Mike Lamb is the new Chairman of The Underfloor Heating Manufacturers’ Association.

Carlo Gavazzi UK has appointed Stuart Mills to the newly created position of Distribution Manager.

Combined Heat & Power (CHP) is an energy efficient low carbon solution, which produces usable heat and electricity simultaneously at the point of use. As specifiers and building services professionals strive to meet the challenge of improving environmental sustainability in commercial and public sector buildings, CHP is proving to be one of the most feasible low carbon technologies. Here Yan Evans, National Sales and Marketing Manager of Baxi Technologies UK provides an update on how the technology has moved on over the past few years and explains why the company has had repeated success in the public sector with its DACHS unit.

Dunlop Haywards Building Consultancy, based in Brentwood, specified Keston Boilers for the prefabrication of Mount Grace School’s boiler room, during the refurbishment of the institution’s Technology Block.

Atkins has completed a major, environmentally sustainable refurbishment of the headquarter premises of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) – the government department which is itself responsible for sustainable development in the UK.

The new £2.9 million Community Fire Station in St Albans, Hertfordshire, incorporates numerous sustainable elements within its design, making it one of the most environmentally friendly facilities of its kind.

Gary Shepherd took top place at the recent Scottish HVACR Awards for Outstanding Achievement.

Priva Building Intelligence has scooped the award for the most innovative product at its first attempt. The Dutch building controls company beat 35 other entries for the prestigious Etop Award during the Electrotechniek trade fair, held at the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht, the Netherlands, when its Comforte CX individual room controller was named the most innovative electrical engineering product for 2005.

Marking its twelfth acquisition in 2005, Watts Industries has taken over the FEBCO, Mueller Steam Specialty and POLYJET product lines from SPX Corporation in a stock purchase transaction.

One of the most modern healthcare facilities in Europe and the first new hospital to be built in its area for a century features innovation right through to its ventilation.

Trox (UK) has supplied 700 space, cost and maintenance saving multi service chilled beams (MSCBs) to Oxfam’s headquarters in a contract worth £250,000.

Systemair AB has completed the acquisition of Marvent in Slovenia, adding to its already strong global presence, spanning 27 countries.

Smoke pollution in the workplace is no longer a problem at the Novotel London West in Hammersmith. Bar staff have not suffered from cigarette smoke since four Honeywell air cleaners were installed by clean air specialists Inn-House Technology. Novotel London West – Novotel’s flagship UK hotel – has also reduced energy wastage, as there is no longer any need to open doors for fresh air when the bar is filled with heavy smokers.

We are constantly talking about the need to keep our office environments cool and the effects that overheating could have on the occupants within those environments. It is very rare however that we discuss the need to keep our computer systems cool. But when those systems are mission critical it becomes essential and we have to ensure that they remain working at all costs.

Although piped services are the life blood of some people’s business, when it comes to aesthetics, no one wants to see the pipes in an installation. Here Mike Darvill, Managing Director of Climate Pipework Systems Ltd, distributors of Roth Industries products in the UK, looks at the fact that pipework has a critical and developing role to play in building performance and that there are also some key decisions to be made when selecting your piped services supplier.

New fire safety legislation due to come into effect in England and Wales in April 2006 will directly impact on employers and virtually all of those responsible for non-domestic premises (owners, occupiers and managers) says BRE.

“There is no doubt that BACnet is an excellent and versatile protocol for building automation. Its strength is in its flexibility to interconnect different equipment but, to make the most of an open system, it’s important to consider the infrastructure and the functionality that’s actually needed”, says Dave Kitching of Siemens Building Technologies.

While attention has been paid to the Climate Change Levy and the tax allowances for fitting energy saving equipment such as variable speed drives, Trevor Longland of Schneider Electric, argues a strong case for looking at power factor correction first when looking to cut electricity consumption.

At first glance, the new requirements of Part F and Part L are in deep conflict. How can increased ventilation be achieved while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions, and all within the cost constraints of the project? Andy Wilshaw of Nordair/Niche argues that it is possible to achieve all three goals by borrowing energy from another source to offset the additional energy burden demanded by Part F.

The Management of Energy in Buildings Bill (the Bill), sponsored by Dr Alan Whitehead MP aims to increase the development of domestic microgeneration (the generation of energy (electricity and heat) by individual consumers or small groups of consumers) through amendments to the current planning laws and building regulations.

With a television audience that will exceed the 3.9 billion people who watched Athens 2004, the London 2012 Olympics is set to be a global showcase that will demonstrate that we as nation can get it right and that we are still very much a major player on the world-stage, at every level.

Simmtronic has supplied the lighting controls for 30 Gresham Street - an impressive office development at the centre of the Square Mile in the City of London. The building has a two-storey glazed entrance and huge floor plates which together provide some 400,000 sq ft usable floor space. Additional features include a roof terrace and two basement car parking levels.

The Building Controls Industry Association (BCIA) is to stage its first training awards ceremony at its AGM Dinner to be held in May. The Awards, which are being presented in association with BSEE, were officially launched last year at the 4th Building Controls Industry Conference. However, the popularity of the Awards with members of the BCIA has led to a formal event with this year’s winners being acknowledged at an official ceremony.

Autodesk has completed the acquisition of Alias– a leading developer of 3D graphics technology. This acquisition extends Autodesk’s 3D software leadership in the manufacturing and media and entertainment industries.

HVCA director Robert Higgs has been appointed an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Years Honours list, in recognition of his services to the environment.