AIRAH

Convention, intention, and what’s next

Opinion: Learning is for everyone – all the time, writes Professor Gayle Avery.

Raising the profile of the HVAC&R building services industry is a goal that runs across all AIRAH’s activities.

By the time you are reading this almost half of 2023 will have flashed by. It’s incredible how time speeds up as you get older. How is the year progressing for you?

For Simon Witts, M.AIRAH, it’s the complex projects and designs that keep him going. We chat with the national division director, engineering for VA Sciences, based in Melbourne.

Recognising performance that goes above and beyond doesn’t always have to be expensive, writes Dr Gayle Avery. But it does have to be executed properly and appropriately.

How to ensure that budding HVAC&R building services professionals get the support they need? AIRAH firmly believes mentorship is the way forward.

It’s one thing to manage a business when times are good, but what do you do during difficult times – such as in an economic slowdown?

High-temporal-resolution precipitation data of the past along with other data of weather elements are required for applications in the design and simulation of built environments. However, the available data of precipitation is either low-resolution, e.g., daily, or not long enough to produce reliable and climate-responsive results for built environment applications.

Joe Biviano, M.AIRAH, may have left behind the hurly-burly of the workaday world, but he’s still a loyal member of the Institute.

Sydney-based Peter Lowndes, F.AIRAH, is director of EecMec, a specialist in commissioning, and an assessor for AIRAH’s Postgraduate Diploma in Buildings Services – HVAC&R. He also loves the life aquatic.

During my time in the employ of this venerable Institute, it’s regularly astounded me how frequently our name is mispronounced.

AIRAH used the occasion of International Women’s Day to celebrate women in HVAC&R, and discuss how to address the gender pay gap.

Following a detailed recruitment process, the AIRAH Board has appointed Trish Hyde to the role of AIRAH Chief Executive.

Well, it’s a little late, but I hope that you have had the opportunity to take a well‑earned break over the summer. Let’s face it: in January the construction industry usually grinds to a halt, and just about everybody you’re trying to reach is away. We all need the chance to rest and recharge.

Based in Sydney, Maddy Johnson, Affil.AIRAH, is a graduate mechanical engineer at A.G. Coombs, working in the Projects team.

Sydney-based Stephen Podetti, M.AIRAH, is the founder and director of Quality Air Equipment.

In 2019, Australian energy ministers agreed on the need for the Trajectory for Low Energy Buildings (the Trajectory). One of the key aspects in the Trajectory for residential buildings is to expand the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) to offer nationally accredited whole-of-home (WoH) tools to enable compliance requirements in the National Construction Code (NCC).