Professional Development
Overview
InTandem strives to work with young people to develop their passion for building services engineering and specifically BEMS (Building Management Systems) where our specialism lies. This encouragement takes place both externally at local schools/colleges/universities and internally within our own workforce. Our internal code of practice focuses on exposing all new recruits to the whole spectrum of BEMS (eg as part of their induction they all do a bitesize course on wiring diagrams and build their own small control panel). By ensuring that they experience all aspects of BEMS from system design/BEMS install/fault-finding/commissioning/controls strategy/graphics/ energy efficiency reviews they see first hand the potential career pathways within our organisation and the wider BSE sector.
intandem industry placement - t level control panel building course
In June 2023, InTandem welcomed some ‘T-Level’ students and recently qualified graduates for a one week industry placement ‘taster session’ to learn about BEMS control panels.
The T Level students said they learnt so much in the space of this week, having gone from zero knowledge to understanding components, trunking, crimping and actually making the entire enclosure! It was great to see them all genuinely excited by what they’ve learnt and the progress they have made this week. They all said they will be taking away some useful knowledge and this in turn will make the classroom learning more fluid now they have the practical understanding of building a Control Panel Enclosure from scratch.
“Simon (InTandem’s Head Panel Builder) was easy to talk to and the course has been a challenge, but enjoyable, very interactive, informative and supportive. We have learnt so much more than expected”.
One of the graduates was so impressed with the course and materials used that his company will be investing in a training panel enclosure in order to be used for them to do a certain amount of in-house training. Brilliant to have a practical item to use and demonstrate with.
Finishing with a completed self-assessment of how each student felt they did, marking their own abilities out of 10 in all aspects of the course, feedback and positive encouragement was given to take back and help progress with their learning.
On asking how they felt the week had gone, they all agreed that it had been an invaluable and enjoyable experience so InTandem will definitely be running this ‘workshop’ again to help give future generations a taster of what BEMS is all about.
Training schemes
With regards to training schemes, as an SME InTandem has actively worked with the BCIA (Building Controls Industry Association) and it’s Skills Employer Group to develop the Level 4 BEMS Controls Engineer Trailblazer so that the skills gap in BEMS can be bridged. This Trailblazer was formally approved in February 2020 and as Chair of the group, our Commercial Director now works with training providers to promote the scheme.
InTandem also develops BEMS Engineers through the suite of BCIA Specialist courses which are now delivered online through a live course platform. In addition InTandem has supported the development of the new ‘T Levels’ in construction (BSE) at a national level by becoming a ‘T Level Ambassador’ company as well as the Commercial Director becoming an Ofqual Industry Expert reviewing the ‘T Level’ BSE qualification. We also support the promotion of ‘T Level’s’ (both IT, Engineering and Construction) at a local level by offering industry placements which are a mandatory part of this qualification (so lots of businesses will need to be engaged) and participating in the college Industry Advisory Boards. See www.hsdc.ac.uk/study-with-us/t-levels/ and www.fareham.ac.uk/courses/t-level-in-building-services-engineering-for-construction-electrotechnical-engineering-specialism/.
Continuing professional development
All staff are encouraged to actively participate in continuing professional development based on their individual needs/interests/aptitudes and InTandem pays all their course/membership fees and paid time off to attend college/courses/revision sessions as well as allocating mentors to help them with specific skills/knowledge gaps. They are also encouraged/supported to get involved in outside activities to further themselves/BEMS sector/engineering curiosity and this has included :
- Working with local charities eg upgrading the building controls at a local hospice/volunteering at steam fair on equipment maintenance/energy efficiency reviews and controls strategy fine-tuning for community theatre groups.
- Attending Career Futures events at local schools/colleges/universities which involved the planning/building of a BEMS Remote monitoring demo unit. This enables them to show students and get them inspired by the typical activities that a BEMS Controls Engineer gets involved with as part of their role eg balancing building controls in a theatre production featuring atmospheric mist/ adapting conditions in football players training facilities/minimising energy usage whilst maximising user comfort & wellbeing in hospitals.
Promoting bems
Within InTandem there is also significant involvement in promoting the industry to future generations and those just entering the workplace through:
– Securing of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Innovate UK and University of Portsmouth which has involved developing links with young engineers through running Live Projects/seminars with undergraduates (BEMS Model development using our premises as a control site) and project enhancements with post-graduates and overseas students (e.g. degree day adjustments for BEMS).
– Offering final year undergraduates dissertation topics/support/mentoring/equipment loan and sponsoring e.g. leak detection unit development.
– Work experience placements for both school/college students to give them exposure to engineering environments to help them choose/confirm their career path e.g. we work with a local college and their Level 2 students to let them try out their potential career pathway before they (and us) commit to the 3 year apprenticeship programme and this has helped improve retention levels.
– Attending industry conferences and exhibitions to promote BEMS as a career. For example, Wendy recently attended the SMART Buildings show and took part in a Panel Discussion to address skills shortages.
dIVERSE WORKFORCE AND THE COVID-19 years
To encourage a diverse workforce InTandem offers an inclusive flexible work environment where staff are recruited based on aptitude rather than specific qualification requirements thus ensuring that those who may not have achieved exceptionally academically at school can still progress/excel in engineering. This is supported internally by targeted mentoring and individual training plans, e.g. one of our team is originally from Venezuela so has had extra support with technical translations from Spanish to English.
The COVID-19 years have for all of us been more challenging than usual but for InTandem the main focus was ensuring all staff remained engaged and supported as standard operating procedures on sites change and building parameters had to be adapted. No engineers were furloughed so the challenge was to manage individual circumstances to access the workplace/home working as well as progressing CPD despite the challenges of remote working.
Role of apprenticeships
Apprenticeship programs (primarily through Eastleigh College and Group Horizon) play a key role in the growth of InTandem. Through a lot of hard work many apprentices have progressed through the company and found a diverse range of roles within it.
DIGITAL SKILLS and Sharing knowledge
Within the InTandem Team we encourage everyone to learn from each other as they all have knowledge/skills/insights to share from their diverse backgrounds/experiences and their differing routes into BEMS. This applies to our apprentices, adult learners, under-graduates, post-graduates and experienced workers and is spearheaded by the MD who is a CIBSE Fellow and the Commercial Director who is the Trailblazer Chair for BEMS Controls Engineers.
Recently InTandem has actively worked with University of Portsmouth to bring young engineers and IT specialists into our workplace in order to raise the profile of engineering and digital skills within our BEMS business. We now offer a year long placement, as well as summer internships, for undergraduates which helps embed these specialist skills within our sector and this also helps placement students see how IT can be applied in the BSE sector. E.g. especially through the growth of ‘high level’ integration of third party equipment, graphics platforms, remote monitoring and making information from all these integrated systems available for data capture and analytics that is driving increased building performance.
Specialist training
Other work specific training is also encouraged such as Leadership and Management training and for this InTandem partner with providers like PETA, a local, not-for-profit training organisation.
