First Q in International Professional Organisations – Part I

Long before the word “global” became a regular attachment to the description of our activity, the role of international organisations was already of great importance. Function as platforms for action and development at the professional, technical, social and ethical levels. Today, they are an essential part of our 'life' and our presence and participation in such organisations is an important asset.

Several Directors and members of First Q have been intensely involved in international engineering organisations. Konstantinos (Kostas) Alexopoulos, Managing Director of First Q's company in Greece, was until very recently the President of FEANI (The European Federation of National Engineering Associations) where he served for two consecutive mandates. Koos Mast and Luis Malheiro, both Directors of First Q and Managing Directors of First Q's companies in The Netherlands and Portugal respectively, are currently active members in REHVA - the Federation of European Heating and Air Conditioning Associations – representing their respective countries.

In this issue we will do a quick tour with Koos Mast of some of REHVA's objectives and achievements.

Founded in 1963 in The Netherlands as the Federation of European Heating and Air Conditioning Associations, REHVA currently counts 30 national associations as members. With these members representing over 110.000 professionals, REHVA is one of Europe 's largest Non Governmental Organisations.

Its objectives can be summarised as follows: to improve education, science and technology, technical experience, research and development towards energy efficient, healthy and comfortable buildings. It also serves as a platform for improving the competitiveness of the European Building Services engineers and industry.

One of the several groups formed within REHVA for more direct cooperation and action in specific fields is “Region One”. This group includes the representatives from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Has as its main current mission the development of a new dictionary of words, expressions and definitions in the field of building services, counting Koos Mast as one of its Editors. The present dictionary – which is seen in the Industry as an invaluable tool in these days of intense cross-border activities – is currently been developed in 12 languages, but this will be extended to other languages. It should become available in June 2007 as a web-based tool, in a CD and also in book form. REHVA trusts that this dictionary will be an important reference across the European building services community.

REHVA also promotes and organises the CLIMA congresses, an important forum for technical and scientific exchanges, the 2005 edition held in Lausanne.

Another important aspect of REHVA's activities is the regular publication of technical documentation such as technical guidelines around specific themes. An example is the Guideline for Displacement Ventilation, by Dr. Hakon Skistad, in which Luis Malheiro participated in the preparation and publication of the Portuguese version.