Midlands has first ASHRAE Section

UK: The UK has its first local Chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

Founded in 1894, ASHRAE has more than 54,000 members worldwide and it now has its first ever Section in the UK.

The ASHRAE UK-Midlands Section, formed with Steve Gill as president, and Edward Murphy as president-elect, covers the counties of Cambridgeshire, Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, West Midlands, Huntingdonshire and Rutland.

The new ASHRAE Section was officially inaugurated in the summer at Loughborough University by ASHRAE past president Professor Bill Bahnfleth and Professor Dennis Loveday.

Steve Gill said, “Like many in this industry, I have been a member of ASHRAE for many years but only really became active when I was living overseas and joined the Singapore Chapter.  ASHRAE has such a lot to offer that it was disappointing that there was no local group in the UK. When I heard that Dennis Loveday at Loughborough University was interested in forming an ASHRAE group I was immediately very enthusiastic and keen to help get it launched”.

Steve Gill said “We were keen that the new group offered a meeting point without the need to travel to London. There are a large number of current ASHRAE members living in the Midlands area so it seemed the ideal geographical location.  The region also invitingly benefits from having a number of leading Universities so arranging interesting guest lectures and papers will attract students too.”

Steve Gill added, “The group is still very much in its infancy and we would like to invite more ASHRAE members to become involved. We are looking for committee members in a variety of roles to help us take this forward. The next meeting is this Thursday [Dec 10] at 5pm at Loughborough University. This is a great opportunity for UK ASHRAE members to become actively involved, perhaps for the first time.  I look forward to meeting with them.”

Steve is currently also president elect of the Institute of Refrigeration. Becoming president in April 2016, he feels that this is an opportunity for the two bodies to forge closer links. Steve said “I am not the first IoR president to also be a member of ASHRAE but with the formation of the new ASHARE UK Section, this gives us a unique opportunity to work together.”

Contact Steve Gill at [email protected] for further information.