New HVCA chief executive Blane Judd has been appointed a fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute in recognition of his contribution to training and education in building engineering services.
A graduate in integrated engineering from Nottingham Trent University, Mr Judd has demonstrated a career-long commitment to the development of qualifications and the raising of standards across building engineering services; as a director of sector skill council SummitSkills and of the Electricity Association, as chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering and as an executive board member of the World Plumbing Council.

Mr Judd has also served as a member of the Senate of the Engineering Council and the Board for Engineering Regulation, as chairman of Ongar Town Council and as an Epping Forest District Councillor.

In 2009, he was awarded an honorary fellowship by the Indian Plumbing Association for his international promotion of the relationship between public health and good sanitation.

Mr Judd joined the HVCA as chief executive designate in June, and succeeded Robert Higgs as chief executive on 25 July 2011.

Commenting on his new role, Mr Judd acknowledged that a significant 'wind of change' was blowing through the sector and the wider construction industry.

'It is important, therefore, that the services the Association delivers to its members fully meet their current and future requirements,' he said.

The requirement to create a low carbon economy, and the resulting quest for a truly sustainable built environment, was providing massive opportunities for the sector - most significantly in the design and installation of 'renewable technologies', and their integration into overall building systems.

'Our members are well-placed to be in the forefront of this 'technical revolution'.

'We must do everything in our power to ensure that they gain maximum commercial advantage from initiatives such as Feed-in Tariffs, the Green Deal and the Renewable Heat Incentive - and that other, less expert and less reputable interests do not encroach on territory that truly belongs to us,' Mr Judd concluded.