The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers and the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers have signed a partnership agreement to mark the 40th anniversary of the groups’ relationship.

“It is a tremendous honor to be able to sign this agreement and start a new era of even closer cooperation between our institutions,” said John Field, president of CIBSE. “This is an unprecedented opportunity to spread the benefits of our work together through every level of our organizations. Building services engineers are doing some of the most important work on the planet, and our two organizations have done invaluable work over the last 40 years to raise standards across our industries and across the world. With this agreement in place, I look forward to continuing this work for many more decades to come.”

The agreement implements a variety of new initiatives, including collaborating strategically on projects in each other’s regions, creating a long-term staff exchange program, encouraging collaboration between regions, groups and chapters, and mutually promoting the publication of new codes and standards. It also encourages cooperation between ASHRAE chapters and CIBSE regions to coordinate programs of similar groups, such as Women in Building Services Engineering and Women in ASHRAE, and working together on issues like Legionella, resiliency and cybersecurity.

“Collaboration and sharing of knowledge are key to advancing the built environment industry,” said ASHRAE President Tim Wentz. “ASHRAE’s partnership with CIBSE over the last 40 years has proven to be an invaluable collaboration for our respective members and the industry at large. Our joint work through conferences, publications and education has greatly added to the worldwide best practices databank of innovative and successful technologies. I am pleased to celebrate this milestone and look forward to many more.”