Bermuda Air Conditioning (BAC) yesterday celebrated the opening of their renovated building in Mills Creek which now has double the showroom floor-space.

The new showroom also contains the first Premier Kohler Showroom outside of the US. BAC has been around for 50 years and has operated under several different names from several different locations. The company was started by John Young as the Modern Supply Company and in 1965 changed to Bermuda Air Conditioning when the company focused solely on air conditioning. The company nearly came to an end in 1977, when a fire destroyed the company's building on Dundonald Street.

However, the company survived and in 1994 moved to Mills Creek and opened a retail space for the first time. Previously, the company had been an exclusive supplier to contractors.

In 2000 the name was shortened from Bermuda Air Conditioning to BAC and today offers products and services in the lines of air conditioning, refrigeration, plumbing, fire protection, air quality and energy management solutions for commercial and residential products. Recent projects have included XL Capital, and the renovation of Bacardi International's headquarters and fountain.

The company has grown to 180 staff and is now the exclusive distributor of Kohler products in Bermuda. The old showroom was doubled in size and the Kohler showroom added 15,000 square feet of products, many of which are connected to plumbing, leaving little to the imagination of customers. Representatives from Kohler in the US came down especially for last nights opening, and Kohler's Mark Place said how thrilled the company was to have partnered with BAC in Bermuda.

BAC president James Gibbons thanked all the employees for their hard work in bring the project to fruition and cut the ribbon to the new showroom with one of the few items that survived the fire of 1977 - an old, somewhat rusty pair of scissors. The new showroom is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday and from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturdays.