Members of the Building Services Engineering Employment Agency Alliance have confirmed that they have a key role to play in providing vocational training across building-services engineering.

A major boost in construction-industry productivity during 2009 is revealed in the latest key performance indicators for the industry, issued by the Department for Business Innovation & Skills. The figures show a 15% increase in average productivity per employee, the sharpest for five years.

Trox UK has set up a new product management team to lead the delivery of a major programme of new-product development. Group wide, Trox invests 8% of its revenue in R&D. Projects are driven forward by nine centres of excellence worldwide, of which the UK site in Thetford is one.

Teenagers from 11 schools across Greater Manchester took control of green-energy businesses and powered up their creative and commercial skills in the Ener-G ‘Make it enterprising’ schools challenge. Teams became mini-manufacturing businesses for a day. Their challenge was to design, manufacture and install eco-friendly power generation and efficiency solutions for customers varying from supermarkets and hospitals to gyms and factories. They then pitched their ideas to a panel of senior-manager ‘dragons’ from Ener-G.

Stuart Turner Ltd, a leading manufacturer of domestic water-boosting pump solutions has acquired Techflow Products. Techflow is the fourth largest manufacturer in the UK of water-boosting pumps and a comprehensive range of domestic pumps, specialising in shower pumps.

The recently completed Welsh Assembly Government building at Llandudno Junction has received the 2010 BREEAM Award for Wales in the bespoke category. Rated as the greenest public building in Wales, it achieved a score of 75.80. It was designed by Austin-Smith Lord. As well as the BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating, the building achieved an A-rated Energy Performance Certificate — higher than the original B expectation.

A cautious welcome to the coalition Government’s approach to technology training has come from Keith Marshall, chief executive of SummitSkills, the sector skills council for building-services engineering. Speaking at the Spring conference of the Building Services Engineering Employment Agency Alliance, he referred in particular to two statements made by members of the new administration, both of which he sees as providing some cause for optimism.

Leading industry bodies such as the UK Green Building Council, BRE Global, the Heating & Ventilating Contractors’ Association and the British Institute of Facilities Management have signed up as partner organisations for CIBSE’s ‘Non-compliance costs’ campaign. The campaign warns that non-compliance with the Energy Performance in Buildings and F-gas Regulations is costing both business and the environment.

Hamworthy Heating, a leading British manufacturer and supplier of commercial heating and hot-water products, has added another accreditation to achieve three important international standards. The latest is OHSAS 18001, which covers occupational health and safety management. The company has also been reassessed against ISO 14001, which deals with environmental management, and ISO 9001, the quality-management standard.

UHMA, the trade association for surface heating and cooling has joined BEAMA in a move that brings the UK’s only trade association for the underfloor heating industry under the umbrella of a professional representative body.

The quality of wood-based fuel can now be certified as part of a new scheme launched by HETAS. The Solid Biomass Assurance Scheme has been launched with the support of funding from the Department of Energy and Climate Change and will enable producers of wood fuel and biomass to market their products using the recognised HETAS SBAS logo to provide customers with a mark of quality assurance.

Baxi-SenerTec UK, which is responsible for marketing the Dachs mini-CHP product in the UK, is now part of the Baxi Commercial Division. The company has relocated to the same premises in Erdington in the West Midlands. David Shaw, business manager of Baxi-SenerTec UK, has joined Baxi Commercial Division, reporting to Paul Hardy, managing director.

Cooper Lighting has signed up as a sponsor for the newly formed BSD Racing team in the 2010 Triumph Triple Challenge motorbike championship, which comprises 23 races and nine events in the UK. They are all televised on Eurosport or Motors TV. The team was set up earlier this year by M&E consultancy Building Services Design and is spearheaded by rider Jamie Pool, a senior mechanical design engineer at the Corby office.

Building-services provider JS Wright has teamed up with Aston University to give a head start to budding construction project managers. This mechanical-engineering specialist is offering a regular fully paid undergraduate Summer placement to launch its support for the BSc construction project management course run by the university’s school of engineering and applied science.

Organisations and companies in the heat-pump sector have expressed concern and disappointment at the abrupt closure of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme by the new Government. Before its closure, the scheme funded the installation of 20 000 renewable-energy systems. The £63 million-worth of applications due for payment in 2010/2011 will not be affected. Cancellation of LCBP support means there is no support programme in place until the proposed introduction of the Renewable Heat Incentive in April 2011.

Ductwork specialists have been warned to keep their nerve in the face of 2-way pressure on prices. Malcolm Moss, president of ADCAS, told members of the association at its Summer event, ‘The cost of steel has gone up by 50%, and yet companies tendering for ductwork contracts are being bullied into cutting their prices to the bone — and beyond. We have to stand firm and demand a fair price if we are to survive.

Exor and SAFEcontractor, two of the most respected brands in supply-chain accreditation and compliance services are being integrated into a single trading entity. The new company will be known as Exor Management Services.

Durapipe UK has achieved a breakthrough in its education and training initiative with the inclusion of a plastics module within the requirements of the SkillPipe competition. This competition is organised by SummitSkills and sees young apprentices tested across a series of challenging pipe-fitting modules. It began in 2009, and this year’s competition in June included a module on plastics pipework installations using Durapipe’s Friatherm system.

United Refrigeration (UK) has been appointed by IBD Distribution for the Invisible AC small-duct high-velocity air-conditioning system, giving installers easier access to the system at branches in many parts of the UK.

Trade Training Associates of Newcastle upon Tyne has been awarded a training contract by the National Apprenticeship Service and Skills Funding Agency to deliver Level 2 and 3 apprenticeships to 16-to-18-year olds in the mechanical-engineering sector. TTA is already training 76 apprentices and will train a further 80 over the next 18 months. 75% of the current apprentices are not in employment, education or training.

BG Controls has been names ‘Best service and maintenance provider’ at the recent Building Controls Industry Awards. By demonstrating outstanding levels of care and commitment to its clients in the provision of customer services and maintenance contracts for building-management systems. The award was received by systems support director Phil Bolus (left) from BIFM deputy chair elect Ismena Clout.

Danlers has been awarded the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation. The award was given in recognition of the continuing development of its range of energy saving electronic controls for lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

Vent-Axia has launched a heat-pump division to complement its comprehensive Lo-Carbon ventilation range. The division will offer ground-source and air-source heat pumps for the light-commercial and domestic markets.

Wagner UK offers a series of CPD seminars to help fire-system designers, installers and consultants better understand the implications of a new European standard that has changed the way aspirating smoke detection systems have to be designed and installed.

Samsung has announced further expansion of its air-conditioning business in the UK and Ireland with the appointment of two more distributors. They are Logicool and Ultimate Air and bring Samsung’s network of distributors to eight, with more than 20 branches.

Hochiki, a leading manufacturer and supplier of industrial fire-detection products, offers three CPD courses for M&E contractors, consultants, architects and end users. Each course lasts for about an hour and can be held at a customer’s premises

The new CPD reflects the growing use of roof space for siting heavy plant on flat roofs, and highlights the importance of using support systems that minimise risks of leaks and cold bridging. The presentation also demonstrates the advantages of off-site fabrication to reduce installation time.

Britannia Kitchen Ventilation, which specialises in kitchen ventilation canopies, has signed an agreement to make its products available in Australia. Food Service Machinery of Melbourne will make Britannia’s range of canopies under licence. FSM has an extensive dealer network providing national coverage. Products available in Australia will include Ultrastream UV filtration and the Econex energy-saving extract system.
Terry Randall (left in photo with Peter Taylor, sales director of Britannia) managing director of FSM, said, ‘We see this as a very exciting opportunity and are pleased to be able to deliver this high-quality range of eco-friendly ventilation systems in Australia.’

Property and construction consultancy McBains Cooper believes the Government should look carefully at its planning permission ‘renewables’ policy to prove its true understanding of the issues and drive down the cost of green energy. Current planning permission regulations dictate that new builds must include design and construction features that generate at least 10% of their energy needs from in-site renewable energy.

Clean-technology group Ener-G has launched a sustainable-technologies division specialising in the design, installation and maintenance of heat pumps. Through a partnership with four leading manufacturers, the company is providing a wide selection of ground-source, gas-absorption, air-source and water-loop heat-pump technologies in the UK.

Xergi is to build a large anaerobic-digestion plant in Scotland to produce 2 MW of electricity. The company is a leading supplier of this technology in Denmark, and the Scottish plant will be capable of processing 80 000 t of organic waste a year.

Satellite Information Services has outsourced its facilities-management services to Mace Macro, including M&E.

Briggs & Forrester has completed the £5.7 million services installation for a residential development for British Land. One Osnaburgh Street at Regents Place in London was designed by Terry Farrell & Partners and offers high-quality residential apartments, ranging from studios to 4-bedroom apartments.

Flakt Woods has gained environmental accreditation to the ISO 14001 standard, which specifies the requirements for an organisation’s environmental-management system. It applies to those environmental aspects over which an organisation has control and where it is likely to have an influence.

Climate Center has reported strong growth in air-conditioning sales, bucking the trend in the market. Against UK sales down by around 10%, Climate Center has achieved double-digit growth — outperforming the market by some 25%.

Solar PV specialist Becosolar is looking forward to sales trebling to £3.5 million by the end of this year following the winning of a number of significant contracts. They include a large contract for social housing in Yorkshire worth £1.5 million and a project with Transition Town Totnes to install solar energy in homes across the town.

Building-services specialist SCS Group has opened a new office in central London to support the ongoing growth of its south-east division and its long-term commitment to working with M&E contractors based in and around London. The contemporary offices are on Pall Mall near Piccadilly Circus.

Birmingham building-services provide JS Wright has received an award from a world-renowned training organisation for investing in its people. The company, which celebrates its 120th anniversary this year, has been presented with the Dale Carnegie Excellence Award in Leadership Development — joining such companies as Coca-Cola, Adidas and Boeing.

Paul Wenden, president of the Federation of Environmental Trade Associations, has warned that pressure on prices will not deliver a sustainable future. Speaking at the association’s annual lunch, he said, ‘The “race to the bottom in price” mentality won’t deliver a sustainable future, but we must be aware that this is the prevailing environment we are continuing to face.’

Four Seasons Group has acquired Berkeley Controls Group for an undisclosed sum. Four Seasons specialises in heating, ventilation and air-conditioning services, and the acquisition of BCG enables the company to offer clients the ability to reduce energy bills and comply with growing carbon-reduction legislation. BCG will add £4 million of revenue, resulting in a combined pro-forma revenue for the group in excess of £30 million.

The president of the Heating & Ventilating Contractors’ Association, Graham Manly, has underlined the association’s enthusiastic backing for the ‘Non-compliance costs’ campaign launched recently by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers. He stressed that non-compliance with legislation designed to address the twin challenges of sustainability and carbon reduction was becoming a culture — and was already jeopardising the nation’s ability to meet its long-term environmental targets.

Building Engineering Services Training (BEST) has formed two strategic alliances to offer, for the first time, a uniform, high-standard, national apprenticeship scheme for ductwork and scaffolding. The alliance partners are QTS, a specialist ductwork training company, and WCTS, the largest private training provider to the scaffolding sector. Together with BEST, they will offer up to 200 new apprenticeships each year in ductwork and scaffolding.

Kershaw Mechanical Services has won £1.2 million-worth of orders from Waitrose to complete the mechanical installation in three stores being built, converted or refurbished. The new store is at Poynton, Manchester. The store at Richmond, Surrey, is being extended and refurbished, and the store at Menai Bridge in Wales is being converted.

Peter Schroeder, environment manager with McDonald’s UK, (centre in photo.) has been named Energy Manager of the Year by the Energy Services & Technology Association. The judges singled him out for ‘excellent work with the motivation and subsequent commitment of staff in 1200 restaurants’, commenting ‘A new, web-based culture has been established. This led to a 10% reduction in underlying electricity consumption in 2009 alone.’

The value of construction-project starts in the three months to April 2010 was up by 10.5% on the same period a year earlier, according to the Glenigan Index for April. The Index tracks the value of projects under £100 million and showed a gradual recovery in private-sector confidence, coupled with a flurry of public-sector work. There were increases in private and social housing, retail, education and health project starts.

Spirax Sarco is investing nearly £25 million to consolidate and modernise its manufacturing facilities in Cheltenham. The project will improve customer service, reduce lead times and ensure that manufacturing operations are more environmentally friendly.

More than 40 jobs have been saved following the takeover of Benson Heating by the AmbiRad Group. Benson Heating, which supplied oil- and gas-fired heaters, went into administration in May 2009, resulting in all 73 staff members losing their jobs at the factory in Powys. Now AmbiRad has restored sales and production at the facility.

Building-controls specialist ICS (Eastern) Ltd of Norwich has been awarded Trend Technology Centre status, assuring customers that they will receive a consistently first-class workmanship and access to all the latest Trend products. The TTC programmed is designed to ensure that clients are served by systems integrators that meet the stringent quality requirements defined by Trend.

Zip Heaters, a market leader in instant boiling water, has launched an updated CPD module on ‘Efficient boiling water delivery in the workplace’. It is designed for architects and specifiers. The programme has been created to offer all professionals involved in building design and specification the opportunity to obtain up-to-date information on the provision of instant boiling water in the workplace.

Airvent, a leading provider of whole-life services and maintenance for life-saving smoke-control systems, reports an upsurge in new contracts and contract renewals. As building owners, facilities managers and other responsible personnel begin to realise the importance of their obligations under the RRO [Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005], more and more are turning to companies like Airvent to ensure their buildings’ ongoing fire safety.

The new CPD reflects the growing use of roof space for siting heavy plant on flat roofs, and highlights the importance of using support systems that minimise risks of leaks and cold bridging. The presentation also demonstrates the advantages of off-site fabrication to reduce installation time.