solicitor