Air Conditioning Solutions (ACS) has received an award from Mitsubishi Electric for its work with the Connells Group on R22 replacement, as part of the new Green Gateway Awards.
Mitsubishi Electric's Green Gateway Awards recognise the important contribution of its partners in encouraging energy efficiency in the built environment.

ACS has been working with Connells since 2000 and has helped the group to achieve estimated run cost savings of more than £150,000 a year, while cutting carbon emissions in each upgrade branch by more than half.

Mitsubishi Electric's sustainable solutions manager, Martin Fahey, said: 'We know that there are still thousands of businesses out there that have yet to grasp the full implications of the ban on R22. What ACS has done is work with its customer to develop a planned schedule of replacement that fits in with Connells' business plans.

'We wanted to recognise the success of this approach and acknowledge the fact that ACS has highlighted how savings can be achieved by planning to be more efficient.'

ACS has more than 20 years' experience in the design, installation and maintenance of heating, cooling and ventilation equipment and could see what the implications of the R22 ban would be for its customers.

ACS commercial director, Neil Moran, said: 'In the case of the Connells Group, the estate had a real mix of equipment from all the major air conditioning manufacturers, due to the historic development and expansion of the group. We undertook an initial assessment of ten branches that the Connells Group chose at random to produce a detailed report comparing the potential savings of a phased replacement programme against the likely repair and running costs of existing kit.'

The report helped secure agreement for a full design specification and Connells and ACS started looking at replacement options while assessing the best ways of keeping disruption in each branch to a minimum. In all, 203 branches are affected across the group's network. Work on the replacement programme started in October 2012 and is scheduled to run until the end of 2013.

Mr Fahey said: 'ACS has shown that by talking to customers about tackling this issue, it is possible to make a real, hard business case for expenditure on new equipment.'

ACS also received £1,000 from Mitsubishi Electric which has been donated to the Dunstone Bennett Centre in Northampton. The voluntary organisation exists on donations only and operates as an aftercare organisation for cancer patients who are in remission and their families.