Covid concern sparks surge in air conditioning work

Posted by on 14 Dec 2020

Photo © L-R Mark Jones, Sales & Marketing Director, Nigel Jones, Managing Director; and Tom Jones, Finance Director.

A Rochdale air conditioning firm is being inundated with requests from businesses to service their air con units to help reduce the spread of Covid-19. Although the risk of spreading the virus through air conditioning is low, people can catch Covid through airborne transmission. Good ventilation can help reduce the risk of spreading the virus and this has led to a surge in demand for Milnrow-based Booth Air Conditioning.

Founder and MD Nigel Jones said: “The Health and Safety Eexecutive (HSE) has published guidance in relation to Covid. “The advice is that in order to dilute the air and prevent pockets of stagnant air in occupied spaces you should make sure rooms are well ventilated. “This can be done by opening a window or door or using mechanical ventilation.

“Air conditioning units are like cars. If you don’t service them regularly they don’t perform at their optimum level. “We work across hotels, education, motor dealerships, hospitals and the retail sector and we’ve received a lot of additional requests to service AC units.”

Mr Jones said Booth Air Conditioning had to close their offices in Milnrow, Rochdale, for over two months during Covid-19 because of the lockdown. He said: “I’ve worked in the air conditioning industry for nearly 40 years and the word I’d use to describe 2020 would be ‘rollercoaster’.  “When the first lockdown was announced in March we closed the offices and were only operating at about 20 per cent capacity during those months.” He added: “A lot of people think air conditioning is only for a few weeks of the summer but it couldn’t be further from the truth.

“The modern systems are used for heating as well and because we are one of only a small number of companies that truly specialise in servicing and maintenance, we’re busy all year round.”

Mr Jones said: “We work with more than 300 clients across the North West and beyond.  Our work with the hotels reduced because of Covid but even they’ve needed to carry on servicing their air conditioning systems. “We currently employ 18 staff but we want to recruit extra engineers in 2021 and get beyond 20.” 

Mr Jones’ son Thomas is the finance director and his brother Mark is the sales and marketing director. Booth Air Conditioning is based in Universal House, Elizabethan Way, in Milnrow, and Mr Jones said the challenges of Covid have brought the workforce closer together.

“Forgive the pun because of the rules on social distancing but the challenges of Covid have brought us closer together and made us appreciate our work colleagues even more,” he said.  “There’s a real community spirit in Rochdale and that has served us in good stead.”