Bradford engineering firm Rycroft has come up with an environmental system which has helped a Hong Kong hotel improve its air conditioning.

Rycroft, which is celebrating its centenary this year, is a specialist in water heating and chilling equipment which are made at its Duncombe Road premises where it employs 120 workers.

The firm, which is part of the Newmond PLC group, has supplied equipment to a hotel near the new Hong Kong International Airport on the island of Chek Lap Kok.

Custom-built plate heat exchanger sets have been installed at the Regal Airport Hotel to provide condensation for the air conditioning systems.

The equipment uses seawater in its operation and has been manufactured from titanium to avoid corrosion and salt-damage to the system.

The contract, worth £100,000, is one of a number carried out in the former colony which make up 25 per cent of the firm's exports. The firm has a multi-million pound turnover which it expects will grow this year.

The heat exchangers were installed at the hotel by Hong Kong-based Wo Hing Engineering and were supplied by Rycroft's Hong Kong agents, Arnhold and Company Ltd.

Chek Lap Kok airport opened last year and has been built on three and a half miles of land reclaimed from the sea.

Charles Howroyd, the firm's commercial director, said today: "Rycroft has worked hard to increase its market position during adverse conditions."

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