There is growing evidence that multi-service chilled beams (MSCBs) are increasing in popularity overseas, according to leading air distribution system provider Trox UK.

Philips Lighting and LUCI have announced that this year's international city.people.light award has been won by the city of Seoul, South Korea. Representatives from the city were presented with the city.people.light trophy as well as prize money of 5,000 euros.

CIBSE applauds the overwhelming cross-party support given to the Climate Change Bill which has cleared the Commons with a huge majority (463 votes to three). The bill makes the UK the first country to sign up to legally-binding national targets for reducing emissions and commits the government to reducing emissions by 80% by 2050. CIBSE is well aware of the challenge that reducing emissions by 80% presents, just coming to the end of a project to reduce its own carbon emissions from its HQ by 60%.

HVCA has joined a major campaign, organised by the Carbon Monoxide Consumer Awareness Alliance (COCAA), aimed at raising awareness among consumers of the dangers of carbon monoxide (CO).

With energy conservation always one of the major considerations in any project today, the principle of heating hot water conventionally and storing it in a tank until it is needed is, to say the least, questionable. The energy efficient alternative lies with the principle of continuous flow water heating which has been applied successfully in countless commercial applications in the UK for many years.

Businesses can now assess the carbon footprint of their goods and services and play a greater part in fighting climate change, thanks to a new standard launched by BSI British Standards, the Carbon Trust and Defra.

Global electronics and white goods giant Samsung is to invest heavily in the UK air conditioning market.

In an initiative to manage the significant growth in its Raychem electric underfloor heating and heat-tracing business, Tyco Thermal Controls has promoted Andrew McGrath to Regional Sales Manager - South West, Central and North West England and Wales. Two new Area Sales Manager appointments have also been made with Jenny Neal (Midlands) and Ben Knight (South West) joining Andrew's team.

The Lighting Design Awards 2009 has received a record number of entries, reflecting the increasing prominence of good lighting design in today's world and thus the increased standard of excellence. The awards are now widely recognised as the stamp of excellence within the lighting industry and demand for tables at next years event is expected to outstrip the available seating, so anyone wishing to attend should book early.

The electrical industry celebrated its finest talent at the UK finals of SkillELECTRIC 2008, a challenging two and a half day practical skills competition designed to promote standards and skills across the sector.

The Leeds office of Faber Maunsell has appointed Henry Salmon as a graduate engineer in its geo-environmental department.

Following its UK success in delivering integrated systems solutions for precise air management, Fläkt Woods is to take the same innovative approach to markets across Europe with Neil Yule, formerly UK Business Unit Director, being appointed to lead the drive in a new senior role.

Pioneering control and monitoring company RDM has installed two energy-saving wind turbines at its Glasgow headquarters.

Cley Marshes Nature Reserve Visitor Centre, designed by London and Norwich based LSI Architects for Norfolk Wildlife Trust, has won an Emirates Glass LEAF Award 2008, under the category Best Sustainable Development.

Leading training provider BEST Ltd (Building Engineering Services Training) has established a training partnership with GSH Group resulting in 13 new apprentices starting a Service and Maintenance programme based at Stoke on Trent College. This new group adds to the four apprentices who started earlier in the year in Scotland based at North Glasgow College and managed by BEST Scotland training advisor Emma Cameron.

During the extensive research and consultation that SummitSkills carried out as part of our Sector Skills Agreement project, we found that the importance of business management skills and leadership training is greatly undervalued within the building services engineering sector.

Stokvis Energy Systems report increasing demand from hotels and leisure centre for energy efficient boilers and plate heat exchanger to replace hot water storage systems.

Air conditioning systems from Panasonic's FS range for medium commercial applications are providing a comfortable year-round environment for growing student and staff numbers at a specialist financial training centre in Liverpool.

When one of the country's largest energy companies identified a need to investigate maintenance for a 10 year old switchboard, it turned to Schneider Electric for evaluation and ultimately a major refurbishment.

Following a cost analysis, TridonicAtco has worked in collaboration with lighting solutions provider, Weblight, to reduce energy costs and CO² emissions at The St Helier Hospital in Carshalton, Surrey. The project involved the installation of TridonicAtco's DSI Smart System on half the lighting on the two main corridors of the hospital, in conjunction with ECO ballasts.

Located in a recreational area of Tampere, Finland, the Naistenlahti Power Plant is using its lakeside position, and a lighting design featuring GE ConstantColor CMH ceramic metal halide lamps, to showcase a dramatic new look. The lighting design transforms this industrial structure into an attractive feature of the city and its waterfront nightscape.

Trox UK's Service Division has completed a contract to refurbish the 720 variable air volume (VAV) boxes that serve the air conditioning system at the prestigious Canary Wharf headquarters of the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Building controls specialist, BG Controls, has manufactured, installed and commissioned a new motor control panel at the Vue multiplex cinema in Swansea, just five working days after a fire broke out in the building.

Two Broag-Remeha Quinta 30 boilers have been installed at the new Timothy Taylor & Co Ltd Offices in Keighley. The Yorkshire brewer is renowned for brewing quality cask ales including Landlord, Madonna's favourite pint and winner of more accolades than any other English beer.  K.R. Martin installed them alongside a Remtank SS180 hot water cylinder (holding 180 litres) with associated valves and fittings, and also a Rematic 2945 integral control panel within the boiler. 

Elegant design and a versatile, easy to install electrical distribution system are the key characteristics of the lighting solution from Zumtobel that has been specified for the 160 Tooley Street office block, designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) architects for Great Portland Estates. Combining innovative lighting engineering and groundbreaking design, suspended Zumtobel low-energy light fittings provide 20% indirect and 80% direct lighting reflected from the building's innovative exposed concrete soffit solution.

Levolux is the driving force behind sustainability at Volvo's Maidstone dealership, Lipscomb Motors, with an innovative and sustainable timber Fin Solar Shading system.

Guests visiting the UK's historic SS Great Britain ship can enjoy themselves in comfort thanks to air-conditioning systems from Toshiba.

As we prepare ourselves for the coming winter with the coldest months of the year still ahead of us, many will be getting their heating systems ready for an annual check up.

We often hear people talking about an integrated solution plus the costs and energy savings which this type of solution can bring. I spoke to Erik Kahlert, Managing Director of Siemens Building Technologies to find out what an integrated solution can offer and the benefits of working with a company like Siemens.

As companies respond to the pressures of increasing fuel prices and tightening legislation regarding energy efficiency, the need to source cost-effective investments for building services moves further up the agenda. Integrated control solutions are increasingly emerging as a measurable and simple solution, helping clients to invest in cutting-edge technology that works on a practical level for the end-user. 

While there has been a growth in solar suppliers, and increasing awareness of the need for quality solutions, there is a need for widespread education both among distributors and installer engineers.

The drive to minimise the effects of global warming is tackling three major concerns head on. The first is to reduce the level of carbon dioxide emissions, the second is to improve energy efficiency and the third is to increase the use of renewable energy solutions. A tall order, especially as the attainment of the specified targets in all three areas must be achieved by 2020. Although a clear overall timetable was put in place, decisions regarding the identification and implementation of processes specific to each sector of industry have, understandably, not been uniform.

In recent years we've seen some major advances in the sophistication and functionality of lighting control systems, enabling specifiers and building operators to achieve much higher levels of control. At the same time, however, it's important not to lose sight of how they will be used on a day-to-day basis and by whom.

Widely accepted and used in North America, ultraviolet (UV) air purification, its use for preventing fouling on cooling coils and drip pans, treating odours and for inactivating or killing micro organisms in ducted air, is common place. In fact, the General Services Administration (GSA), who are responsible for large swaiths of US public sector assets, now requires UV lamps to be fitted to all air conditioning coils in new build projects.

Select any industry and, like as not, most suppliers will have a core product or service offering with at best limited scope for tailoring to individual customer needs.  As a result, in the face of such supplier inflexibility, the purchaser may well be forced to accept something which is less than ideal.

Seaward Electronic has updated and expanded its easy to use software package for the fast and accurate recording of electrical installation test and inspection data.

To complement the Videx Security 4000 Series access control products, the company has now introduced the BioAccess range of stand-alone finger print reader modules.  Two types are available, thermal swipe and capacitive.  Both types are available with 1000 or 3000 finger print memory.  All versions are programmable manually via on-board switches or PC using a programming kit or through the network.

Covering the company's entire product range, Finder's 2009/10 product catalogue provides electrical and electronic system designers and buyers with a one-stop reference for relays, timers, interface modules, sockets and accessories.  For commercial lighting control duties, the catalogue presents Finder's new generation of light dependent relays, time switches, electronic step relays and dimmers, staircase timers and PIR movement detectors.

Mitsubishi Electric's new AG150 centralised controller offers a large 9-inch, high resolution (800x600), touch screen display for easy control of up to 50 indoor units. The very popular and industry-first G50 WebPages are also available with the AG150.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Air Conditioning has launched a range of controllers suitable for connection to building management systems (BMS) using either of the two principal BMS protocols, LONworks or BACnet. The SC-LGW (LONworks gateway) interface device from MHI converts MHI's Superlink communications data and connects to most LONworks systems. For management systems based on a BACnet (Building Automation and Control Networks) system, MHI offers the SC-BGW (BACnet gateway) control.

Construction companies, struggling to cope with the problems associated with the notoriously damp British climate, are being offered a helping hand by Calorex Heat Pumps, of Essex, with its Porta range of portable dehumidifier and heaters.

Following a new UK Government warning of the inevitability of a flu pandemic that could kill up to 50 million people worldwide, Sanyo has launched a new virus washer proven to permanently inactivate airborne viruses and bacteria.

Zumtobel's new SLOTLIGHT II range offers designers the opportunity to create continuous ribbons of pure, uniform light. A slim aluminium body is discrete and unobtrusive, putting the focus on the light rather than the luminaire.  Carefully designed reflectors and diffusers combine with overlapping T16 light sources to produce an unbroken line of light with no shadows or bright spots.

Danlers Limited design and manufacture a range of HVAC controls, including a passive infra-red thermostat for heating loads.

Lochinvar has extended its range of high efficiency, gas-fired condensing water heaters to provide more flexible options and further strengthen its offer to the UK commercial market.

Daikin Europe N.V. has extended its Sky Air series (20 and 25 kW) with a new light commercial multi system (CMSQ).

Following the success of Wieland Electric's EnOcean to KNX Gateway (winner of the KNX Product of the Year Award 2007) the company has now launched its EnOcean to LON (Local Operating Network) Gateway to control even more areas of building automation.

Fluke now includes free with all Thermal Imagers a new, easier-to-use, version of its SmartView software, featuring the first 3D imaging capability in the industry and new options for optimising and organising thermal images and creating professional reports, as well as a valuable, in-depth training programme.

Switching from standard halogen lamps to energy efficient replacements is now easy and hassle free with the extension of the Halogen Energy Savers range from Osram. The latest additions can achieve a 30% energy reduction, last twice as long as standard incandescent lamps, and are fully dimmable, providing further significant savings on energy, costs and materials.

Rehau has a new adjustable depth socket box for its PVC data cable management systems which complies with the strictest requirements of the top 10 data cable manufacturers.

The new Infranet Partners range of advanced room comfort controls provides user control of temperature and ventilation at the touch of a button.

The latest Ledaire luxlite fluorescent lights from Ledaire Fabrications have been designed for use in commercial kitchen environments and are produced from aluminium or T304 stainless steel.

For extinguishing systems with up to four areas, an integrated control solution is provided by Kentec's Sigma XT+ range, which combines feature rich Sigma CP conventional fire detection from two to eight zones with highly configurable extinguishing control modules.

Zip Heaters (UK) Ltd has completed its Varipoint range of copper unvented water heaters, with the introduction of four new models providing capacities up to 100 litres.  In addition to the existing 10 and 15 litre products, the Varipoint range is now also available in 30, 50, 80 and 100 litre models, all of which are rated 2.7kW @ 230V.

John Guest has recently introduced a wider and much improved WRAS Approved range of fittings for metric size cold water services.

With over 70 full colour pages, Volex's new 2009 catalogue provides all the relevant information required to select the right Volex product for the job.

The Lumicom website (www.lumicom.co.uk) has now been enhanced to include even more useful information about the disposal and recycling of luminaires.

The IPP-CHW Ultra-Efficient Chilled Water Integrated Plant Package now launched by Armstrong is the most energy efficient solution available on the market today for chilled water applications in the 500 to 3600 kW range.  It has been shown to provide operating plant efficiencies of not less than 7.3 COP (on an annual average basis). This applies not just to the chiller unit, but to the performance of the entire system. It is also the most space efficient solution available, with the potential to reduce plant footprint by 2/3rds, and offers all the project benefits of off-site manufacture.

Schneider Electric has launched the latest XPSMCWIN v2.2 software package for its XPSMC safety controllers, and has made available two free versions at its UK website. The Demo Version is for OEMs and designers wishing to try out the drag-and-drop configurability without connecting to a controller, and the Service Version is for end users or site engineers to connect to existing controllers for troubleshooting and diagnostic purposes.

MK Electric's recently compiled collection of products dedicated to healthcare environments includes its market-leading Logic Plus wiring accessories range, which has now been demonstrated to possess significant anti-microbial properties. Anti-microbial hygiene in hospital, care home and other medical environments remains a considerable public and Governmental concern; and the Logic Plus range has been independently proven to contribute to any ‘deep clean' regime seeking to rid such premises of killer bugs.