This year’s BESA Annual Conference on Thursday, October 22 will focus on how building engineering firms can make legal and technical compliance a strategic business advantage rather than a box-ticking exercise.
The overall theme: ‘Beyond Compliance’: Raising Standards, Proving Competence, Delivering Better Buildings reflects the numerous challenges facing the industry. The conference, which is sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric, will provide a variety of routes for going beyond simply complying to ensure long-term business growth.
Against a backdrop of increased pressure on contractors’ costs and raised risk levels, a range of expert speakers will argue that investment in competence, quality and resilience should be seen as essential for business survival, reputation and the delivery of safer, better-performing buildings.
The packed one-day programme is being held at The Brewery, London for the third year in a row ahead of the Association’s annual Industry Awards taking place at the same venue that evening.
Product innovation will also be under the spotlight, and this element of the event is sponsored by indoor air quality specialist airo. A quick-fire series of presentations following the ‘PechaKucha’ seven-minute format will also focus on BESA’s growing library of technical standards with focused Q&A to follow.
There are also two CPD theatres sponsored by the BESA Academy and the whole conference is fully CPD certified by CIBSE.
Scrutiny
There will be key sessions focused on wider business challenges such as competence strategies that employers can defend in the face of increased legislative scrutiny; the risks of becoming an ‘inadvertent designer’ under the Building Safety Act, and how to thrive and stay profitable in a high cost, high compliance environment.
The BESA Conference 2026 will also examine how net zero, technical best practice and AI are reshaping the future of the building engineering sector. A panel made up of senior figures from the firms featured in this year’s Top 30 Contractors’ Report (due to be published later this month) will also examine key growth areas such as data centres, healthcare, defence and public sector upgrades.
There will be the usual heavy focus on skills and recruitment with a WorldSkills UK Training Room taking pride of place for the first time. This will be a dedicated technical learning space offering accessible and practical sessions for all conference attendees.
The room is designed to support the development and preparation of this year’s WorldSkills UK competitors, but the content is also designed to be relevant, engaging, and beneficial for anyone interested in building engineering services and related technologies.
“Once again we will be challenging our delegates to consider how we should address some of the biggest issues facing the sector while also offering them specific practical tools to help them in their day-to-day working lives,” said BESA chief executive officer David Frise.
“Trying to grow a business in these exceptionally challenging times can be a lonely experience, but that is where the BESA community comes into its own. We have so much to share and learn from each other,” added Frise, who will be engaging in a ‘fireside chat’ session with US counterpart Tim Brink from the MCAA.
Early bird tickets are available now and more information can be found on the BESA Conference website.