I hope like me, you all had a good festive break - it now seems so long ago and 2015 has started off at a pace.
The end of 2014 saw the appointment of a new Vice President (Events), congratulations to Scott Pengelly and I look forward to all of your input to our future events, sponsorship and training. If you have any suggestions for Scott or would like to assist him, please contact him at vp.events@theilp.org.uk
We have announced the opening of two events for exhibition booking - Light Scene and the ILP Summit, with booking being taken within hours of opening, follow the links here for more details and availability www.theilp.org.uk/news/first-exhibitors-of-2015-announced/
Light Scene will see the start of a new relationship with the Rail Alliance http://www.railalliance.co.uk/ which we hope will forge closer working with the Rail industry and help members with new training and educational / networking opportunities into the Rail sector, which is a target for our new Vice President (H&I) Alan Jaques, again if you have any comments or suggestions for Alan, please contact him via the ILP
Speaking of new relationships, this week saw the start of a new training partnership with BRE (Building Research Establishment) with the first session of
Obtrusive Light: Navigating the Compliance Minefield.
We have recently launched a new Professional Lighting Guide 05 (PLG 05): Brightness of Illuminated Advertisements, which you can purchase and find more information about here https://www.theilp.org.uk/news/ilp-launches-guide-to-illuminated-advertisements/
There are number of new events and news items being added almost daily at present, please check the website, newsletter and twitter for more information.
Earlier this month, the BBC program "Inside Out" ran a feature on street lighting and switch off following an investigation and freedom of information request they made for data regarding local authorities and switch off, the full story can be found here although we (the ILP) were not consulted directly for this feature, we have been approached on a number of other lighting issues by the BBC and we hope this will continue so that we can increasingly get the message across regarding Lighting in the public domain.
I do not condemn switch off, it is often the last resort by a LA to meet increasing budget demands, however, as has been shown by the above investigation and program and numerous other press story's, far to many authorities are pushing ahead with switch off plans without proper consultation and safety audits.
The Institutions approach to this is to provide as much guidance as we can, education and sharing of best practice should provide the competent engineer with a number of resources to apply to their individual situations.
There is no "one size fits all" solution to our current energy and budget issues, switch off can be appropriate at certain sites, but investing in our future with technology and education will provide a long term solution to these issues.
follow me on twitter @mclight0112
Tuesday 27 January 2015
Wednesday 29 October 2014
Energy Crisis?
The last few weeks have been pretty hectic, with meetings and seminars to attend along with day to day business, so its taken this long before I can sit down again and update you with what's happening in the Institution.
This month started with an executive board meeting and an update from our financial advisers, I will leave the complicated business of investments and the financial management to our treasurers a finance manager, but as with our membership numbers, we have turned a corner and are on the correct path to a better financial footing.
There was lots of discussion regarding regional committees and also the role that Councillors take within the region, they are your conduit for suggestions on policy, strategy or to raise issues or technical publication requests - please use them - they are your voice at National Level.
I also attended the Lighting Journal editorial board meeting this month, which is the annual strategy meeting with regard to trying to plan themes and articles for the forthcoming year, as well as a review of the magazine and its design.
If whilst you are attending a regional technical meeting and view a presentation that you think is interesting and informative, then drop us a line via your Councillor or Regional Chair and we will then approach the presenter to create an article for the journal so that all of us can learn from the topic that spiked your interest!
On the 21st October I chaired the most recent Professional Industry Partners (PIP) forum, with the topic of sustainability. We had representatives from each of the PIP's, - WSP / Orangetek / iGuzzini, from the Lighting Industry Asociation (LIA), Recolight, Skanska, Building Research Establishment (BRE) and John Bullock. the whole event has been covered by the lighting Journal and will appear shortly. The event was to try and define "what is sustainability in the lighting industry" and although there was a huge amount of discussion and some agreed conclusions and targets for future discussions, i am not sure we have a conclusive statement.
There's a good reason for that, sustainability means a lot of different things to different people, it is not easy to define. this has been shown again when this week we have had warnings of potential blackouts across the UK due to insufficient energy supply in the grid - what do we do? switch street lights off? build more wind farms? import more gas? start up the old coal fired power station? or all of these things?
it is not a simple solution, its very easy to say use less energy and turn street lights off, but is that a solution? - I would say no, there's far more energy wasted by shops and offices keeping their lights on all night. what we need is a comprehensive understanding of the whole issue and a genuine mix of all of these solutions to the energy crisis, along with education, technology investment and competent engineers and designers to assist clients and government to make informed choices.
contact me at:
This month started with an executive board meeting and an update from our financial advisers, I will leave the complicated business of investments and the financial management to our treasurers a finance manager, but as with our membership numbers, we have turned a corner and are on the correct path to a better financial footing.
There was lots of discussion regarding regional committees and also the role that Councillors take within the region, they are your conduit for suggestions on policy, strategy or to raise issues or technical publication requests - please use them - they are your voice at National Level.
I also attended the Lighting Journal editorial board meeting this month, which is the annual strategy meeting with regard to trying to plan themes and articles for the forthcoming year, as well as a review of the magazine and its design.
If whilst you are attending a regional technical meeting and view a presentation that you think is interesting and informative, then drop us a line via your Councillor or Regional Chair and we will then approach the presenter to create an article for the journal so that all of us can learn from the topic that spiked your interest!
On the 21st October I chaired the most recent Professional Industry Partners (PIP) forum, with the topic of sustainability. We had representatives from each of the PIP's, - WSP / Orangetek / iGuzzini, from the Lighting Industry Asociation (LIA), Recolight, Skanska, Building Research Establishment (BRE) and John Bullock. the whole event has been covered by the lighting Journal and will appear shortly. The event was to try and define "what is sustainability in the lighting industry" and although there was a huge amount of discussion and some agreed conclusions and targets for future discussions, i am not sure we have a conclusive statement.
There's a good reason for that, sustainability means a lot of different things to different people, it is not easy to define. this has been shown again when this week we have had warnings of potential blackouts across the UK due to insufficient energy supply in the grid - what do we do? switch street lights off? build more wind farms? import more gas? start up the old coal fired power station? or all of these things?
it is not a simple solution, its very easy to say use less energy and turn street lights off, but is that a solution? - I would say no, there's far more energy wasted by shops and offices keeping their lights on all night. what we need is a comprehensive understanding of the whole issue and a genuine mix of all of these solutions to the energy crisis, along with education, technology investment and competent engineers and designers to assist clients and government to make informed choices.
contact me at:
twitter @mclight0112
Monday 29 September 2014
the first of many?
My first post as the Institutions President - its been four days since the summit in Solihull and once again I would like to record my thanks to all of the staff at Rugby for the tremendous event they hosted last week.
During my address, I used a phrased that was immortalised by Tony Blair "Education Education Education" this has to become the watchwords for the Institution and is my aim for for my term in office.
I spoke often with many members during the summit regarding my plans for lesson plans and a toolkit to be produced so that you can sign up as a STEM Ambassador (more details here http://www.stemnet.org.uk/) to arrange to visit schools and talk to children about your life as a lighting engineer / designer, it is an extremely rewarding experience and I would encourage more of you to take up this challenge.
I also announced that there will be a vacancy for Vice President Events, as Alan
Jacques has taken up the role as Vice President - Highways and Infrastructure, I wish him well in this new role, which has great importance in representing the Lighting Engineers of the institution and will play a huge role in promoting the institution into other areas of infrastructure with education and membership. If you would like to apply for the role of VP Events, keep an eye on the website https://www.theilp.org.uk/home/ and the weekly newsletters for more details shortly, please get involved!
I am very happy to have announced that we also have a new Vice President for Education, Stuart Green, although relatively new to the institution, has a wealth of experience in education and lighting http://staff.southwales.ac.uk/users/1948-spgreen and he has started developing his vision for the future with a number of short term tasks to accomplish within this demanding area, once again if you wish to have a say in the future of this core area area for the institution and can help out, please volunteer and get in touch, we will pass your details to Stuart!
I would like to finish this first blog, by once again saying how proud I am to be have been made President of our institution, Please feel free to contact me via email or via twitter @mclight0112
I cannot thank enough, my employer iGuzzini for the support over the last year and also their ongoing support over this coming year, thanks again
Mark
During my address, I used a phrased that was immortalised by Tony Blair "Education Education Education" this has to become the watchwords for the Institution and is my aim for for my term in office.
I spoke often with many members during the summit regarding my plans for lesson plans and a toolkit to be produced so that you can sign up as a STEM Ambassador (more details here http://www.stemnet.org.uk/) to arrange to visit schools and talk to children about your life as a lighting engineer / designer, it is an extremely rewarding experience and I would encourage more of you to take up this challenge.
I also announced that there will be a vacancy for Vice President Events, as Alan
Jacques has taken up the role as Vice President - Highways and Infrastructure, I wish him well in this new role, which has great importance in representing the Lighting Engineers of the institution and will play a huge role in promoting the institution into other areas of infrastructure with education and membership. If you would like to apply for the role of VP Events, keep an eye on the website https://www.theilp.org.uk/home/ and the weekly newsletters for more details shortly, please get involved!
I am very happy to have announced that we also have a new Vice President for Education, Stuart Green, although relatively new to the institution, has a wealth of experience in education and lighting http://staff.southwales.ac.uk/users/1948-spgreen and he has started developing his vision for the future with a number of short term tasks to accomplish within this demanding area, once again if you wish to have a say in the future of this core area area for the institution and can help out, please volunteer and get in touch, we will pass your details to Stuart!
I would like to finish this first blog, by once again saying how proud I am to be have been made President of our institution, Please feel free to contact me via email or via twitter @mclight0112
I cannot thank enough, my employer iGuzzini for the support over the last year and also their ongoing support over this coming year, thanks again
Mark
Wednesday 27 August 2014
August Update
Hi everyone.
Well as August draws to a close the Summit
For those not booked and still wishing to attend I urge you to get on line and book NOW!! I am informed we are now down to single figures for remaining full time delegate places.
All details can be found below:-
Ticket prices represent exceptional value with day tickets available to ILP members at just £130 per day (non member £230).
Better still, don't miss a minute of this event by snapping up a Special Residential Ticket: two days at the Professional Lighting Summit, overnight stay at the St John's hotel & networking dinner for only £390 (non member £685). Spaces are on a first come, first served basis. All prices + VAT.
Since June was my last posting I’ll just wrap up what has been going on and what’s to come over the next few weeks
1st July saw an Executive Board meeting take place.
8th July I attended a fantastic day hosted by the London and South Eastern Region at the IGuzzini HQ in Guildford . A great day, fantastic papers and all I have to say –it had nothing to do with street lighting! We heard about the lighting of London Bridge Station from WSP, IGuzzini gave papers on intelligent innovative lighting and finally Pete Lummis (Immediate Past President) gave us an entertaining and highly informative paper on Airport Runway Lighting from a pilot’s perspective.
17th July I travelled home to the Western Region (Bristol Rovers Football Club). Another fantastic day with highly informative papers covering Sports Lighting, Artificial Pitches, CE markings and LED Lighting.
On 21st July I attended the formal launch of The Institution of Primary Engineers and the Institution of Secondary Engineers.
Hosted by Baroness Wall of New Barnet and supported by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and many other organisations, the event took place at the House of Lords, London
Speakers were Terry Scouler CEO EEF, Archie Bethel Executive Director Babcock International, Mark Hunt President of the IMechE and Janet McKinlay Head teacher St Mary’s RC Primary Bolton Lancashire.
30th July the Executive Board Strategy Day was held where we reviewed the Institution’s progress to date. Our 3 year plan will be produced soon and posted on the website along with recommendations for the future and possible changes to be made to the Institution going forward. All this will be discussed at Council on 10th September.The results of the recent survey (Our ILP) have been produced and will be published in the near future. It’s great we had such a fantastic response and even more importantly ,you the members feel the Institution is doing the right things in the right way and long may that continue.
On matters more serious ,during the course of the last two months or so a number of disciplinary investigations have been ongoing. Below is a summary for your information:
1) Misuse of Post Nominal letters
An individual was claiming to be an MILP, IEng .Upon investigation this was proved to be incorrect and indeed the individual was not and never had held either of these post - nominals. Under the Engineering Council Code of Conduct this is a serious offence. As a result the individual concerned no longer works for their employer and is no longer a member of the ILP.
To all you employers please please check the credentials of your job applicants with the ILP Membership Dept or Engineering Council. It’s free to do so and gives you peace of mind that you are employing competent / qualified lighting staff.
To all members I remind you- misuse of membership or registration status will not be tolerated. It will be investigated and action will be taken. Please be honest, if not you will get caught and you could loose your job!!.
There is no need to falsify your post nominals. The Membership Dept is there to help you upgrade your membership at anytime. There is a mentoring process in place and help all along the way to achieve the desired level of membership you wish to attain in a structured and straight forward way.
2) Student misbehaving on the Exterior Lighting Diploma.
Sadly I have to report that this incident was an embarrassment to the Institution as a whole. In essence a student got exceedingly drunk and caused damage to a room at the Draycote Hotel, long time host to the Diploma Modules. The individual has been subject to disciplinary action from their employer, banned from the hotel and had a bill to settle.
To all potential students please remember that you represent your employer and the ILP and this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated. The Draycote Hotel now have the authority to remove and ban any student from the hotel should unacceptable behaviour be apparent. All such behaviour will be reported back to your employer for them to take action. If you are attending as a member of the ILP then action will also be taken under our Code of Conduct, which could end up in you being excluded from the ILP.
In other news thank you to all those who applied for the recently announced Vice President vacancies and for the sustainability spokesperson. It’s fantastic to have had such a great response for the two VP positions. Both posts are integral to the Institution and it’s operation. Interviews are currently underway or being arranged for shortlisted candidates. Hopefully all positions will be announced at the
Events coming up in September are as follows:
1st Executive Board Meeting Rugby
4th Midland Region 5 a side competition
9th YLP Seminar at SSE Southampton also on the 9th is Practical Street Lighting Course in Edinburgh
10th Council can ALL regions please ensure they are represented by their Councillor
11th Western Region in Newport
15th -19th Exterior Lighting Diploma Module 1
18th Midland Region Back to Basics Day at SAPA Redditch
24th-25th ILP Summit , Solihull
30th How to be Brilliant – At Diversity in Lighting at ACDC Lighting London
Full details of all events can be found on the website
I look forward to seeing all those attending the Summit
My thanks as always must go to my employer Skanska (IS) for supporting me with the time required to fulfil the duties as your President. Without this full support it would be extremely difficult.
You can also now follow me @mjrugby1968Until next time
Mark
Monday 30 June 2014
June
Hi All
Well June has flown by and I now have just under 3 months left in office!!! Where has the year gone!!
June was an extremely busy month. You, the members took part in the first vote (under the ILP banner) for your new SVP 2014/15. Thank you again to all those who voted.
I have heard comment about why stamped addressed envelopes were not used. Simply put this down to cost. It was felt that to spend just under £1200 on stamps was not a wise use of members’ monies; a fact proven by only 186 votes being returned which would have meant over £1000 of your money being wasted. In real terms the cost of a stamp to have an input into the Institution’s future for the next 3 years was well worth £0.62p of my money (just a thought).
During June we held the Regional Officers’ meeting @Rugby followed by a Regional Chairmens’ workshop chaired by Richard Frost (I was also in attendance). All felt the workshop was very worthwhile and we had some great ideas . We will be holding one for Vice Chairmen soon so please: to all Regional Vice Chairs, do your best to attend.
Saturday 14th was the Midland Region Summer Ball held in Stratford upon Avon. A great night was had by all. My thanks to Lee Burton and the Midland Region for inviting me to attend such a great event.
The evening of the 17th saw myself and Richard attend the Engineering Council meeting to hear their new President’s Address.
The 24th was the Community Lighting Event ran by Surveyor Magazine in London. My thanks to Jess and her team for making sure the day went well and to the Surveyor team for organising the venue and speakers. I must also thank David Gibby for making the key note speech. Peter took up the post of President for the CIHT less than a week before the event and agreed to present at the seminar which was his first engagement in his new capacity.
And finally on the 25th the Executive Board met with the VP’s to review the progress of their KPI’s for the first 6 months of the year.
Booking is now open for this year’s Lighting Summit (follow the link below for more details). The exhibition space has already sold out and delegate places are selling fast.Speakers have been announced so it’s all systems go for what should be another fantastic event. I look forward to seeing you all there.
July is normally a quiet month but this year would appear to buck that trend!
1st July How to Be Brilliant on Portfolios at AC/DC
3rd Midland Region Golf Day
8th L&SE Technical Meeting @ IGuzzini , Guildford
16th Midland Region Technical Session, Derby
17th Western Region Technical Session, Bristol
29th How to be Brilliant Daylighting
All details regarding these events are on the website so please take a look and attend where possible.
My thanks as always must go to my employer Skanska (IS) for supporting me with the time required to fulfil the duties as your President. Without this full support it would be extremely difficult.
You can also now follow me @mjrugby1968Until next time
Mark
Tuesday 17 June 2014
May review
Welcome back and yet another month has flown by and apologies for the late posting .
Along with the attendance to the Scottish AGM and Lightscene, there was the LIA annual Presidents Address, Past Presidents meeting, Module 3 ELD, N/E dinner dance and finally the Irish AGM.
My thanks go to both the Irish and Scottish Regions and their respective committees for making me welcome at both events, I am pleased to say Lightscene was a tremendous success with well over 130 people through the door with over 70 staying to the evening meal to support the Scottish Region and it’s new Chair David Black.
Once again the final AGM on the circuit was the Irish region and yet again another fantastic event and an extremely well supported day 9the weather even held off for the golfers and cultural tour.
In more general terms it was pleasing for Rugby to receive the following words from a member in connection with our latest resource for members “The Grid”
Just a few lines to say how impressed I am with the ILP Grid resource. I recently wanted to look up one of the professional lighting guides and within one minute was able to access the guide I needed. It would have taken me longer to get up and get a hard copy from my employers technical library. Professional lighting guides is one of the strengths of the ILP and sets them on a pedestal above other institutions and kindred organisations. This service must rank very high in the benefits of being an ILP Member to both to employers and employees. It is fast, responsive, money saving and always up to date, brilliant well done the ILP.
Even more good news was the that the Institution hekld a ballot for the post of Senior Vice President 2014/15
Following the postal ballot of all eligible members concluded on 9 June 2014 at 12 Noon, the current Vice President Highways and Infrastructure, Elizabeth Thomas has been elected by the membership to the post of Senior Vice President.
In an extremely tight vote she was declared the winner after a second check on the voting papers by the Institution’s scrutineers.
She will take up the post at the forthcoming AGM at the Professional Lighting Summit in Solihull on 24th September.
11% of eligible ILP members took up the opportunity to vote.
It was a close call and I congratulate both candidates. I am however deeply disappointed in the low turn out. During my time as President many members have given me the benefit of their views either in private, in writing, at AGM’s or in more social surroundings about the Institution, it’s new structure and the fact that they want a say in shaping and forming the Institution, it’s policies and it’s succession planning. Members were given the opportunity to have a say in the appointment of a key post which will have an impact on all these things for the next 2 years, having been given this chance to have a say in its future direction it’s a bit galling and saddening to the Executive Board and Past Presidents and probably to other members who did take the time to vote and more importantly to the candidates who stood and wanted their support that so few actually took the time and trouble to vote.
I would personally like to thank all members who did vote, your support is appreciated and to both candidates for taking the time to prepare their candidate statements and congratulate Elizabeth on her success. I know myself and fellow colleagues on the Board look forward to working with Elizabeth and assisting her in her year as SVP and then as your President.
My thanks as always must go to my employer Skanska (IS) for supporting me with the time required to fulfil the duties as your President. Without this full support it would be extremely difficult.
You can also now follow me @mjrugby1968Until next time
Mark
Thursday 1 May 2014
April Review
Welcome back and yet another month has flown by.
Traditionally April and May are mad months for the President and this year that is no exception.
Having attended the L&SE AGM 25 March The CEO and myself were back on the road again for 3 days on the bounce
First up was the Midlands Region AGM 1st April held at the new City Library in Birmingham. For those members who missed it what a fantastic venue, amazing building. Following the formalities of the day we were given a talk by a member of the Library staff about the new building and its contents. Followed by your very own SVP who presented his talk on SmartCities an interesting concept and not as far away as we all may wish to think!!
From there I travelled North and on the 2nd April attended the Northern AGM meeting held in Leyland (just out side of Preston). Again another great venue the Wellington Park Hotel, the staff there looked after the ILP well and once again another extremely well attended AGM. The format of the day was great. We were treated to 3 excellent papers all informative and relevant to today’s issues surrounding the lighting industry and Local Authority budget constraints.
The following day it was off to Newcastle, the journey was a tad torturous with an unexpected 1.5hr delay in Carlisle due to no driver for the train!! but as is the British way eventually I managed to make it to Newcastle. Once again the region came up trumps with an amazing venue. As in keeping with the previous AGM’s the event was well attended we were also given a presentation in the Planetarium regarding the latest competition to get a lunar robot to Mars!
The Executive Board met on the 10th of April to discuss the normal business criteria and address issues raised by members and regions raised at Council.
Then on the 24th April it was off to the Western Region to Pengethely Manor in Ross – On – Wye. Again a fantastically well attended event in a spectacular location. The Chairman had organised a paper for the afternoon which was based around Stonehenge and the significance of it . The presenter (an actual druid) was entertaining and engaging and even managed to get regional members out on the lawn dowsing!! Even the sceptics amongst the group were impressed.
My congratulations go to all new Regional Chairs
Lee Burton
Jeff Lewis
Craig Prescott
Russ Pryce
To those members who received special recognition awards congratulations and well deserved to you all.
Once again my thanks to all the regional committee and there members for making myself and Richard feel welcome at their meetings. Please remember the offers made to you all that assistance from Rugby is always available to you; just ask.
On the 29th April in conjunction with ac/dc we hosted our second “How to Be Brilliant Event”. However the best laid plans could not allow for the tube strike that hit which meant numbers were lower than expected, however those in attendance had an informative and worthwhile evening.
May will be equally busy with Lightscene & the Scottish AGM in Glasgow, CIBSE and the LIA are hosting their annual events, Module 3 starts w/c12th, the annual Past Presidents meeting takes place, the North Eastern Region have their Dinner Dance 23rd and finally the Irish hold their AGM at the end of the month. I will briefly review all events next month
My thanks as always must go to my employer Skanska (IS) for supporting me with the time required to fulfil the duties as your President. Without this full support it would be extremely difficult.
You can also now follow me @mjrugby1968Until next time
Mark
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