Having begun his electrical training in the Royal Navy, Mr Pridham went on to work for Thames Water Utilities before forming his own company, JR Pridham Services in Reading, in 1988. His business now has more than 90 employees.

Mr Pridham commented: “It is a great honour to become ECA President, and I am grateful for the opportunity to champion the electrotechnical and engineering services industry. I look forward to working with ECA’s staff and members, our partners, and government, to further raise the positive profile of our industry and tackle its biggest challenges, including fair payment, the skills shortage and Brexit uncertainty.”

Mr Pridham takes over the presidency from Malcolm Crofts of DH Crofts.

ECA chief executive Steve Bratt added: “We are very pleased indeed that Jim Pridham, a great advocate of our industry, has become ECA’s new president. The ECA team look forward to working with Jim to further enhance the status of the wider engineering services sector.

“On behalf of ECA’s staff and members, we are very grateful to Malcolm Crofts for his active support and engagement with the issues facing the industry, and his achievements over the past year as ECA president.”