Taking the application of ground-source heat pumps a significant step forward by collecting and storing energy from the Sun during the summer and using it for heating in the winter is a new school in Hertfordshire.

Richard Ratcliffe (left) of St Martins Property receives one of the first commercial Energy Performance Certificates produced by an accredited CIBSE Low Carbon Energy Assessor, John Field.

BRE has boosted its expertise in intelligent buildings with the acquisition of two specialist divisions of i&i Ltd, Europe’s leading intelligent-building consultancy. The acquisition brings two important services areas into BRE — intelligent-building-systems consultancy and ibexcellence, the world-renowned Centre of Excellence for Intelligent Building.

Recycling water used in evaporative condensers at ASDA’s distribution centre in Lutterworth will reduce water consumption and the discharge of water-treatment chemicals. In addition, electricity consumption will be reduced.

The energy needed to provide heating and cooling for a new clubhouse for the golf club at St Andrews Links will be substantially reduced following the installation of a new system from Mitsubishi Electric.

Heating for a new school in Wrexham is provided by ground-source heat pumps serving underfloor heating. It was designed by NIBE Energy Systems and comprises 11 boreholes 100 m deep drilled into the school grounds before landscaping.

The upgrading of three ventilation systems at Leeds Metropolitan University will reduce running costs by an estimated £25 000 a year, for a capital spend of £47 000. That saving corresponds to 438 MWh of electricity and a reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions of over 192 t.

A combination of controlled natural ventilation and air conditioning is helping Capital Print achieve a ‘very good’ BREEAM rating for its new custom-built premises, where it is moving to after being displaced from the 2012 Olympic site.

Honeywell’s building solutions business (HBS) has won the IP in Security Innovation award for best application for its work at Wembley Stadium. Honeywell was also selected for the innovation award over two other category winners — best software and best hardware. The judges commented that Wembley Stadium is ‘a fantastic example of system convergence, with impressive scale to boot’; it was also described as ‘a world-class example of an integrated solution’.

An organisation designed to improve and maintain professional standards among employment agencies has been launched by the HVCA. The Building Services Engineering Employment Agency represents a voluntary grouping of employment agencies that supply skilled personnel to contractors in building-services engineering.

The right skills in the right place at the right time and in the right quantities are the heady objectives of the sector skills agreement for the industry launched by SummitSkills.