Mark Hughes, past chair of FETA gave the Chairman's speech in the absence of current chair Alan Macklin. He highlighted FETA's focus on competancies, including training for new and young people. 'Bringing new entrants into our industry is essential,' he said, 'and I am delighted to see that the BCIA now have 165 people on their BEMS Controls Engineer Apprenticeship course.'

He went on to say: 'Within FETA, many new groups have been established covering commercial heat pumps, indoor air quality, refrigeration training, BCIA inspired leaders and a reinvigorated ADCAS technical ductwork working group. The FETA Training & Skills Group was formed last year, involving a number of people in this room and focused primarily on T-Levels and Experienced Workers, providing an opportunity for associations to share experience and knowledge across the industry.

'I am delighted to say that one member of that group, Wendy Belfield, who was on the stand outside promoting T-Levels, was appointed to the Building Safety Regulator Industry Competency Committee, a tremendous achievement.'

With the F-Gas amendments an ongoing issue at th emoment, Hughes remarked upon its progress: 'The EU finally ratified the latest F-Gas regulation in Europe and I would like to thank Russell Patten, Director General of the Brussels based European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE), of which we are members, and who is with us today. He has been engaged solidly with the EU negotiating as good an outcome for the industry as possible to deliver lower Global Warming Potential refrigerants safely to the market during the transition to Net Zero.

'The UK has yet to publish its own consultation,' he continued, 'but FETA has been heavily involved in political advocacy to put F-Gas firmly on MPs agenda to ensure the proposed regulation is not at the expense of the much bigger prize of Energy Efficiency. Our core message has been that our industry buys into where we need to be on Net Zero and Climate Change, but we must be pragmatic to ensure we do actually achieve the targets.  Above all, this needs to be done safely and the need for mandatory training has never been more relevant as we move to the widespread use of higher flammability refrigerants.'

The guest speaker for the event was snooker legend Steve Davis whi kept the attendees engaged and entertained.