Closing off 2022
AIRAH's year in review

It's been another big year for the Australian HVAC&R building services industry, with global energy and supply chain upheavals, the race to net zero, and indoor air quality all top of mind. On this page, we’re capping off the year that was, and previewing what's to come for 2023.

Advocacy / Divisions / Education / Environment / Events / i-Hub / Members / Online / Organisation / Publishing / Resources / STGs

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A message from AIRAH Chief Executive Tony Gleeson, M.AIRAH "The year continued to produce challenges from the continuation of the COVID pandemic, significant impacts due to rain and floods, rapid price increases in key commodities, supply issues, geopolitical instability, and national and international increases in HVAC&R activity and skills shortages – just to name a few. Through all this, in 2022 AIRAH continued to manage its activities to provide maximum benefit to members. We offered access to essential information and continued to develop and pursue priorities around education, the environment, and diversity – addressing issues of most concern to individuals in the HVAC&R field."

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In 2022, AIRAH's key advocacy work included:

Occupational licensing	Representing the HVAC&R industry in the new mechanical services licensing class.
Embodied carbon	Chairing MECLA working group for building services.
Professional registration	Promoting APER with input to government consultations.
Building sustainability	Supporting higher energy-efficiency requirements in the 7-star NCC 2022.
Refrigerant transition	Supporting the HFC phase-down through education and technical advice.
Building relationships	Working with government, industry bodies such as ASBEC, and international HVAC&R organisations.

Learn more about AIRAH's advocacy work, including ways to get involved.

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We hope you had the opportunity to make it out to the numerous divisional events we held in 2022! These included ...

Technical seminars	Site visits
UV disinfection, kitchen exhausts, ventilation and airtightness, de-gasification and the future, high-temperature ammonia heat pumps, commissioning	Hawker College, Maroochy Vacuum Water Systems, Smardt Chillers, 83 Pirie Street, MyState Bank Arena, Karrinyup Shopping Centre

In 2023, look for ways to get involved with our state/territory committees and for our coming events!

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Over the year, AIRAH offered various ways to engage in continuing professional development! This included:

Training	We held 20 in-person and online training sessions, with more than 350 students in our courses and programs!
IAQ seminar	Attendees took a close look at indoor air quality in the built environment during a special two-day seminar (presented in conjunction with IBEC) in Sydney, Oct 17–18.
Webinars	There were more than 3,000 registrations for our 20 Streamline and Technology Talk session in 2022. Plus, AIRAH members can access the full library of recordings via this page. We'd like to thank all our presenters for sharing their expertise and knowledge. We would also like to extend a thank you to the 2022 Technology Talk sponsors – Big Ass Fans, Pacific Ventilation, Innotech Controls, Testo, LAROS Technologies, and BULCS Holdings.

Our 2023 course schedule is now available! We invite you to learn more about AIRAH's education and training.

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We collectively need to do more to reduce carbon emissions and prepare for the impacts of climate change. In Australia, this means taking actions that will contribute to the legal target of achieving net zero by 2050 – or preferably earlier.

HVAC&R uses more than 24 per cent of electricity generated in Australia and produces about 11.5 per cent of our national emissions. AIRAH continues our mission of creating an Australian HVAC&R industry that is highly skilled and professional, safe, sustainable, and environmentally effective.

This includes the development of a Climate Action Plan, which will map our current and planned activities in the areas where we have the duty and the ability to act. Please check back for this in 2023, including measurements of our carbon footprint.

AIRAH is also working with and supporting these initiatives:

Materials & Embodied Carbon Leaders' Alliance (MECLA)

Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC)

Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO)

 

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We welcomed  1,200+  people to our major events in 2022!

From our forums and conferences, through to two iterations of the AIRAH Awards (a long-awaited 2021 ceremony on February 17, and the 2022 gala on November 24), it was great to connect with the Australian building services industry – both in-person and online.



AIRAH is committed to the Panel Pledge – an initiative to support diversity and inclusion. If you are, or if you know, a woman who would be interested in speaking at an AIRAH event or as part of a panel, please look for our 2023 conference/forum opportunities or contact [email protected]

It was wonderful to see the HVAC&R sector at our 13 Industry Nights in 2022 – with over 450 exhibitors and 1,416 attendees!

We also welcomed lots of ARBS attendees to the AIRAH booth. Thanks to everyone who came by for a chat, and congratulations to AIRAH's 2022 ARBS Hall of Fame inductees – Gwen Gray, L.AIRAH, and Simon Hill, L.AIRAH.

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Over the past four years, the Innovation Hub for Affordable Heating and Cooling (i-Hub) has brought together a community of industry innovators, designers, researchers, and educators, working across three streams on 32 projects.

AIRAH and i-Hub held the i-Hub Outcomes Summit on May 17 in Sydney. The event presented findings and created discussion around the path to deliver superior comfort, improve energy efficiency, and minimise peak demand.

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2022 by the membership numbers
4,150 members
92.7% male	7.3% female
Learn more about the Women of AIRAH STG, and our efforts to encourage and promote diversity and inclusion in HVAC&R.

We would like to congratulate Dr Stephen White, L.AIRAH, for winning the James Harrison Medal at the AIRAH Awards 2022.

Stephen has spent his storied career as a conduit between science, industry, and government, insisting that research is at its best when it’s listening to industry and supporting large-scale cross-industry collaboration.

The veteran CSIRO scientist said, on receiving AIRAH’s highest honour:

“I feel surprised, humbled, excited, thankful and much more. I particularly feel privileged to have been given opportunities over my career as a CSIRO scientist to push the boundaries of what can be done in our industry, to broker partnerships, and to find ways of supporting our industry. And, of course, I feel indebted to lots of friends and colleagues in the industry who have worked for me, supported me, turned my ideas into reality, and generally made turning up at work a joy."

AIRAH also congratulates Graham Boyle, L.AIRAH. The author of the ARAC manuals was awarded AIRAH life membership in recognition of his longstanding contribution to the WA division committee and WA TAFE sector.

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Thank you to the 15,400+ people and organisations that follow the AIRAH socials. If you're not already with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, we hope you'll give us a follow – it's the fastest way to learn about AIRAH events, updates, and resources, and a great way to connect with the Australian HVAC&R industry.

We're always making updates, tweaks, and changes to the AIRAH website, too. In 2022, that included overhauls to these sections:

• Industry leadership
• Resources
• Special Technical Groups (STGs)

We also launched the new digital home for Ecolibrium – AIRAH's official journal and the voice of the HVAC&R building services industry. Discover the features, interviews, and articles at theecolibrium.com

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Strategic direction

Early in 2022, we commenced work on developing the AIRAH Strategic Plan 2023–2027. This included a feedback period, and the question: Where will AIRAH be in 2030?

View AIRAH's vision and mission (PDF)

View AIRAH's goals (PDF)

Thank you to everyone who participated and provided feedback. Please stay tuned for announcements of AIRAH's 2023–2027 Strategic Plan via airah.org.au/strategicplan

Reconciliation Action Plan

Our vision is to realise safe, sustainable, healthy, and effective environments. For our environment to be all of those things, AIRAH believes we will need to appreciate the richness and strength of First Nations peoples and cultures, and embrace this as part of our national identity.

In 2022, AIRAH started developing our first Reconciliation Action Plan, with calls for member involvement. The actions and deliverables in this plan will be set for 2023.

A new era for AIRAH

In October, we confirmed the departure of our Chief Executive Tony Gleeson, M.AIRAH, for early 2023.

AIRAH President Paul Jackson, F.AIRAH, thanked Tony for his leadership and commitment to AIRAH’s members and the HVAC&R sector during very challenging times. He says Tony's considerable experience and future-focused vision have delivered outstanding outcomes for the organisation and for the broader community working in the built environment.

Appointed to the position of CEO in 2016, Tony oversaw a number of major achievements including the expansion and digitisation of AIRAH’s knowledge assets such as the Design Application (DA) manual series, successful advocacy for the compulsory registration of engineers, promoting women in STEM, establishing and chairing the $18M Innovation Hub for Affordable Heating and Cooling (i-Hub), and being a leading voice on indoor air quality.

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The year was another busy one for AIRAH's publications, with readers across Australia getting key information about HVAC&R through our magazines and online. Explore some of the 2022 highlights below!

	Ecolibrium AIRAH's official journal celebrated its 75-year milestone with issues featuring:   Geothermal heating at the Armadale Fitness and Aquatic Centre in WA Roundtable on COVID-19 and indoor air quality HVAC&R manufacturing in Australia Thermal energy storage at Reef HQ Aquarium in Queensland Seawater cooling at the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct on Sydney Harbour Roundtable on the path to electrification Mass timber construction at the Ballarat GovHub Adaptive reuse at Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney Access feature articles, technical papers, profiles and more via airah.org.au/ecolibrium and at theecolibrium.com
	HVAC&R News (journal) In February 2022, our HVAC&R Nation changed its name to HVAC&R News – better aligning the publication with the site. Feature stories this year included:   Update on the HFC phase-down A submarine HVAC project The skills shortage in HVAC&R HVAC in mid-tier buildings Refrigeration for banana ripening Residential AC and building physics You can explore feature articles and full digital issues of HVAC&R News via airah.org.au/hvacrnews
	HVAC&R News (website) From licensing to COVID-19, catch-up on the most popular stories on our HVAC&R News website in 2022:   New mech services licensing coming to NSW Compliance crunch coming for fire dampers? Deadline looms for new mechanical services licence Australian aerosol tests offer COVID-19 insights Government offers ventilation vouchers

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Salary Survey

The results of AIRAH's second HVAC&R Salary Survey are here! We received an overwhelming number of responses to the 2022 survey, with 1,552 people providing insight into their wages and outlooks.

Explore the results at airah.org.au/salarysurvey

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DA09 Air Conditioning Load Estimation and Psychrometrics We've released the fourth edition of DA09 – the most comprehensive technical resource available for Australian air conditioning load estimation. Click here for more information on DA09.	AIRAH Best Practice Guideline: Commercial Kitchen Exhaust Management Developed by AIRAH’s Commercial Kitchen Exhaust STG, this document steps through a best-practice approach to managing fire risks associated with commercial kitchen exhaust systems. Click here for more information and to download the free resource.

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Indoor Air Quality Assembly

Launched in early 2022, the AIRAH Indoor Air Quality Assembly is a free library of videos, technical presentations, and other materials to help the HVAC&R industry and broader community stay up to date and informed on these vital topics.

Access these resources at airah.org.au/IAQA

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Our Special Technical Groups (STGs) continue their work across the major areas of the dynamic HVAC&R building services industry. Highlights from 2022 include:

• The Big Data and Analytics STG participated in a podcast focusing on the role of data ontologies and the need for a common naming system for building data.
   
• The Women of AIRAH STG conducted two surveys in 2022. The first was around "breaking the bias" and helped mark International Women's Day. The other was around ways that AIRAH and the STG can better support women working in the industry. The STG also hosted a well-attended leadership breakfast at ARBS 2022, with special guest Kathryn Howard delivering an inspiring presentation.
   
• The Commercial Kitchen Exhaust STG released a Best Practice Guideline, benefitting anyone involved in the selection, installation, commissioning, certification, operation, or maintenance of commercial kitchen exhaust systems.

For more on our STGs, please visit airah.org.au/stgs

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Have a question or suggestion for us? Please contact [email protected]

It's a wrap on 2022 – and we're already hard at work on our 2023 activities.

This includes:

• Professional registration – Australia’s states and territories are introducing professional registration schemes for engineers. This includes Victoria, where the government has outlined that, under their timeline for mandatory professional engineer registration, mechanical engineers must be registered by December 1, 2023. For more information on professional registration, please click here.
  
  To support these schemes, AIRAH has introduced the AIRAH Professional Engineer Register (APER) accreditation program for mechanical engineer – HVAC&R building services professionals. It is approved in Qld and Vic, with submissions and/or talks underway with NSW, ACT, and WA.
      
• Membership – Look for the new membership section of the AIRAH website in early 2023!
   
• Resources – In 2023, AIRAH will launch a selection of new and updated resources, including DA26 Indoor Air Quality and the HVAC Hygiene Best Practice Guide.
   
• Industry Nights – Our HVAC&R engineering and trade shows are scheduled for 19 cities/towns across Australia in 2023! Exhibitor and attendee bookings are already open – reserve your spot today at airah.org.au/industrynights
   
• Major events – We have confirmed the schedule of AIRAH conferences and forums! We look forward to seeing you for the Indoor Air Quality Conference (Brisbane, July 17–18); The Future of HVAC 2023 (Melbourne, Sep 13–14), running alongside the Building Physics Forum (Sep 13) and the Big Data and Analytics Forum (Sep 14); and the AIRAH Awards 2023 (Sydney, date TBA).

There's much more to come, too! We look forward to seeing you throughout 2023 – and we thank you for your involvement with AIRAH in 2022.

For more ways to get involved with AIRAH, please click here. You can also take a look at our 2021 review.

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This page was last updated December 14, 2022