Geoffrey Cutting MBE, who served for 28 years as director of the organisation now known as the Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES), has died at the age of 88.

Mr Cutting was appointed director of the Association of Heating, Ventilating & Domestic Engineering Employers in 1961, and three years later presided over its rebranding as the Heating & Ventilating Contractors’ Association (HVCA).

He was the founding director of the Confederation of Associations of Specialist Engineering Contractors (CASEC), which was established in 1961 to represent the wider specialist engineering contracting sector, and which continued in existence until superseded by the Specialist Engineering Contractors’ (SEC) Group in 1993.

Appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1969 in recognition of his services to the heating and ventilation industry, Mr Cutting remained in post until his retirement 20 years later.

He enjoyed a parallel career with the National Landlords Association (formerly the Small Landlords Association), of which he was chairman from 1983 to 2001 and which he continued to serve as president at the time of his death.

Mr Cutting, who died on Thursday 13 June, is survived by his wife Barbro, two of his four children and three grandchildren.