The decision was not taken lightly to re-brand the HVCA as B&ES - the Building & Engineering Services Association - at a time when the country, and the world, are grappling with the deepest recession they've experienced in decades, according to president Bob Shelley.

'Our Association will be 107 years old next month - and, although it hasn't always been known as the HVCA, it is under that banner that it has grown, developed and matured into the high-profile, highly regarded and highly influential organisation it is today,' Mr Shelley explained.

He added that it was in 1963 that the then Association of Heating, Ventilation and Domestic Engineering Employers decided that something more succinct would help to sharpen its profile. And so the Heating and Ventilating Contractors' Association was born.

'Back then, that's exactly how the majority of members would have described themselves - as H&V contractors - with the result that the name of their representative body accurately reflected the services they provided to the marketplace,' Mr Shelley pointed out.

These days, however, things were very different. 'The term 'H&V' barely scratches the surface of the diverse, sophisticated and highly complex work our members now undertake,' said the president.

'Nor does it even hint at the increasingly central role they play in the integration of engineering services in buildings - and especially in the incorporation of the renewable technologies that are clearly here to stay in our increasingly environmentally-conscious age.'

It was also the case that the membership embraced many other specialisms - including ventilation hygiene, heat pumps and facilities management - all of which sit comfortably under the 'building and engineering services' descriptor.

'And so, following many months of research, discussion, consultation and engagement with the membership, my fellow officers and I reached the conclusion that - as part of a comprehensive Plan for Change and in spite of an unseasonable business climate - the time was right for the adoption of a new identity that would fully reflect our already broadened footprint.'

Mr Shelley was delighted, therefore, when the membership as a whole pledged their wholehearted support to our vision.

'Of course, re-branding is just one element in a re-positioning exercise that will enable the Association to provide its members with a wider range of services, enhance its influence with Government, and provide a natural home for all building engineering services specialists,' he said - adding that the Association had long been convinced of the need for an organisation to represent the wider building and engineering services sector.

'I am convinced that, as B&ES, we shall be ideally placed to become just such an organisation,' the president concluded.