Heat Pumps Today

www.cdlweb.info Heat Pump Design & Distribution Sales across the UK Qp Cool Designs.indd 1 17/01/2022 09:40 Fletcher elected BESA President Robert (Rab) Fletcher has been elected to serve as President of the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) for 2022/23. He succeeds Neil Brackenridge who served a two-year term to help steer BESA through the pandemic. The new President is mechanical services team manager at Fife Council Building Services. He has more than 30 years’ experience in construction and building services engineering – and describes himself as “a time served plumber”. In his address to the BESA Annual General Meeting in London, Fletcher said he was delighted to be the latest in a long line of presidents from a devolved nation further strengthening BESA’s unique position as the only built environment trade body representing all four UK countries. He is a passionate advocate of training and apprenticeships, and a former chairman of BESA Scotland. He was one of the founders of the BESA Local Authority Forum, which he continues to chair. This brings together representatives from every local council in Scotland to address key industry topics and find solutions to common problems. It attracts more than 500 attendees every year. Fletcher has been working for the £130m turnover building services division of Fife Council for 25 years having started in a plumbing role before progressing through the ranks to supervisor and co-ordinator. He was promoted to team manager in 2012. As team manager, he was initially responsible for delivering an annual £15m programme of more than 2,000 domestic heating installations for council tenants, and since 2017 he has overseen all the mechanical services in Fife Council’s 3,000 non-domestic properties. The bulk of his £9m installation and maintenance programme is delivered by BESA member companies and includes the upgrading of commercial gas installations. It is a requirement of the Council that firms tendering for its work packages are members of the Association. The new BESA President is also lead mentor for Fife Council Building Services mechanical apprentices, of which there are more than 30 working in plumbing/gas and mechanical disciplines. Several of the current group were taken on after being made redundant by private firms. www.theBESA.com LG promotes Neil Hopkinson Leading manufacturer of air to water heat pumps LG has promoted Neil Hopkinson to the role of National Heating Sales Manager – Distribution. Neil Hopkinson joined LG Electronics over four years ago, in August 2017, in the role of Sales Manager, Heating Solutions for the north and Scotland. Neil has worked in the domestic heating and renewables sectors for the past twenty years with companies including Jackson BC, Travis Perkins, Baxi Potterton Group, Vaillant Group, Mitsubishi Electric and the QRL Radiator Group in area, regional and Key Account Manager roles. He will be responsible for building on the success of the popular LG Therma V air source heat pump range including the Therma V Monobloc ‘S’ second generation monobloc heat pump through the company’s distribution channels across the UK and Ireland, as well as building take up of installer training via distributors and LG’s own training centres as the heat pump revolution gains momentum across the UK. 04 N E W S August | September 2022 LH Robert Fletcher New President of BESA