The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has announced the shortlist for its 2026 Industry Awards in the UK, with increased emphasis on young people entering and developing careers in building engineering services. The 21 award categories recognise individuals, teams and companies across areas including projects, products, innovation and industry initiatives.
This year’s awards include BESA’s established apprentice categories for specialist trades such as refrigeration and air conditioning, and facilities and energy management. A new Trainee of the Year Award, sponsored by Milwaukee, has been introduced to recognise young achievers across the sector and reflect changing routes into the industry and competence development.
BESA is also offering travel bursaries for apprentices and young engineers to attend its Annual Conference and Awards with support from the Manly Trust. Finalists in the 2026 WorldSkills UK Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pump competition, sponsored by BAXI, will also be honoured at the awards dinner. BESA is the organising partner of the competition.
The awards cover the building engineering supply chain, including manufacturers, distributors, contractors, engineers and clients. Categories also address areas including competence and compliance, building safety and decarbonisation.
The winners will be announced on October 22 following BESA’s Annual Conference earlier the same day. Mitsubishi Electric is the headline sponsor of the awards event.
“With all the talk about a ‘lost generation’ of young people struggling to find work in the UK, we felt our best contribution would be to put even more impressive young workers in the spotlight and celebrate their achievements,” said Charlie Ward, BESA’s senior group events and partnership manager. “BESA has a long tradition of celebrating the best and brightest talent, but we want to do even more this year by helping to showcase careers and opportunities that might otherwise go under the radar.”
The full shortlist of finalists and category sponsors for BESA’s Industry Awards 2026 can be found online here and you can book your places at what is expected to be the Association’s largest ever awards dinner here.
Places at the Association’s Annual Conference are also selling fast but can still be found here.
