The new President of CIBSE (the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers) took up his role in June. We caught up with Vince Arnold to hear about his plans for the year, and what excites him about his new role.

Before we dive in to talking about the role of President, let’s rewind to the beginning of your career. What did that look like?

I started as an electrical apprentice in the mid-70s for the Post Office. During this time, I worked on the building site for the Milton Keynes city centre Post Office branch, and was involved in site meetings with consultants which was incredibly inspiring. I thought, “I don’t want to be an electrician out on a building site, I want to be a consultant!”. A senior consultant advised me that I’d need a degree, so I took up a part time degree, whilst continuing to work for the Post Office in various roles. These included a maintenance engineer, a lecturer for their internal college courses and a national policy and standards manager, gaining the experience I’d need to become chartered. I then ran a small building services consultancy before leading a London practice. I’ve spent most of my career in consultancy, but building that ground work as an apprentice – you can’t beat it.