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

Van de Sande re-elected as AREA president

BELGIUM: Coen van de Sande, director of Dutch association NVKL, was re-elected president of European contractors group AREA for a further two years at AREA’s general assembly last week.

Stepan Stojanov, director of the Czech Republic’s SCHKT training centre, was elected as the new vice president at the annual meeting in Belfast.

Established in 1989, AREA includes 26 national associations from 24 European countries amongst its membership, representing more than 13,000 companies with a total turnover of €23bn.

Two new members were admitted this year: the Association of Refrigeration Engineers of Latvia and the Association of Fluorinated Gas Companies of Romania.

Latest News

10th November 2025

Bulgarian HVACR sector at a standstill

BULGARIA: The Bulgarian HVACR sector is in turmoil due to its government’s failure to adopt national regulations that would allow the implementation of the new European F-gas regulations.
10th November 2025

Australia faces high refrigerant prices and shortages

AUSTRALIA: Small and medium businesses that rely on commercial refrigeration have been warned that this summer could bring widespread refrigerant shortages and significant price increases.
10th November 2025

Beijer Ref opens Glasgow training facility

UK: Lord William Haughey OBE, Chair of City Facilities Management Ltd officially opened the new Glasgow Beijer Ref training facility last week.
10th November 2025

Lowe Rental attracts new investment

UK: Private equity firm MML Keystone has made a majority investment in Lowe Rental Corporation, the Lisburn, Northern Ireland, commercial refrigeration and catering equipment rental company.
9th November 2025

SWEP takes key role in CERN’s CO2 cooling system

SWITZERLAND/FRANCE: Swedish manufacturer SWEP has supplied over a hundred brazed-plate heat exchangers for critical cooling roles at the CERN particle physics laboratory.
9th November 2025

AREA opens membership to “observers”

BELGIUM: AREA, the European umbrella group representing 26 national RACHP contractors associations, is opening its membership to a new category of Observing Partners.