NEWS
Contractors’ Corner
Birdsall celebrates a half-century in business
E
ngineering group Birdsall commenced a year-long celebration in May to mark its 50th anniversary. Birdsall invited staff and clients to an Open Day at the company’s Holborn Hub to launch the celebrations. Founded by Barry Birdsall in May 1975 as Birdsall Air Conditioning, the group today comprises three trading companies: Birdsall Decarbonisation, Birdsall Networks, and Birdsall Technical Services. Throughout the Open Day, presentations charted
the organisation’s exciting future and delved back into Birdsall’s 50-year history to tell the Birdsall story. In each decade, Birdsall has been at the forefront of environmental developments, delivering CFC-free air conditioning in the 1980s and 1990s, combined heat and power and cooling to reduce carbon emissions in the 1990s and 2000s, and continuing to today, where the Networks and Decarbonisation businesses specialise in delivering environmental solutions. Staff and clients dropped by to toast founder Barry Birdsall with a glass of champagne.
New IOR Guidance Note on coaching T
he Institute of Refrigeration (IoR) has published its latest Education Guidance Note in the series, this time focusing on Coaching as a way for employers to support the development of engineers and technicians. The Guidance Note (16) provides a guide to understanding the benefi ts of coaching and how this diff ers from mentoring. It also includes a list of organisations that can help set up coaching schemes or off er coaching.
Coaching can enhance technical and
professional eff ectiveness by supporting critical thinking skills, communications, adaptability, and decision-making, leading to improved confi dence while working in increasingly complex environments.
8 June 2025 •
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IOR CEO Miriam Rodway commented. “The IOR Education Committee has over the past few years produced a series of really useful tools to support the development of everyone working in the sector and improve continued professional development. They are continuing this work with even more guides being drafted and are planning an open meeting later this year to share this work and get feedback from members on what topics they want IOR to cover next.” IOR Member Mathew Noon, who drafted the Guidance Note, added: “Writing this coaching guidance note for the Institute of Refrigeration was incredibly important to me because I’ve seen fi rst-hand how powerful coaching can be. My own experience with coaching has played a key role
in accelerating my career, helping me strengthen my skills, understand my blind spots, and grow with purpose. I believe coaching can do the same for others in our industry. This guide shows how engaging with coaching can support professional development, improve communication and leadership, and help everyone unlock their full potential. I encourage all IOR members to explore how coaching can make a real diff erence in their careers.” The current IOR Education Guidance Notes cover
a wide range of topics from skills specifi cations for technicians to how to become STEM ambassador registered. They are all available free to download at
https://ior.org.uk/careers
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