In just two years, The Gibbons Group has successfully doubled its business in the provision of HVAC services. Here Andrew Knight, division manager, gives an insight into the secrets to his success.
The building services sector is facing tough times. How is Gibbons managing to grow?
It’s definitely tough out there. Yet Gibbons is rising above the crowd by focusing on opportunities for our customers to make significant energy savings, reduce their operating costs, make use of the latest technology and at the same time provide the best service we can.
What lies behind these four opportunities?
Teamwork! We have a team with immense knowledge of all aspects of building services. When a problem arises, whether with air handling units (AHUs), dampers, coils or fans, we know where to look. Our team is large enough that we can react to demands swiftly. In addition, careful planning of larger projects and being able to suit clients’ needs is a big part of our continued success. Our office takes care of all the detailed paperwork, method statements and risk assessments in advance of our engineers arriving on site.
How extensive is the Gibbons service team?
As well as a significant in-house team, we have collaborations and partnerships with, for instance, specialist coil engineers, offering more bespoke or specialist services. Much of our work is undertaken out of normal hours, during nights, weekends or bank holidays when our work causes no downtime to the building occupants. This is all part of our team’s commitment to getting the job done on time and on budget.
What specific HVAC services are you offering?
Our services extend across the entire life cycle of a HVAC installation. The complete portfolio can be viewed on our website (www.gibbonsgroup.co.uk/hvac-services) and includes the servicing, repair, refurbishment and upgrade of fans, AHUs, motors, inverter drives and pumps. We offer site and workshop facilities to repair most HVAC products, replacement of heating and cooling coils, heat recover devices, filtration and restoring the physical operation of plant using validations, checks and maintenance.
You mention a key to success is technology. What like?
HVAC technology is moving as fast as any other area. Just look at the development within variable-speed drives. There are so many new features within a HVAC drive that we have published, together with our partner ABB, a checklist to must-have features. Another exciting area is humidification. We are in the fortunate position of having a leading authority on this subject in Steve Rix. Steve had unrivalled knowledge covering humidifiers and humidification systems, leading to many customers reporting payback in under one year from energy savings alone. Another big part of our growth has come via changes to legislation and the ability to make energy savings using new IE3 and IE4 motor technology.
Where are you having the most success?
While we cant name specific jobs, the sectors and applications are diverse. They range from banks, supermarkets, theatres, colleges, manufacturing plants and some exciting work in extreme sports!
We have upgraded two main Hus for a major Swiss back located in London including IE3 motor technology. A local theatre needed additional ventilation and cooling, for which we installed a new heat recovery system. We are actively upgrading variable-speed drives serving the AHU’s of a leading supermarket chain and for one Council authority we have serviced and maintained a variety of fan dampers. Most recently, a leading facilities management company wanted us to replace heating coils in-situ at one of its sites.
What part of the business do you most enjoy?
I love the larger refurbishment and upgrade projects. We undertake projects where we may strip out an old AHU built some 30 years ago and build a brand new AHU from complete kit form in its place. There’s something satisfying knowing that we have completed a job from start to finish and delivered the customer something that will save energy, and last for many years after it has paid for itself.
To find out more about our HVAC services, please contact Andrew Knight, our HVAC Services Manager on andrew.knight@gibbonsgroup.co.uk
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