Barton Grange Wins Garden Centre of the Year Award
It was announced at the annual Garden Centre Association conference in Oxfordshire, that Barton Grange in Preston had been made officially Best Garden Centre of the Year 2012. This award is much coveted and recognises Barton Grange as the best destination garden centre in the UK, but not only did they win the overall award, they also won the award for having; the Best People, the Best Indoor Living Department, joint winners of the catering award and were presented with their award for the Best Christmas Displays.
Most significantly for Hamilton-Clark however they also won Best Farm Shop. Hamilton-Clark designed the refrigeration for this Farm Shop in 2007/2008 and we are currently working on new designs to bring a Farm Shop to their Bolton Store. Lets hope we can re-create another award winner!
Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Magazine (RAC)
You can read about our project at Booths Media City on page 38 of Februarys RAC Magazine, titled; Hamilton-Clark Delivers.
February’s magazine also features an editorial by our Senior Engineer Daniel Clark, on page 18, titled Independent Thinking, click here for an online link to a clip of the article.
Food & Drink International
Read about our work at Booths Media City in this months (February 2012) Food & Drink International Magazine, page 6.
Title; Hamilton-Clark provides advanced refrigeration solution for Booths. Click Here for the online link
HFC Phase-out pressure
It is becoming increasingly likely that there will be a ban on the use of HFCs. The UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon is urging parties and industries to “seize the opportunity provided by the HCFC phase-out to leapfrog HFCs wherever possible”. In light of the pressure here and the increase in pressure from the European Parliament, it is becoming increasingly likely that a phase out programme will come for HFCs and an eventual outright ban. The US, Canada and Mexico have already jointly submitted a proposal to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs, under the Montreal Protocol in May.
The refrigeration industry should be looking to design new projects and installations using natural refrigerants (CO2, ammonia and HCs) to reduce the impact once this inevitable phase out begins. The majority of existing refrigeration plant and machinery within the UK currently uses HFC and soon to be phased out HCFC refrigerants, a phase out will have a big and extremely costly impact. Questions should be raised to anybody encouraging investment in systems reliant on HFCs. A greater use of natural refrigerants should be encouraged.
Phase out fluorinated greenhouse gases by 2020.
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is calling on the European Union (EU) to phase out fluorinated greenhouse gases by 2020.
Revisions to the F-Gas Regulation currently under review could eliminate the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a family of potent greenhouse gases hundreds to thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
HFCs currently comprise approximately 2% of European greenhouse gas emissions but this is rising rapidly. By 2020, HFCs could make up to 19% of global emissions.
Phase-out of F-gases in the EU, based on prohibitions on use and placement in products, would save at least 60 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent per year (equivalent to 10 per cent of the UK’s annual greenhouse gas emissions) by 2030.