B&ES (the Building & Engineering Services Association) is the new name for the Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association.
Established in 1904 as the National Association of Master Heating and Domestic Engineers, the organisation adopted the HVCA name in 1963. B&ES President Bob Shelley said: “Back then, of course, that’s exactly how the majority of members would have described themselves – as H&V contractors – with the result that the name of their representative body accurately reflected the services they provided to the marketplace.
“These days, however, things are very different. The term ‘H&V’ barely scratches the surface of the diverse, sophisticated and highly complex nature of the work which our members now undertake.
“Nor does it even hint at the increasingly central role they play in the integration of engineering services in buildings and especially in the incorporation of the renewable technologies that are clearly here to stay in our environmentally conscious age.”
The president added that it was the case that, today, B&ES membership embraced many other specialisms including ventilation hygiene, heat pumps and facilities services, to name but a few – all of which sat comfortably under the building and engineering services identity.
Many specialisms
Looking to the future, Mr Shelley confirmed that re-branding is just one element in are-positioning exercise that would enable the Association to provide its members with a wider range of services, to enhance its influence with Government, and to offer a natural home to all building engineering services specialists.
“I am convinced that, as B&ES, we are ideally placed to become just such an organisation”, the President concluded.