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Van de Sande elected AREA president

GREECE: Coen van de Sande, director of Dutch association NVKL, was elected president of European contractors’ group AREA at the association’s general assembly in Athens this week.

Marco Buoni, general secretary of Italy’s Associazione Tecnici del Freddo, steps down after four years in the role, taking the position of former president with an international affairs mandate.

Grzegorz Michalski of KFCh, Poland becomes the new vice president and joining the board are Espen Rønning of Norwegian association VKE and Stepan Stojanov of CHKT, Czechia. Thanos Biris of Hellas Union, Greece, maintains his position on the board, along with Seamus Kerr, president of the Institute of Refrigeration Ireland as AREA treasurer, and Claire Grossmann as secretary general.

Established in 1989, AREA represents 25 national associations from 22 countries representing 13,000 companies employing 110,000 people and with an annual turnover approaching €23bn.

Latest News

11th April 2026

Flammable refrigerants explained

DENMARK: Danfoss is to tackle the topic of flammable refrigerants in the next of its RETHINK Live series of virtual events. 
11th April 2026

Marathon challenge for Panasonic heat pump

UK: Rikki Field, an engineer with London-based contractor Salix Mechanical, is set to run the London Marathon with a Panasonic Etherea heat pump on his back.
11th April 2026

Project proves heat pumps can assist the grid

GERMANY: Viessmann, along with transmission system operators TenneT Germany and TransnetBW claim to have demonstrated that heat pumps can help prevent grid congestion.
10th April 2026

Africa and China sign MoU

CHINA: U‑3ARC, the Union of African Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Associations, has signed a signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese Association of Refrigeration.
10th April 2026

Heat pumps replace gas boilers at Surrey offices

The three Climaveneta EW-HT water-to-water heat pumps UK: The refurbishment of a landmark 70,000ft2 Surrey office block has seen gas-fired boilers and air-to-water cooling systems replaced with Mitsubishi Electric heat…
9th April 2026

Retail CO2 systems in Europe exceed 100,000

BELGIUM: Installations of transcritical CO2 systems in European food retail establishments exceeded 100,000 last year, according to new estimates from market development company ATMOsphere.