News

Rob Manning, President of CIBSE presents EIC’s regional director Tony Greenway with the Contractor of the Year award

National building services provider EIC has been awarded North West Contractor of the Year by the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers North West. EIC’s northern division has been recognised for excellence in its holistic and integrated approach towards sustainability by the influential industry body.

Northern regional director Tony Greenway accepted the award from CIBSE chairman Frank Mills at a glittering awards ceremony at the Midland Hotel in Manchester. Tony, who has overseen the rapid expansion of the Manchester office over the last 18 months, was delighted to accept the award on behalf of the team.

He said: “EIC is extremely client-focused and we make every effort to ensure our experience and expertise is used best effect to benefit our customers. Our engineers and managers are committed to helping clients meet both their environmental and financial targets. We have found that by being involved from the very early design stage of a project, we can help clients to make the most of their engineered building services throughout their lifetime, ensuring reduced maintenance requirements, which is better value for money in the long run and a better deal for the environment.

“I am delighted that our professional, integrated, approach has been recognised by such a well respected industry body, and feel this award demonstrates our commitment to addressing the balance between providing customer satisfaction, maintaining profitability and reducing the environmental impact of our business.”

Leading by example, EIC has already implemented a range of carbon reduction and energy saving measures within its own business structure, establishing a Sustainable Solutions team, with directors, engineers, designers and sustainability specialists reviewing new and ongoing contracts to recomment environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternatives for clients. EIC uses local suppliers where possible, saving on fuel miles and supporting the local economy, while all field operatives are issued with hand held PDA devices to reduce the amount of paper being used. In addition, EIC has pledged to replace its existing 350-stong vehicle fleet with greener models in order to reduce its CO2 emissions. The benefit of this experience has been felt by clients across a range of industry sectors, including health and education, retail and leisure, office and commercial property.

One of CIBSE’s key roles is to promote development within the building services industry and enable members to share knowledge and examples of good practice. In recent years much of that focus has shifted towards the role building services engineers can play in enabling their clients to achieve sustainable design and carbon reduction, in order to meet strict new standards and secure cost savings.

Frank Mills, chairman at CIBSE North West, said the standard of entries was extremely high. He said: “In light of the national commitment to reducing the UK’s CO2 emissions there is a need for stronger collaboration across disciplines in order to deliver an integrated design which results in construction projects which are sustainable and functional.”

Headquartered in Alcester, Warwickshire, EIC has a network of 12 regional offices across the UK offering a service which can be managed nationally and delivered locally, or conversely managed regionally but rolled out across the whole country. The Northern Division comprises regional offices in Manchester and Leeds, with more than 40 staff and contractors serving a range of clients including Lancaster University, Bupa Healthcare, Enterprise Inns and the Salvation Army Housing Association.

With more than 600 trained staff nationally, EIC can respond quickly to client needs. An extraordinary recent project for Tesco in flood-hit Workington, Cumbria, saw EIC complete an entire seven-week mechanical and electrical engineering fit out of a temporary new store in just seven days.