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improvement. This enables them to demonstrate their knowledge and skills, while empowering them to generate ideas and solutions. They undergo a technical com - petency review every six months and are provided with a bespoke personal development plan, which focuses on their skills and expertise. Aer two years, graduates are promoted to become consultant engineers and are given a visible and structured progression route through the organisation. A new profession In addition to technical com- petency, the graduate trainees also gain additional qualifica- tions, such as the PRINCE2 project management qualifica- tion, to help them develop as well-rounded engineers. Career progression is also linked to professional milestones, with senior engineers required to be chartered. To date, three members of our team have completed the scheme and are now lead engineers in the company. A further four are halfway through the process and three more began the journey in September. We aim to ensure that the team is clear on the direction of travel for the organisation. It is crucial that everyone understands their individual roles and how they con - tribute to wider business objectives, and the opportunities to grow. The graduate team is encour- aged to engage in the development of the wider heat network industry in support of their professional de - velopment. This includes opportu- nities to be part of the CIBSE Young Engineers Performance Group. The training programme has also been given recognition with the CIBSE Small Employer of the Year Award 2019, aer impressing the judges with our commitment to develop - ing young leaders. As a result of the programme, we have been able to expand the recruitment pool beyond the traditional building services and mechanical engineer route to also incorporate chemical engineering graduates. In particular, we have found that chemical engineers can hit the ground running and quickly understand the dynamic operation of heat networks. This has enabled them to develop rapidly and im - mediately transfer their degree education to real life heat network projects. Their unique skills, including in thermodynamics and process engineering, are key for heat network engineers. Due to changes in the energy sector, traditional career paths for graduate engineers are changing, and many early career engineers are looking for employers that are directly addressing the climate emergency. Because of this, we found many engineers attracted to our ethos and vision of low-carbon heating. As a society, we have a huge challenge to decarbonise our economy over the next few dec - ades. It has never been more impor- tant to develop young leaders. NETWORK / 27 / NOVEMBER 2019 Four of the 10 new heat network engineers in training Lily Frencham, head of operations at the Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE), is joining the 10-strong judging panel for March's Network Awards 2020. As entries arrive for the 29 November deadline, Network asked what she hopes to see. Q How did find last year's judging session? A Last year's judging was an interesting day. One thing was that some entries were obviously pulled together by a PR rep and entered into multiple categories. When you're sitting and judging an award, and you have already seen the exact story, it does make you think 'hang on'. So it's important to make sure the submissions are tailored to each award category. Some achievements were presented as being quite ordinary, or "business as usual", but as judges we knew that they would have been difficult to embed culturally, and companies must have gone the extra mile to make them happen. That didn't necessarily come through in the submissions – so it would be good to see submissions really demonstrating the effort and resulting impact. Q What themes do you hope to see in the entries? A I'd like to see submissions that really focus on the impact on the end user, that's an issue the ADE is really focussed on. Also, I'd like to see more "whole systems" thinking, or not just focussing on the core business, but considering how it integrates with the rest of the energy system. For instance, thinking about how energy efficiency and flexibility services can co-operate, or how renewable heat and storage are considered together. Q What do you think is the biggest constraint on progress to "net-zero" by 2050 at the moment? A It's widely recognised that the decarbonisation of heat is a tough nut to crack, or least it's understood in government and industry circles but is not discussed more widely. One issue is the skills transition, taking the workforce in traditional heating technology and training them for the low carbon heating sector, whether that's gas boiler engineers or local plumbers. That has to be done as the transition happens, but it's also chicken and egg – we can't progress it at scale until the decarbonisation pathway is clear. Q What are your views on the future pathway? A The Committee on Climate Change has done a number of reports that explore different technologies, and what needs to happen to reach different outcomes. People appreciate there needs to be consensus around the preferred pathways and how we get there – but most of all, we need to start acting on the "no regrets" options right now. It will cost to decarbonise, but it needs to be done and there will also be huge opportunities that arise. There's been a lot of progress and a shift in public support over the past year so it will be interesting to see where that takes us. Visit networkawards.co.uk for full details of the 15 catego- ries, and to start your online submission. Entry deadline is 29 November. N E T W O R K AWA R D S Q & A "We need to retrain in low carbon heat skills" AWARDS 2020