Hills presents its ‘Oscars’

David Hills, chief executive of contractor Hills Electrical & Mechanical, gives the ‘Oscar’ treatment to innovative ideas in the industry at a dinner at Birmingham Botanical Gardens last month. The event recognises and rewards contributions to innovation, sustainability and whole-life costs. Among the 12 award winners was Ambi-Rad’s Cobra approach to gas-fired radiant heating — a packaged heater that requires no assembly on site. Cooper Lighting was acclaimed for being the first to market using LEDs for emergency lighting. Eaton Electric’s Ezybond clamp for making earth connections to pipes without tools (except for cutting and stripping the cable) was welcomed for its ability to enable connections to be made in awkward places. Gent’s S Quad ceiling-mounted unit combining heat and gas sensor with voice, sounder and strobe was described as a ‘real winner’. A new product bringing innovation to the fixings market is the Zip-Clip Plus; it offers a rigid solution for hanging equipment with the flexibility to reduce installation time and improve the aesthetics of first-fix installations.