OZONAIR was originally founded in 1905 by the late Mr. Edward Lionel Joseph with the object of making and selling electrical appliances for the production of Ozone. The first office was in 27 Chancery Lane, London, where a small laboratory was set up to research into the possible uses of Ozone.

Ozone is produced by a high voltage electrical discharge causing a proportion of the oxygen in the air to be changed into Ozone. When used in conjunction with a small fan it became a portable apparatus, which could be used in the home, office or factory for the purpose of purifying the atmosphere, thus providing an inexpensive method of ventilation.

In 1912 OZONAIR was responsible for the design and installation of the ventilation plant in the Central London Railway, which was a great engineering achievement of its time. Most of the London Theatres were also equipped with Ozone producing equipment.

The number of famous and important buildings though the world equipped with the Ozonair system was extensive, including the Houses of Parliament, Law Courts, Royal Exchange, Harrods, His Majesty’s Theatre, Savoy Hotel, not forgetting the London Palladium , billed as the coolest theatre in London by using the OZONAIR System.

During the late 1920’s air filtration became more important and the Ozone units were produced in greater numbers. Uses were being found in various industrial processes, particularly the Brewery industry, as well as the elimination of odours and other forms of air pollution.

In 1930 OZONAIR was still primarily interested in Ozone, its production and uses. Considerable business was being found in the installation of Ozone producing equipment for ships. At this time there was an extensive trade with South America in the importation of fruit and meat. Ozone proved to be the solution to prevent contamination of the ships hold when carrying oranges, allowing meat and citrus fruits to be carried without fear of contamination.

The advent of the Second World War created the need to develop activities more helpful to the war effort, so a move was made into factory ventilation and the provision of special filtration plant for air raid shelters. OZONAIR was responsible for supplying plant and equipment to ventilate the underground tunnel in London used by the Services for planning of the war effort.

Special air filters were developed to combat the possible effect of the use of poisonous war gases and these became standard equipment for air raid shelters.

After the war, OZONAIR returned its attentions to the heating and ventilating industry and became suppliers and installers of h&c equipment.

The re-building of London and other Provincial towns ravaged by was gathering momentum and demand was high. OZONAIR were rapidly becoming a well known and respected manufacturer to the h&v industry.

By 1955 the original Ozone producing equipment had become a negligible part of the Company’s turnover due to modern advances in air conditioning techniques. As there was more of an engineering trend to the Company’s output at this time it was agreed to change the name to OZONAIR Engineering Company Limited.

The techniques used in the field of ventilation and air conditioning were now changing rapidly, led mainly by the American market. Here air conditioning became a necessary part of any large commercial building and many factories using new ideas demanded the use of the new equipment that was being made smaller and smaller to conserve space within the building.

To ensure OZONAIR Engineering Company Limited remained at the forefront of this development it decided to seek licences from the American sources and to manufacture and distribute throughout the UK.

In 1953 such an arrangement was made with Conner Engineering of Connecticut to manufacture high velocity air conditioning plant.

This created the need for special fans to produce the required airflow so a similar agreement was made with ILG Corporation of Chicago Fans.

With these two agreements OZONAIR Engineering Company Limited soon became the leading manufacturer of special high velocity air conditioning equipment for use in the UK.

By the early 1960’s there was a great demand in the U.S.A. for Packaged Air Handling Units.
Again OZONAIR Engineering Company Limited went to America to negotiate a licence agreement with the leading company to make the Kennard Nelson Air Handling plant.

OZONAIR Engineering Company Limited subsequently became the first company in the UK to design and make this type of plant. It was the first time that a heating and ventilating manufacturer had taken each separate part of the air conditioning plant, packaged it together into a factory made unit and sold it complete for immediate installation on site.

Further developments of the Kennard Nelson range followed during the 1970’s and 1980’s before the launch of the Northstar range of Packaged Air Handling Units in 1993. This range was developed by the Engineers at OZONAIR to comply with the modern demands of the UK industry.
Modern manufacturing techniques were applied to the original design concepts already tried and tested from the Kennard Nelson Range to produce a highly competitive and attractive new range.

In the late 1980’s Ozonair Engineering Company Ltd was acquired by the Hunter International Group and subsequently became Waterloo OZONAIR Ltd.

Hunter International also owned Waterloo Grille Co Ltd and in the late 1990’s merged the two companies on one site to form Waterloo Air Management Ltd.

In 2002 Waterloo Air Management Ltd accepted the invitation by Hydronic to market and sell a new range of ahus, designed and developed for the 21st Century. These new units became known as the OZONAIR HYDRONIC range and replaced the now outdated Northstar range during 2003.

Waterloo Air Management Ltd re-structured at the end of 2003 and have returned to their core product range, namely grilles and diffusers.

OZONAIR HYDRONIC are therefore pleased to announce the continuation of the AHU manufacture and their independent start in AHU distribution after recently working in close partnership with Waterloo Air Management Ltd.