World News

Industry news and insights from Europe and around the World

UK News

Latest news and developments in the United Kingdom

Products

Keep up-to-date with the latest new products and technology

Features

General articles, applications and industry analysis

SKILLcard ends CRO cards for 28 occupations

UK: SKILLcard has announced that Construction Related Occupation (CRO) cards for 28 occupations, including certain refrigeration and air conditioning professionals, are closing from 31 January.

This latest scheme closure follows 2017’s announcement by the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) to stop issuing CRO cards as part of its plan to deliver the Construction Leadership Council’s (CLC) 2025 vision.

All card schemes carrying the CSCS logo including SKILLcard, must only certify those occupations with nationally recognised construction related qualifications, ie NVQs/SVQs or approved equivalents.

The project, expected to take a number of years to complete, will manage the phase out of CRO cards and support those affected by identifying paths to an agreed industry qualification for that occupation in order to obtain a skilled worker SKILLcard.

This is the sixth wave of CRO closures and includes air handling equipment service and installation specialists, air handling unit/hvac plant movement specialists, cold room installers, fridge/freezer fitters, heat recovery systems specialists, humidification engineers, hvac equipment manufacturers’ support staff and specialist refrigeration unit installation personnel. A full list of those affected can be found here.

Latest News

13th October 2026

Hitachi launches Air365 Max (Pro) R32 VRF

GERMANY: Launched at this week’s Chillventa show, Air365 Max (Pro) is Hitachi’s latest VRF system for commercial projects and using R32 refrigerant.
13th October 2026

Panasonic adds compact R290 heat pumps

GERMANY:  Panasonic has introduced new compact residential indoor and outdoor units to its Aquarea M Series of R290 air-to-water heat pumps.
13th October 2026

Cyber firm claims over 800 UK supermarkets vulnerable to attack

UK: An internet scan has revealed that more than 800 refrigeration and BMS controllers in the UK are vulnerable to a cyberattack similar to those experienced in France this week.
13th October 2026

Security firm warns on refrigeration asset security

USA: Following Sunday night’s cyberattack on French supermarkets, security company Claroty has warned food retailers that they should not assume that their refrigeration controllers are isolated and secure.
12th October 2026

Danfoss moves to mitigate cyberattack

FRANCE: Danfoss has said it is in close contact with supermarket customers in France affected by a cyberattack on Sunday night on its refrigeration controllers.
12th October 2026

Bitzer debuts screw compressor for data centre cooling

GERMANY: Bitzer is to launch a new screw compressor specifically developed for data centre cooling at the Chillventa exhibition, which begins tomorrow.