A 'productive and successful' first meeting of the Heating Engineers & Allied Trades (H.E.A.T) federation on 11 June saw the forming of a new council to oversee the operations and direction on behalf of its members.

 

A ‘productive and successful’ first meeting of the Heating Engineers & Allied Trades (H.E.A.T) Federation on 11 June saw the forming of a new council to oversee the operations and direction on behalf of its members. 

Membership to the newly formed trade organisation is growing and so is awareness thanks to the Federation’s website and social media such as twitter. 

Director Alan Black is encouraged by the federation’s progress and keen to work with members to make their voice heard.

“Its going very well, we’re really pleased with the response and support we’ve received so far,” he said.  

The membership categories have also been expanded to include apprentices, those who have retired and corporate associates.

The Federation has since attended its first meeting with the Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to discuss concerns over energy labelling. 

EU Ecodesign Energy labelling proposals aimed at manufacturers and merchants and worded as “dealers” had not been previously understood to mean “installers”.

The directive aims to create a European-wide labelling of energy products and packages, that both consume and control the production of energy, detailing their efficiency for the benefit of installers and end users. 

By trying to write legislation that covers all EU member states, the wording for the supply chain process doesn’t directly fit UK custom and practice meaning the package labelling requirements aimed at manufacturers and merchants would also apply to installers.

DEFRA agreed that the label should not be an ‘installers’ label and the two bodies are now aligned in efforts to correct the error to prevent any additional and unnecessary burdens being placed upon installers.

Mike Rimmer, a member of the sustainable energy using products team for DEFRA, has said they will to challenge this wording in their submission to the Commission and at a meeting of member states on 26 June.

Black said: “It was a pleasure to be able to work directly with government on this matter on behalf of the Federation membership and we thank DEFRA for the opportunity to do so thus helping to make a real difference to the future for engineers – this clearly shows what can be achieved if we put our minds to it and work together.”