Cutting cost and carbon with award-winning M&E

50 years in operation is a milestone, but the real reward is trust earned across decades allowing us to continually innovate and deliver every Arcade client award-winning solutions.

In an already special year, we are thrilled to announce that we have been named the BESA Group National Contractor of the Year for England and the UK, while also winning the inaugural Waste Reduction Award at the Huntingdonshire Business Awards Invest in Huntingdonshire. These accolades confirm that our approach delivers where clients feel it most: lowering energy use and cost and providing measurable carbon reductions. In the last nine months to March 2025, we installed 27 renewable systems, and across recent projects we have saved 4,387,707 kg of CO₂.

What we won:

• BESA Industry Awards 2025: National Contractor of the Year for England

• BESA Industry Awards 2025: National Contractor of the Year for the UK

• Huntingdonshire Business Awards: Waste Reduction Award

The judges saw our integrated delivery, the various and diverse sectors in which we work, the measurable outcomes we produce, our commitment to the environmental impact and our internal culture that translates into capability by constantly innovating and diversifying our offer.

Recognition that proves impact - BESA Industry Awards 2025: National Contractor of the Year

The BESA (Building Engineering Services Association) Industry Awards are the flagship celebration of excellence in building engineering services, honouring outstanding achievement across technical, leadership, training and sustainability. As the leading trade body in the sector, they are responsible for setting industry standards and driving excellence.

Therefore, to be awarded the National Contractor of the Year for 2025, not only for England but also for the whole of the UK proves our impact and ensures our clients are confident that they are receiving the best in class.

We bring together commercial capability, technical agility and a strong internal culture to consistently deliver results that exceed expectations. We lead with care, act with clarity, and continue to build a business that delivers for our clients, our colleagues, and for the wider industry.

Our work spans both the industrial and commercial sectors - a dual capability rare in our industry – and our electrical and mechanical teams work together, providing a truly integrated service. Historically, mechanical and electrical work is often delivered by separate contractors with limited collaboration. Our approach is joined up from the outset, resulting in smoother delivery and better outcomes - we offer the complete M&E package.

As a specialist in mechanical and electrical systems, we design, build and maintain energy-efficient infrastructure that helps clients reduce costs and cut carbon. In the nine months to March 2025, we installed 27 new renewable energy systems, demonstrating both technical innovation and sector versatility.

One of our specialisms is heat recovery - the process of re-using waste heat to support other systems in process engineering solutions. We design and install bespoke heat recovery systems that use all the waste heat without damaging the plant and reduce energy consumption, while working within strict hygiene and operating conditions.

Working with a major global car manufacturer, we installed a heat exchanger into the Regenerative Thermal Oxidiser flues within the paint shop. Delivered using a primary thermal oil system, this solution captured high-temperature waste heat from paint fume treatment and repurposed it elsewhere in the manufacturing process via a secondary Low Temperature Hot Water circuit. This system was integrated seamlessly alongside the existing operations, enabling energy savings without interrupting production.

We have also utilised this technology in the food manufacturing sector having partnered with Bakkavor Pizza and Bread to capture waste heat from refrigeration and air compressors. In this instance, the recovered heat was used to preheat washdown water, reducing reliance on expensive and carbon-heavy gas-fired boilers. Every 1°C rise in water temperature delivers approximately £5,000 in annual savings.

Heat recovery is one way we track our sustainability and another way in which we reduce emissions for both ourselves and our clients. Installing heat pumps - to heat buildings and water, assist industrial processes such as heating, cooling and drying, and boiler preheating - improve long-term energy efficiency by replacing old, emission-heavy gas and oil-fired boilers. According to the Carbon Trust, heat pumps in England use 55-65% less carbon than an A-rated gas boiler, increasing to 100% if you use renewable electricity.

The scope and outcomes vary by project, but we consistently reduce carbon emissions, improve system efficiency, and minimise disruption. As a measure of our effectiveness and by way of holding ourselves accountable to our clients and principles, we track and publish our carbon impact across all projects. In the last reporting period, we had saved 4,387,707kg of CO₂ - the equivalent of charging over 354 million fully depleted smartphone batteries and maintaining its full charge throughout the day.

While helping clients reduce their carbon footprint, we are on our journey to Net Zero. Our company car fleet is fully electric, our office is powered by rooftop solar panels, and we use zero-carbon technologies across our own operations.

But to become Contractor of the Year meant more than what we do as an organisation, it is about how we support, progress and upskill our people.

In 2024 we supported 13 experienced engineers to gain formal qualifications aligned to their practical expertise, while six employees were promoted across the business.

As a local employer, we work with local schools, colleges and universities to encourage students to take apprenticeships with us. At present, we have 14 apprentices working with us in roles ranging from project management to design engineering, increasing our intake by 600% over the previous year. We’re also proud to have partnered with BESA’s Seed Programme to raise awareness of engineering careers to the next generation.

Our people are central to everything we do, and we would not have achieved this prestigious accolade without them. To support their growth, we’ve introduced monthly recognition awards and have increased our training budget by 82% in the last year to expand the quality and range of our work.

That includes continually innovating which underpins our delivery model. We fully integrate 3D scanning and Revit modelling in-house, giving us total control over design coordination and visualisation. On a project with Vauxhall Motors, we used laser scanning to generate precise before-and-after visuals that aligned with the client brief and reduced the risk of costly rework.

Huntingdonshire Business Awards: Waste Reduction Award

After success with BESA, we were recognised for our other specialisms by winning the inaugural Waste Reduction Award at the Huntingdonshire Business Awards, hosted by Huntingdonshire County Council.

The award signalled our overall commitment to supporting the transition to a low carbon economy. Working with our clients and suppliers to reduce their carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions, we are on a mission to optimise HVAC systems so they consume less energy and reduce wider energy costs for all.

We design and deliver in the most sustainable way, providing energy efficient M&E solutions that help our clients reduce their environmental impact. We prioritise low energy consumption, sustainable technologies while complying with environmental standards.

We are increasing the use of low carbon technologies to improve efficiencies, while also embracing digital tools to reduce travel and materials usage. We follow best practice methods for waste reduction, segregation and responsible disposal, working with our suppliers and clients to source responsibly, reduce packaging and encourage reuse, and we comply with all relevant environmental legislation, with the aim to exceed minimum standards. Our environmental management systems are reviewed regularly, and we track performance to continually improve.

Again, this isn’t just something we apply to our external work, ensuring that our staff are fully skilled by ensuring all our employees have CPD-certified environmental awareness training.

10% of all industrial energy is used by compressed air systems – 94% of which is emitted as waste heat. As more businesses outline decarbonisation as a strategic objective, we offer the very latest thinking, and design best practice solutions to support our clients achieve their carbon reduction goals.

When it comes to waste reduction, we prioritise projects with likely low energy consumption and where we can use sustainable technologies, creating the least impact on the environment as possible. This is an important consideration of the design element. Working with the British Film Institute, we designed and implemented an innovative new solution centred around high-efficiency air source heat pumps and rethinking airflow strategy. We installed a new desiccant dehumidifier heated by heat pumps instead of gas and introduced electric heating to support peak demand periods. Before work commenced, we conducted a rigorous space integrity test to identify and reduce air leakage, enabling tighter control over internal conditions and minimising unnecessary energy use.

From 2023/24 to 2024/25 financial year, the total site gas usage for the client decreased by 30% from 1,680,373 kWh to 1,169,430 kWh, while electricity usage reduced by 3%.

Awards for all of Arcade

Of course, it is always extraordinarily humbling to receive external recognition from industry bodies and local government, but none of this would be possible without our valued clients, partners, suppliers and the skill and efforts of our incredible team.

The awards confirm that the way we design, build and maintain systems is working where it matters most: on the meter, on the balance sheet, and on the ground in live environments.

50 years ago, we fixed problems no one else wanted. Today we design systems in ways that others can’t deliver. Our technical depth and operational range set us apart and allows us to take on projects many other contractors can’t - while continually delivering in complex and live environments.

Our projects give further insight into what we do and how we deliver. Require an M&E specialist for your next job? Draw on our half a century of expertise to size your opportunity and provide you with measurable and award-winning solutions. We’d be delighted to help.