John Ellis named ACR Champion

UK: John Ellis of Ellis Training was crowned ACR Champion at last night’s National ACR Awards in Birmingham.

The award presentation in front of 300 guests at Birmingham Town Hall was the culmination of a night celebrating the achievements of both individuals and companies across the UK air conditioning and refrigeration sector.

Other individual winners included Ian Wood, md of pioneering commercial refrigeration company Adande, who was named Environmental Champion and a further award for IoR presidential candidate Steve Gill for Consultant of the Year.

In a career spanning over 40 years, John has served on many of the industry’s leading bodies, including spells as president of the Institute of Refrigeration and chairman of ACRIB as well as many education and training bodies. Amongst a number of notable achievements, he played a crucial role in developing the City & Guilds National Certification Schemes and was a key player in the UN Industrial Development Organisation, travelling the world to ensure that developing countries had the relevant standards from which to train their own skilled workforce in safe handling of refrigerants and phase out of ODS. He continues to play an important role in IoR matters and is currently driving the development of a new RACHP Engineering Technician apprenticeship under the government’s new Trailblazer Apprenticeship Standards initiative.

John set up his own company, Ellis Training Works, in 1991 and was previously named as Best Training Provider at the National ACR Awards in 2012 and picked up the prestigious RAC Gold Award in 2008 for his campaigning work on standards for refrigerant handling and his significant contribution to the setting up of the F-gas qualification.

One of the founders of Adande, Ian Wood was responsible for Adande’s original pioneering refrigerated drawer system. Further developments, including the company’s more recent Aircell technology, have made possible potential significant energy savings for end users in the retail and catering industries.

Other big company winners on the night included Frigesco, Ebm-Papst, Toshiba, Advanced Engineering and Climate Center.

The full list of winners:

Best Retail Project
Carter Synergy for a fully integrated refrigeration, air conditioning and heating installation using CO2 in a booster-type system at BP St Ives.

Best Commercial Project
Mitsubishi Electric and NHP Leisure Developments for Kingston Heights, a mixed-use residential and hotel complex heat pump system using Thames river water to provide the heating and hot water.

Top Contractor
Borahurst Ltd

Ancillary Air Conditioning Project
Winner: Advanced Engineering – Imperial iManifold
Highly commended: Javac – iSense and i-Gas-4

Air Conditioning Project
Winner: Toshiba – Total Refrigerant Management and Protection system
Highly commended: Airedale – TurboChill and TurboChill Freecool chiller

Ancillary Refrigeration Product
Ebm-Papst – Axi-Top diffuser

Refrigeration Product
Winner: Frigesco – flash defrost system
Highly commended: Adande – Aircell air flow management system for open front retail cabinets

Best Marketing Campaign
Winner: Gram – Green Paper 2014
Highly commended: Toshiba – a range of initiatives to raise the company’s profile and support its customers

Environmental Champion
Individual Winner: Ian Wood, Adande
Company Winner: Ebm-Papst

Best Training Provider
Winner: ChillAir Training Academy
Highly commended: Eastleigh College

Top Wholesaler/Distributor
Winner: Climate Center
Highly commended: Hawco

Top Consultant
Winner: Stephen Gill
Highly commended: Mike Creamer

ACR Champion
John Ellis

The National ACR Awards are organised by the ACR Journal, formerly known as ACR Today magazine.