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NIBE Energy Systems Limited recently announced the results of the company's 2009 Installer Awards. Awards were made during dinner following an all day seminar at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham, to introduce a new generation of energy efficient, easily installed and user friendly heat pumps, an event attended by nearly 100 of the company's accredited installers.
Response in both categories - NIBE Installer of the Year and the NIBE Project of the Year - had been overwhelming and judging by no means simple. However, based on responses from customers, in categories such as value for money, contactibility, reliability and overall customer services, the field for Installer of the Year was eventually narrowed down to two. To great applause from their fellows, the prize for Runner-Up was presented to Howard Tribbick representing HT Energy Limited, while Nick Grimwood received the NIBE Installer of the Year 2009 Winner Award on behalf of his company, Green Energy Felixstowe.
The Project Award was equally hard fought and the selection panel of industry experts had no easy task. As Runner-Up they eventually selected Retherm Limited, for a most interesting project involving a luxury hotel set upon an island in a lake. The Retherm installation utilised the lake itself as the heat source (sinking collector piping at a safe depth to avoid anglers and swimmers) to heat effectively a large swimming pool, bedrooms and conference rooms. The Project Winner, however, was OGI Groundwater Specialists Limited for a most innovative ground sourced design to heat a large, new Care Home for the Elderly in Cramlington, Northumberland.
The building is situated on top of mine workings at a depth of 30 metres, leaving limited scope for boreholes, but OGI managed to scan the ground's thermal potential and harness it to provide a highly efficient integrated system, combining the ground sourced energy with solar panels and a gas boiler. OGI's design even includes the facility to feed back excess heat during the summer to recharge the ground!
Martin McCormick received Retherm's prize of Project of the Year 2009 Runner-Up and Wes Bagot accepted the NIBE Project of the Year 2009 Winner award on behalf of OGI. Once again their fellow installers showed great appreciation of these two most interesting projects. The very large entry for the NIBE 2009 Awards reflects the interest of the installers and the very high standards of design and installation achieved in what is still a young and thriving industry in the UK.
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