Steve Gill wins RAC Gold

UK: Steve Gill, the man behind this year’s inaugural World Refrigeration Day, was honoured with the RAC Gold Award for service to the industry in last night’s Cooling Industry Awards.

The announcement sparked a standing ovation for the Derby-based refrigeration consultant from the 500 guests at the London Hilton Hotel. 

The first World Refrigeration Day on June 26 received the backing of all the world’s major air conditioning and refrigeration bodies and was celebrated in more than 153 countries.  

Another notable winner at the Cooling Industry Awards was German manufacturer Ziehl-Abegg which picked up two awards for its ground-breaking ZAbluefin ECblue centrifugal fan.

Sam Gills of Star Refrigeration, ACR Trainee of the Year in 2017, took the Gold Medal in the RAC National Student of the Year Award. Ryan Walton of AC Solutions took Silver and Adam Walker of J&E Hall won the Bronze Medal.

The full list of winners:

Fred Jamieson Award
David Blackhurst, Star Technical Solutions

Air Conditioning Innovation of the Year – Systems & Controls
Grid Edge, artificial intelligence for HVAC

Air Conditioning Innovation of the Year – Components & Peripherals
Ziehl-Abegg, ZAbluefin ECblue centrifugal fan

Air Conditioning Product of the Year – Components & Peripherals
Ziehl-Abegg UK Ltd, ZAbluefin ECblue centrifugal fan

Air Conditioning Product of the Year – System/Standalone
Carrier, AquaEdge 19DV water-cooled centrifugal chiller

Building Energy Project of the Year
Aldi, HEAT – Harvesting Energy through Applied Technology

Cold Chain Innovation/ Project
Sainsburys Pineham Distribution Centre

Diversity Impact Award
A1 Engineering Solutions

Environmental Collaboration of the Year
Asda & Partners, SMAR2T Future

Low Carbon Achievement
Clade Engineering Systems

RAC Contractor of the Year – Up to 100 Employees
Cold Control Services

RAC Contractor of the Year – Over 100 Employees
Flowrite Services Limited

Refrigeration Innovation of the Year – Software, Monitoring & Controls
Nexo, inventory management IoT solution

Refrigeration Innovation of the Year – System/Process/Standalone
KPS Global, FUSIONFRAME

Refrigeration Product of the Year – Components & Peripherals
KPS Global, FUSIONFRAME

Refrigeration Product of the Year – system/system improvement/standalone
Aerofoil Energy Ltd, shelf-edge technology

Retail Initiative
Aldi, Always Making a Difference

Retail Project of the Year
Asda, SMAR2T HFO System