Now in its seventh year and firmly established as a leading event for the industry, The HVR Awards took place at the Chelsea Harbour Hotel in London last night (Thursday, 27th October). 
Hosted by stand-up comedian and writer, Bob Mills, over 200 members of the industry gathered to celebrate outstanding technology, projects and customer service in a range of categories.
In his opening speech, Malcolm Thomson, president of lead sponsor, the president of the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) said: “In these strange and uncertain economic times, it is more important than ever that we come together to celebrate success and showcase what makes our industry special. And, while this year has been far from plain sailing, our companies have risen brilliantly to the many challenges.
“We will need to carry on displaying that resilience in the months and years ahead, but as these awards demonstrate, we have plenty of good reasons to be optimistic about the future.”
Mark Forsyth, UK training manager for SkillFRIDGE took to the stage to give a short presentation about SkillFRIDGE, the refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump competition organised by Datateam Business Media. David Dunn, director and general manager for Toshiba UK, the competition’s lead sponsor, went on to speak about the importance of training and apprenticeships to the future of the industry.
After dinner and before the awards presentations commenced, HVR editor Heather Ramsden congratulated all of the finalists on their “commitment to developing new and exciting solutions which deliver significant advancements in performance, energy efficiency and life cycle costs.”
Commercial Air Conditioning Product of the Year, sponsored by the HVAC & Refrigeration Show 2018 went to Mitsubishi Electric for its City Multi Hybrid VRF.
Sponsored by Smith Brothers Stores, Andrews Water Heaters snapped up the award for the awards for Commercial Heating Product of the Year; while Commercial Ventilation Product of the Year, sponsored by HVR Magazine, went to onsynergy for The PAVEL.
Sustainable Product of the Year, sponsored by ACR News Magazine was awarded to Guardian Water Treatment for the Wallenius AOT; while Kensa Heat Pumps picked up the award for Sustainable Project of the Year, sponsored by Marflow, for the EDF Energy & Kensa Heat Pumps energy efficiency partnership.
Priddy Engineering Service Ltd meanwhile, scooped Contractor of the Year, sponsored by Nortek Global HVAC, and Consultant of the Year, sponsored by Nortek Global HVAC went to SI Sealy & Associates.
HVR editor Heather Ramsden said: “We must thank our judging panel, Ross Anderson (ICOM), Martyn Cooper (FETA), Richard Ward (BESA) and Tom Garrigan (BSRIA) who had the tough stask of sifting through all the entries and finding the rightful winners.”
Heather continued: “in order to make such achievements you also need talented individuals and our industry has its fair share of these.”
With this in mind, the Customer Service Award made its return for the third year running. Voted for by members of the industry, the 2016 award was presented to Celia Dickinson of Toshiba Air Conditioning.
The first ever Trainee of the Year award, sponsored by SkillFRIDGE was presented to Reece Summerfield of EOGB Energy Products. Voted for by members of the industry, Reece was singled out as a rising star consistently going the extra mile for the overall benefit of his team and employer. Heather said: “Our trainees have never been more important as industry strives to boost its pool of trained professionals and tackle the alarming skills crisis, so we are particularly pleased to present this award.”
At the height of the evening, the event also shone its spotlight on Jack McDavid, an industry veteran who has made an immense contribution to building services in the course of his career. Heather said: “Jack has earned the respect of both colleagues and peers for his passion and commitment during a distinguished career. As the first recipient of the HVR’s lifetime achievement award, we believe he fits the bill perfectly and sets the standard for future recipients in years to come.”
Event director Paul Ryder said: “Congratulations to all of our winners and the highly commended entries, who in many of the categories narrowly missed out on the win. Thanks also to our sponsors, BESA, Ambirad, Combat HVAC, Marflow Hydronic Systems, Nortek Global HVAC, Reznor, Smith Brothers Stores, SkillFRIDGE and The HVAC & Refrigeration Show, without the support of which tonight would not have been possible.”
The evening also raised funds for the Samaritans, with contributions set continue for the foreseeable future via the official HVR Awards website.
For more information visit ww.hvrawards.com