The decision to re-brand the HVCA from March as the Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES) was not taken lightly, according to the Association's president Bob Shelley.
He said: 'The term 'H&V' barely scratches the surface of the diverse, sophisticated and highly complex nature of the work our members now undertake.

'Nor does it even hint at the increasingly central role they play in the integration of engineering services in buildings - and especially in the incorporation of the renewable technologies that are clearly here to stay in our increasingly environmentally conscious age.'

Mr Shelley said the Association's membership embraced many other specialisms including ventilation hygiene, heat pumps and facilities management, 'all of which sit comfortably under the 'building and engineering services' descriptor'.

He added: 'Following many months of research, discussion, consultation and engagement with the membership, my fellow officers and I reached the conclusion that - as part of a comprehensive Plan for Change and in spite of an unseasonable business climate - the time was right for the adoption of a new identity that would fully reflect our already broadened footprint.'

The Association's membership pledged their support for the re-branding at a special general meeting held last month. However, this is just one element in a re-positioning exercise designed to enable the Association to provide its members with a wider range of services, enhance its influence with Government, and provide a natural home for all building engineering services specialists.

Mr Shelley explained: 'This Association has long been convinced of the need for an organisation to represent the wider building and engineering services sector. I am convinced that, as B&ES, we shall be ideally placed to become just such an organisation.'