 Winners
HONOURED for Excellence in Innovation and professionalism
Fifteen
outstanding winners were honoured at the 11th annual H&V
News Awards for Excellence on 13th May 2004. TV’s Shauna
Lowry announced the winners to more than 800 guests at the gala dinner
held in the Grand Ballroom at the London Hilton, Park Lane.
Rowan
Crowley, Publishing Director of organisers, Emap Maclaren’s Building
Services group, stated: “The Awards have once again been a colossal success,
and the night itself is a reflection of this. The H&V News Awards has been
truly embraced by the industry over the past 11 years, and have
affectionately become known as the ‘HVAC Oscars’. Every year the quality of
the entrants, finalists, winners and the night itself gets bigger and
better. A big thank you needs to go out to all the people who entered and
supported the awards, some of whom have been with us from the start. It is a
great event and it couldn’t have been done without them.”
Winners of the 2004
H&V News Awards
 Industrial/Commercial
Heating Product of the Year
was the
Avant-Garde
range of fan convector heaters from
Dunham-Bush.
The range was designed with energy conservation as the paramount issue, but
without sacrificing comfort and performance. The units are built for use
with condensing systems allowing them to operate at reduced water
temperatures to optimise boiler efficiency. The combination of low water
content, low thermal mass, low unit and system standing losses, low pumping
power (reduction of up to 80 per cent) and integral local control result in
some of the highest seasonal efficiencies available for this type of
product. Sponsored by Nu-way.
The Training Initiative of the Year category was
won by Grant UK for its training programme for the specialised oil
heating sector. The judges noted that the company had been able to address
some of the worries and misconceptions in the installation trade about
oil-fired condensing boilers through training at its own purpose-built
centre, and on installers’ own premises. Over 700 people have already taken
advantage of the training and the company is bracing itself for a 15%
increase on that figure in 2004. Sponsored byVaillant.
Npower
won Environmental Initiative
of the Year
for its A1-Boilers incentive scheme, encouraging installers
to specify energy efficient heating. The judges were impressed by the
straightforward approach to transforming the domestic heating market and
with the tangible results achieved. They were also struck by the extensive
relationships built through the entire supply chain with manufacturers
through to suppliers and installers. Sponsored by
Worcester Bosch Group.
Safety Initiative of the Year
was awarded to Banyard Solutions. Banyard’s innovative entry caught
the judges’ attention by harnessing the latest electronic technology to
tackle the age-old problem of injuries on-site through improved building
site management. The company’s sophisticated E-permits software system
ensures site managers can avoid activity clashes that can be both dangerous
and costly. The judges described the idea as “spot on” for an area of the
construction industry that was extremely important and needed attention.
Sponsored by Smith’s Environmental Products.
Vaillant,
winner of Marketing Initiative of the Year, was the first domestic
boiler manufacturer in over a decade to run a national TV advertising
campaign. This major campaign, which was seen on terrestrial and satellite
stations by a potential audience of 17 million, was seen to be raising the
benchmark for marketing in the sector. The judges described it as a bold
step to appeal directly to the consumer market and admired the company for
launching a campaign that would raise the profile of the whole industry.
Sponsored by Fujitsu Air Conditioning.
The
Service & Maintenance Initiative of the Year category was won by the
London Borough of Hackney. The judging panel felt the borough had put
its heart and soul into improving maintenance by targeting the 20 per cent
of homes in which tenants persistently refused to grant access to council
service engineers wanting to carry out essential safety checks on gas
appliances. Through a road show, poster campaigns, more flexible calling
times and, as a last resort, the threat of forced entry, the council was
able to access 97 per cent of its homes. Sponsored by Riello Burners.
The
first product to be awarded was the ALPHA+ domestic circulator pump,
manufactured by the winners of the Domestic H&V Product of the Year
category, Grundfos Pumps. The pump is designed to circulate water in
central heating systems and primary hot water circuits with variable heating
loads where flow will vary according to the operation of modulating
controls, and is designed for both automatic and fixed-speed operation. The
judges particularly liked its 50 per cent energy saving potential, the
flexibility to suit all types of installation including those with
thermostatic radiator valves and its low operating noise. Sponsored by
Daikin.
The EC Fan from ebm-papst
UK
won Air Movement Product of the Year. It was acknowledged by the
judges to be a step forward for motor and fan design. Benefits include the
latest DC motor techniques, which due to leading-edge technology can be
connected directly to AC mains, while new impeller design also reduces noise
levels. Intelligent speed control with remote access for
monitoring/diagnosis, good power output and high efficiency were also
applauded. Sponsored by HaierUK.
Daikin Air Conditioning UK
won Air Conditioning Product of the Year for its VRVII System. This
was considered by the judges to offer a range of significant advantages that
demanded top spot in this highly competitive category. The combination of
several impressive technologies into a single versatile unit was greatly
appreciated. Benefits include: zero ozone depletion; use of DC inverter to
control compressor and fan motor speed; stepped capacity sizes for easy
selection; improved pipe lengths for easy installation; and reduction in
compressor and other internal component size.
Sponsored by CMR Controls.
Steven Wallis
of George S Hall was honoured Apprentice of the Year. Steven
impressed the judges by his ability to tackle multi-skilling and his glowing
client references. He was described as a role model, who already had some
major successes under his belt despite being only 23 years old.
Sponsored by Vent-Axia
The HAC
Graduate Award went to Dominic Shortland from South Bank
University. Dominic was chosen because of his outstanding ability to
combine the pressures of being a working mechanical engineer with studying
for three good passes at A level, a City & Guilds qualification in
computer-aided draughting and design, and a BTEC in Building Services from
Croydon College that culminated in a first class honours degree in Energy
Engineering from South Bank University. He has developed all round skills
in all stages of project management from feasibility studies through to
preliminary design and on to tender, completion and final handover. He has
shown himself adept at chairing meetings and dealing with other members of
the supply chain and clients. The judges were impressed by his enthusiasm
for the subject and willingness to promote the profession as a whole.
Sponsored by Denco Air Conditioning.
Domestic Installer of the Year
is EPS Projects. The company was congratulated for its wide range of
initiatives designed to continuously improve its operations and service to
customers. These include the implementation of Key Performance Indicators,
wide take up of SKILLcards throughout the workforce, environmental
accreditation and its customer charter. EPS has a strong commitment to
training and directly employed labour, which the judges said was essential
to keep driving up professional standards across the industry.
Sponsored by Baxi Potterton.
Buro Happold
was the winner of Building Services Engineer of the Year. This
highly innovative consultancy ‘stands out a mile’, according to the judges,
who congratulated it on increasing turnover by 16 per cent and pushing up
staff numbers by 10 per cent. Buro Happold always seem to be working on
excellent projects, and all are approached with total professionalism right
from the building form stage through to sustainable design, commented the
judging panel. The depth of experience in its engineering teams means the
practice usually comes up with a building that performs even better than
predicted. Sponsored by
Hitachi Europe
The much
sought-after HVAC Contractor of the Year title went to Aqua
Mechanical Services. This well-managed company makes good use of
innovation to drive its business forward, the judges said. Its approach to
customer care was applauded, as was its constant striving for change and
improvement. The company has made great strides in terms of supply chain
management with 20 formal supplier agreements in place, all of which
reviewed annually. An innovation committee targets continual improvement in
quality systems and materials, and the judges were impressed by the
company’s commitment to innovative techniques such as pre-fabrication, which
drive up efficiency in project delivery. Sponsored by Viessmann.
The most
prestigious honour of the evening, the H&V News Gold Award was
awarded to Martin O’Neill MP. Through his relentless work in
chairing a Trade and Industry Select Committee Enquiry he has firmly placed
the issue of the negative effect of retentions significantly higher on the
political agenda. Sponsored by the Heating & Ventilating Contractor’s
Association.
The H&V
News Awards are organised by Emap Maclaren, publishers of the weekly trade
newspaper, H&V News. |
