By Stacey Lucas, BCIA President.

With temperatures dropping, festive decorations now commonplace in workplaces and homes, and anticipation building for various parties and get-togethers over the Christmas period, thoughts will soon inevitably turn to the new year and the start of 2026. However, it’s also important to take a retrospective look at the past 12 months and acknowledge the significant successes and achievements.

For the BCIA, 2025 has been a thoroughly successful and positive year. With more than 270 apprentices on its Level 4 Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) Controls Engineer Apprenticeship Programme, it marked a significant milestone as the first cohorts successfully completed End Point Assessments and qualified as BEMS Controls Engineers.

The BCIA's committee also made a strategic decision to strengthen its core capabilities in 2025. In addition to welcoming new team members, the association brought training company management in-house, enabling it to operate as a fully integrated department within the association.

Amid increasing regulatory scrutiny on skills and qualification verification, the BCIA was tasked with consulting the industry on a new competence revalidation system that benefits the individuals, employers and the industry as a whole. The framework is being developed to create a full career competency pathway that enables individuals to provide evidence of their experience, qualifications and skills in order to achieve the relevant card through the Electrotechnical Certification Scheme (ECS).

The consultation received strong engagement from across the BEMS sector, offering valuable insight into both the challenges and opportunities surrounding competence revalidation. In 2026, these findings will inform the next stage of developing the full career pathway.

As the BEMS sector's leading body, the BCIA launched its first technical white paper, entitled 'Comfort, Efficiency and Health: The Untapped Potential of Building Energy Management Systems' at a recent House of Lords event.

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With there currently being a lack of awareness and understanding of the need for building controls and automation to help drive the UK's journey towards decarbonisation, this hugely important white paper illustrates – using real-life data – how BEMS are crucial to achieving carbon reduction, economic resilience and energy efficiency. The findings of this paper will continue to be utilised, to demonstrate the positive and wide-ranging impacts BEMS can have.

Determined to increase awareness and encourage more professionals across the built environment to specify and implement smart building technology, the BCIA also hosted a panel discussion at this year’s Smart Buildings Show at Excel London in October. Focusing on 'Unlocking the Benefits of High-Performing Buildings', the debate saw directors from some of the industry’s biggest names come together, revealing the possibilities that await facilities managers and occupiers keen to harness the full potential of their buildings.

The BCIA has worked closely with government departments, MPs, ministers and other influential stakeholders, building strong relationships and helping to drive policy and standards. Pleasingly, these efforts are already paying off – most notably when building controls were highlighted by the Climate Change Committee (CCC) as a key technology in the Seventh Carbon Budget. Indeed, it suggests advanced building controls and automation systems are able to achieve up to a 30% reduction in energy consumption.

The BCIA's Young Engineers Network (YEN) also enjoyed a standout year. Membership grew significantly, and the group hosted its largest-ever event, welcoming 30 young engineers to 150 Holborn – one of London’s smartest buildings – for an inspiring day of networking, discussion and demonstrations. A further visit to Distech Controls' new Birmingham training facility offered valuable hands-on experience with cutting-edge BMS hardware, strengthening both technical understanding and industry connections.

Of course, it would be remiss of me not to mention this year's BCIA Awards. With ten hotly contested award categories and some incredibly difficult decisions for me and the rest of the judging panel, the awards ceremony was a superb example of how the building controls and automation sector is leading the way in innovative technological solutions.

It was a wonderful evening and it was great to see so many of the industry's key decision makers shining a well-deserved spotlight on the incredible innovation and expertise across the BEMS sector.

The accompanying Members' Conference was also a huge success; its biggest and best-attended to date. In fact, 75 of the industry's leading professionals were in attendance and fully took advantage of the excellent networking opportunities and wide range of thought-provoking and engaging talks and debates.

Our community has grown again this year, with 27 new members joining the association and bringing their ideas, insights and connections to the BCIA community. I would also like to offer my personal thanks, as well as that of the association, to all our members who make the association what it is. In particular, I’d like to recognise those who give their time and input, helping us to further the sector through the working groups, supporting projects and events and through the Management Committee.

Overall, 2025 has been a year of progress, innovation, and collaboration for the BCIA and the wider building controls community. With the foundations now set, 2026 promises to be another year of exciting development and achievement.