With energy costs approaching record highs and the spectre of yet further increases over the coming years, industry at large is now faced with some difficult challenges. From shop floor to boardroom, manufacturing and engineering businesses are having to closely evaluate their energy management practices.

Domestic hot water services for the new Weighing Room and Media Centre, currently under construction at Aintree Racecourse, will be provided through two Maxxflo condensing storage appliances supplied by Andrews Water Heaters.

Chalmor Ltd has been awarded a £40,000 grant by Shell Springboard towards the development of an innovative programmable electronic thermostatic radiator valve (eTRV). The low cost, easy to install eTRV kit will have the potential to shave 25% off the heating bills of many homes and small businesses, reducing the UK’s CO2 emissions by as much as 500,000 tonnes per annum.

TV personality and engineering enthusiast Johnny Ball has officially opened Denco’s new headquarters building and air conditioning factory.

The York Tempo range of energy efficient air-cooled scroll chillers has joined the growing number of other York products on the Carbon Trust’s Energy Technology List (ETL). These include York Sonata low sound, air-cooled screw chillers, whose entry on the list has been extended to include the higher capacity models.

Alpha Control Services has selected Priva control systems for two of its installations: Home Hardware in Barnstaple and at Homebase Wimbledon.

Maintaining the reliability and quality of gas supplies from offshore production platforms relies on regular maintenance of plant and equipment on the platforms. Planned shutdowns, which usually take place in the summer months when demand is lower, enable vital servicing and upgrading to take place. However, although a platform may go offline in terms of gas production during the maintenance, the crew are usually still working on board. Essential services, such as hot water and heating, need to be provided during the shutdown periods.

The ability to meet a tight 10-week delivery schedule has won Eaton the contract to supply a 5MVA packaged substation for Liverpool’s new £70 million Met Quarter retail development.

Plans to redevelop a strategic site in front of London Bridge Station moved a step nearer when the London Borough of Southwark Planning Committee resolved to grant planning consent for the stunning Renzo Piano designed scheme.

Sophisticated lighting control from Ex-Or Ltd is at the heart of one of the most spectacular lighting displays of 2006 - the relit Clifton Suspension Bridge which marks an historic 200th anniversary.

Honeywell Excel 5000 Series controllers and Honeywell field devices are at the heart of the building management system in the UK’s tallest public viewing tower, the 170 metre Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth.

Colt International has appointed Jean-Claude De Smedt as Group Business Development Manager in its Smoke Control division; he re-joins the team following a 12 year absence. After his technical HVAC graduate studies, Jean-Claude worked for 15 years in the field of smoke control at Colt International in Belgium, but left in 1994 to start his own fire safety consultancy.

Jane Bentley has been appointed to the board of Jasun Filtration plc following the company’s recent announcements that it has purchased the freehold of its facility in Parrett Way, Bridgwater and had its most successful year in its 33-year history.

Sales analyst, Richard Bailey, has recently been appointed as the latest addition to Rinnai UK’s sales force. Following a two month intensive training programme, BA (hons) graduate, Richard, will be working in the southeast region to further increase Rinnai’s growing market share in gas-powered continuous flow hot water systems across domestic, commercial and industrial applications.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Plumbing Council (WPC) have launched ‘Health Aspects of Plumbing’ (HAP), a joint publication with contributions from experts around the world.

Johnson Controls has won a new contract to provide facilities management services to the BBC’s property portfolio in London and Scotland. The five year contract, with an option to extend for a further three years, will cover 129 premises and 700,000 square metres of workspace.

Simmtronic SPECS3 fully addressable digital lighting controls were chosen for Land Securities’ impressive 550,000 sq ft office development, built by Sir Robert McAlpine at Cardinal Place in London. The lighting control system for the full Cat A fit out of this office complex, which extends over three buildings, has been completed and commissioned. Simmtronic is now engaged in enhancing the backbone system with features and functions to provide each new incoming tenant with a customised lighting control scheme.

Building Engineering Services Training (BEST) has announced plans to develop a national network of assessors to help fill the gap in availability of technically competent on-site assessors.

Businesses working in the domestic and commercial heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration sectors are now able to self-certify their work online through BESCA, Building Engineering Services Competence Accreditation Ltd.

The Eden Project has been named Project of the Decade at the Quality in Construction Awards 2006.

Most of you either currently tender for work or will request tenders for your projects. I have discovered that as I can spend a significant amount of my time working on projects for a particular client that I could be transferred to a new employer. I have also discovered that as George Davies tenders for construction law work, the firm could potentially inherit all the employees of the outgoing provider. Naturally, this is of concern and particularly relevant given the popularity of tendering in the Construction Industry. As this could happen to all of us, I have sought advice from my employment colleague, Alan Lewis Partner at George Davies, and we have set out his main comments below. Read on for some background information and top tips.

Much talk is generated by Government departments about the competitiveness and productivity of UK industries, linking these to education and skills levels. So far so good; however, this differentiation between education and skills sends out mixed messages to youngsters leaving secondary education, and to employers seeking new trainees. Dr Mark Brenner, Chief Executive Officer for training services provider Building Engineering Services Training (BEST), takes another perspective.

Developing major sporting and infrastructure projects are set to provide an ideal opportunity for the building controls industry to showcase the benefits of good building control. Dramatic increases in energy costs have created real challenges for the operators of major sporting venues and addressing these issues with creative energy saving building management solutions will certainly increase the profile of the building controls industry.

3D data models incorporate far more information for building services design than just a pretty picture. Brendan McFarlane of Data Design System explores the benefits of Industrial Foundation Class models for building services engineers.

Construction firms with their ear to the ground will have heard about the EU’s new sound regulations and this month, revised UK regulations come into force to lower acceptable noise levels in the workplace, which stand to protect an estimated 2.25 million people at risk of hearing damage.

Nick Stevenson of Keston Boilers explains why custom-made, prefabricated multiple-boiler rigs are the latest must-haves in commercial heating refurbishments.

With changes to Building Regulation legislation due to take effect from April 2006, Bovema UK General Manager, Bill Johnston, is urging everyone from building specifiers and architects through to builders and product designers to work together to ensure that any new buildings are compliant with the revised legislation. Here, Bill looks ahead to the imminent changes and explains how failure of the various industry stakeholders to work more collaboratively could result in some very costly errors.

Lighting controls are widely applied and accepted today, particularly in office developments, and they are now clearly endorsed by regulations such as Approved Document L2 (A&B) 2006, due to their energy saving capability. In fact it is this specific ability that really established the present lighting controls industry.

Sponsorship support for the first Building Controls Industry Association (BCIA) Training Awards Ceremony has been overwhelming, reports Doug Robins, BCIA President. “Sponsors for the six award categories were identified within a few weeks of publicising the event, which clearly demonstrates the value that our members place on good, independent training. Until the Association developed the current generic-based training scheme, which offers two levels of qualification, engineers had to be recruited from other industries and then retrained in-house, which was patently unsatisfactory.”