More than 55 members of staff at Airedale International Air Conditioning with in excess of 1,100 years of combined service are this year celebrating long service achievements.

With its Johannesburg subsidiary, AIAC Air Conditioning South Africa, and Consett-based subsidiary, Barkell, the group has an enviable long service record. In total, 38% of the combined workforce have clocked up 11 years or more with the business.

Throughout its 40-year long history, Airedale has thrived in spite of challenging times including several recessions and a major fire in September 2013, which has since seen the business rebuild its Rawdon, Leeds factory. In February 2014 Airedale acquired Barkell, adding air handling units to the group’s range of chillers, precision air conditioning and IT cooling systems.

Company secretary, John Clegg, first met the original directors, Alan Duttine and Peter Midgley, in 1974 when the business was in its infancy and was finally persuaded to join in 1980 as group financial controller. Reflecting on his 35 years with the business, John said: “As most people do when they start a new job, you think “I’ll give it a couple of years and see how it goes” but, like most of us here at this year’s awards, I ended up staying on. Right from the start it was, and remains, a good company to work for.”

Group managing director Clive Parkman said: “I’m always exceedingly proud to present our long service awards. It’s a powerful reminder of the strength and size of our workforce and shows just how dedicated people are. The wealth of knowledge they bring to the design, manufacture, integration and support of our high quality British engineered products deserves to be celebrated.”

He added: “The phased return to our Rawdon site is now well underway and everyone is extremely excited about the future. The combination of our highly skilled team and brand new R&D and production facility puts us in a stronger position than ever.”

Airedale attributes its long service achievement in part to a commitment to investment in its people. Currently there are 13 apprentices gaining experience in research and development (R&D), manufacturing, controls, and external service and technical support. All of these trainees are expected to stay on at the end of their internships, following in the footsteps of former apprentices like technical support commissioning engineers, Richard Chalk and Adam Ellis, who are both celebrating 15 years with Airedale this year.

Across Airedale’s three sites total headcount exceeds 600 people, a 20% increase over the last two years in line with significant investment in R&D and commercial activities.