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Long-lasting Dulux Metalshield paint has given a sharp new look to a Cornish rollercoaster. The Hornet can carry 1300 passengers an hour and has been thrilling visitors to the Flambard’s theme park in Helston since it was built in 1995. After twelve years service though, the ride’s steel structure was showing its age and it was time for a re-paint.

Paul Morris, Technical Services Manager at Flambards, says that the important thing was to have a high durability exterior coating that would look good for years to come, and he turned to Dulux Trade to find the best system.

“We have to shut the ride down to paint it, so we don’t want to be doing it very often,” he says. “Dulux Trade is the leader in this type of application, with top quality products, so we wanted a recommendation on the best system to use.”

The system that Dulux Trade recommended was one coat of Dulux Trade Metalshield Zinc Phosphate Primer – a high build, fast drying primer with excellent rust inhibiting performance – followed by two coats of Dulux Trade Metalshield Gloss. This is a quick-drying solvent-based paint, specially formulated for metal, which can be over-coated within four to six hours.

Using the Dulux Trade specification as the basis for tenders, the painting contract was awarded to Whittle Painting of Nottingham, a company recommended to Paul Morris by another theme park, Drayton Manor, where it had repainted the Shockwave rollercoaster.

“Whittles was very professional – a top class company. The ride was closed for three weeks in June for the repainting, and the job was finished in two,” he says.

Painting the 410 metres of track and 120 support pillars required 300 litres of Metalshield gloss in three colours. Plush velvet, a deep royal blue, and traffic yellow were used on the track and columns with the handrails picked out in green.

Whittle Painting used 60 foot mobile hoists to paint around a third of the work, and the rest was completed using rope access and harnesses attached to the track which the painters then walked round.

“The results are impressive”, says Paul. “The Hornet looks like a new rollercoaster now and we are really pleased with the result. If we hadn’t used high quality paint we would have to be repainting it repeatedly, but with the Dulux Trade system we don’t expect to paint it again for ten years.”

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Having been established for many years and subject to considerable development activity over the years the Paddington Station water supply network is understandably vast, complex and to some degree uncharted. So the task of surveying the site to establish what's flowing where is challenging. And further complicated due to the original footprint of the station being reduced over the years, replaced by commercial office development and numerous retail outlets on site, which draw their water from the station supply. However, faced with higher than expected water bills the Paddington Building Services Team of Network rail was presented with the daunting task.

Having considered various survey options the management team opted for the Flow Measurement and Analysis services offered by Micronics utilising Micronics expertise with their Portaflo 300 – Time of Flight – portable flow and logging instruments. Portable Clamp-On Ultrasonic flow measurement has clear advantages for survey work and Micronics were selected as the supplier due to a combination of their long-term experience with non-invasive, Clamp-On technology, product performance and pre-order assistance. Six Portaflo 300 – instruments were utilised in two surveys to gather 24 hour consumption/load profiles for selected Hot and Cold water services including supplies to public conveniences.

The project is the joint responsibility of Building Supervisor – Peter Rogerson and M&E Supervisor Terry St Ledger. Terry St Ledger says the task of identifying what's flowing where in a site like Paddington is an ongoing project. The two Micronics surveys have provided useful information and an insight into what's flowing where, we've made a start but we will need to continue with further investigations over a longer term to realise the benefits.

Its early days and there has been no direct cost-benefit to Network Rail as yet. However, the project has demonstrated the benefits of Portable Clamp-On Ultrasonic flow measurement and that the option to hire or purchase a service with the necessary expertise for projects of this type is a viable alternative to product purchase.

There is potential for replication on-site, and the project is an example of how Clamp-On – Ultrasonic technology could be successfully implemented to gather information as part of an overall Water and Wastewater management process on similar sites. For further information please visit www.micronicsltd.co.uk.

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Liebherr-Great Britain Ltd has installed radiant tube heating from AmbiRad at its £15m state-of-the-art British HQ building in Biggleswade. The 5,000m² hi-tech facility houses service, maintenance and equipment testing for the Group’s complete range of heavy plant and construction equipment.

The new building, which is the size of a soccer pitch, has a roof height of 18 metres to accommodate the 25-tonne capacity overhead cranes. Among the innovative features designed into the premises is the UK’s biggest rolling road for mobile cranes, capable of handling up to 20-tonnes axles. There are 10 separate workbays for cranes, earthmovers, concrete truck mixers and a welding area.

Heating and maintaining comfort temperatures in such a large space building, which is subject to influxes of cold air when entrance doorways are opened, was a challenge for the services design engineers QuinnRoss Consultants Ltd.

AmbiRad designed a Nor-Ray-Vac continuous radiant tube system that would guarantee even heat coverage throughout the main assembly part of the building. The system was installed by M&E contractor Mitie Engineering Services (SE Region) Ltd.

A total of 14no. 46kW and 3no. 38kW burners were positioned in the main assembly areas, mounted at 15.3m from floor level. In the vehicle cleaning area, two AR35 U-tube radiant heaters were installed. This model is suitable for car wash environments, where water could be dangerous to standard radiant tubes. An additional heating supplement is supplied to the welding bay by four SG31 wall-mounted radiant plaque heaters.

The systems achieve excellent heat coverage, in spite of having to be positioned around and between the high-level cranes. The principal requirement of the system was that it should be economical to run. Radiant tube heating from AmbiRad is among the most economical forms of large space heating available. It allows the end-user close control of the heated environment, both with regard to temperature and zoning. The Liebherr system is divided into four separately-controlled zones to optimise fuel economy.

Radiant tube heating is cost-effective in large space buildings because it does not waste energy heating the vast volume of air within the building. It warms only people and objects in its path. All the heat is focused at the lowest two metres, exactly where it is most needed by people working in the premises.

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Building services contractor, Smith & Byford, have always been forward-thinking. In a competitive M&E sector, technology delivers advantages which the Surrey-based contractor has been swift to adopt. Now, ten years after first implementing a ViXEN solution, Smith & Byford are looking back on a decade of growth.

“In 1997 we realised our business would benefit from an integrated system and we’ve been keen to get the very most out of it since”, said director Will Smith. “Having the right system in place has helped our performance and the client service improvements have played an important role in us winning new business.”

ViXEN is a specialist building services system developed by leading software provider Vixensoft. “We’ve enjoyed working with Smith & Byford”, said Vixensoft Managing Director, Wayne Rogers, “and appreciated their enthusiasm and involvement in helping us develop a quality building services solution. I’m sure Will would agree that their growth over the last ten years can, in part, be attributed to the time they’ve invested in maximising the potential of their ViXEN system. It’s helped them deliver a superior client service and a level of reporting which clearly sets them apart.”

Smith & Byford use ViXEN across their entire business, with integration playing an important role in avoiding duplicated effort and cutting costs. The modules they employ include Estimating, Job Costing, Purchase Ordering, Financials, Payroll and, most recently, Service & Maintenance. With the introduction of mobile communications and mapping software, Smith & Byford sought to modernise their reactive service operation as well as improve their client service offering.

“Knowing where our engineers are located at any one time and then scheduling jobs accordingly using the ViXEN diary system is proving extremely useful,” said Will Smith. “It means that we can monitor our service operation much more effectively and get real-time information back to create KPI reports for our clients. For our engineers, it’s meant a lot less paperwork too, as they can receive job information on their PDAs and use them for completing forms and timesheets on-site which they then send in electronically. Data can then get posted automatically in the Job Costing and Payroll modules making it easier for us to invoice our clients quickly”.

”This is a particular bonus to the company which, in 2007, moved offices and took the opportunity to review their operations to ensure it was being eco-friendly. “Obviously, over time the digital ‘paperwork’ makes a big difference to storage pressures and our use of paper,” says Will Smith, as they strive to attain the ever-elusive paperless office. “It is also fair to say that improved efficiency in paperwork and systems provided by ViXEN have contributed to steady improvement in our operating profit over the last 3 years”.

Today, Smith & Byford employ 205 staff and are competing for major contracts across their operational area which stretches from Sevenoaks in the east to Basingstoke in the west and incorporates south London. The company’s notable successes include a 7 plus 5 year maintenance contract working alongside Mears plc for The Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames. The contract is worth approximately £40 million to Smith & Byford over its full term. In April 2007, they also secured a contract with the London Borough of Merton for 7 years valued at around £12 million.

Looking ahead, as Smith & Byford have been so successful at doing, ViXEN continues to help the company drive things forward. Recent developments within the ViXEN portfolio include an onsite procurement facility as an extension of the mobile communications solution. “It’s a two way street. Some of our developments are specifically at the request of our customers and others are conceived by us in reaction to issues we know the industry faces,” said Wayne Rogers. “Either way, we hope our software continues to help Smith & Byford and others achieve even greater success in the future.”

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McQuay UK have now completed and delivered the first batch of air conditioning equipment for Derby City General Hospital, which is being redeveloped by Skanska under a £333 million PFI project.

A total of 50 Easdale FP air handling units (ahu) have been supplied, installed and commissioned in the first phase, with air flow rates ranging from 1.17cubic metre per second to 17.36 cubic metre per second. All the systems include heat recovery in the specification, either run-around-coils or plate heat exchangers, together with the standard features of uPVC corner pieces, an extruded anodised aluminium frame and foam filled panels with excellent thermal properties and noise reduction. The units on this phase are serving the Pharmacy, Education, Acute West and the Kings Treatment Centre.

Working along side the ahu’s in this phase are eight McQuay air cooled chillers, including six ALS-E super silent single screw units and two small reciprocating models. All the chillers, which have cooling capacities ranging from190 kW to 950kW, have a tight noise specification of 61dBA at one metre and will operate with environment friendly HFC’s.

The second and final batch of equipment, including 30 ahu’s and two chillers, are due for delivery in Feb 2008. These are for the Acute East building and the refurbished Retained Estate programme.

Jamie Buxton, senior project manager for Skanska commented “From the beginning we worked closely with the project team from McQuay, to design and develop a workable solution for the complex air system at this ‘super hospital’. The first phase equipment is now on-line and so far we are very pleased with the quality and performance of the equipment.”

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McQuay UK has secured a contract for a large number of air handling units at what will be the first new hospital to be built in Birmingham in over 70 years.

This PFI procured hospital, which will cost over £560 million when completed in 2012, is being built for the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust, by a joint venture of Balfour Beatty(BBCL) and Haden Young (HYL). The main facility, which is on the 50 acre site of the old Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Edgbaston, will have over 1200 acute and 130 psychiatric beds.

A total of 111 Easdale model 50 air handling units have been ordered to date for the six sectors in the development by HYL, who have the responsibility for designing, installing and commissioning all the building services. McQuay are required to supply, install and pre-test all the ahu’s on site, before commissioning by others. The majority of the units, which have an airflow range from 0.5 cubic metres per second to 7.99 cubic metres per second, are supply and extract models and incorporate McQuay heat recovery run-around- coils as part of the ‘green’ features of the project.

The model 50 system utilises a concept for the frame and panels similar to the New Generation range, in that it employs uPVC corner pieces, an extruded anodised aluminium frame and foam filled panels with excellent thermal properties and noise reduction. Here the differences end as the profile of the model 50 frame and galvanised panels has been simplified to smooth the manufacturing process and produce a flush finish without affecting the thermal feature.

Units for the first sector have already been shipped to site, while those for the second sector are to be incorporated into packaged plant rooms. The units for the remaining four sectors are on schedule for completion in 2009.

To complete the supply, McQuay UK will provide eight ALS XN air-cooled chillers, each featuring four high efficiency single rotor screw compressors.

Each unit has a cooling capacity of almost 1500kW and an overall length of 11 metres. Prior to delivery on site, they will be split into two sections for lifting purposes and reassembled in position on the roof, before testing and commissioning. All the chillers will operate on the environment-friendly refrigerant HFC 134a.

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A complete flooring system of Mapei products has recently been used to prepare the substrate and install a stylish wooden floor at the Arizona Coffee Shop in Belfast.

Flooring contractors Owen H James began the refurbishment of the floor area by completely removing existing wooden planks and mechanically grinding the old adhesive to smooth the concrete, this left an abraded surface that was then treated with Mapei’s MAPEPROOF ESM, two-component, solvent-free, surface membrane vapour barrier for substrates with residual or static moisture. The Mapei approved contractor then applied a scattering of kiln-dried sand followed by Mapei’s LATEXPLAN, two-component self-levelling and smoothing compound to provide a perfectly even substrate for the wooden floor covering.

Owen H James installed 94m2 of European Qt Saw White Oak in a single herringbone with wedge banding and Dante Soldier Border using Mapei LIGNOBOND, a two-part solvent-free epoxy-polyurethane adhesive for the bonding of all types and sizes of wooden flooring.

The Mapei products used allowed a fast-track flooring application that allowed the entire refurbishment to be completed in record time to the delight of the owners

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Life for some of the world's best sailors could be a little bit more comfortable in the future thanks to Underfloor heating specialist Warmafloor (GB) Ltd. The company's systems have been installed at the new Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPSA) in Portland, Dorset which has been selected as the venue for the 2012 Olympic sailing events, should London be chosen to host the games.

Weymouth Bay and Portland harbour are widely recognised as some of the finest sailing waters in the UK. As a result, a new purpose built onshore facility has been developed, providing a superb venue, not only for events and training, but also as a teaching centre and active members club for all abilities.

Facilities include a licensed clubhouse, conference/meeting rooms, slipways, a boat hoist, permanent crane and storage for all types of boats.

The Warmafloor installation, uses 20mm Polybutylene barrier pipe which is a 5 layer co extrusion specially manufactured for the project. The pipe has a fifty-year life time guarantee and was the natural choice for this landmark facility, providing a cost effective alternative to other heating systems and avoiding the need for surface mounted equipment that might be susceptible to damage. The installation provides readily controllable, energy efficient heating to the 414m2 ground floor which incorporates meeting areas, changing and shower rooms.

System selction also helps WSPA comply with the strict environmental standards it has set. The environmental impact that the manufacturing process of Polybutylene, in terms both of energy usage and emissions is markedly less than is the case for alternative metal pipe systems and many other types of plastics. In common with other polyolefin thermoplastics, Polybutylene can be recycled if required.

The academy has three principal functions: to promote the sport of sailing at all levels, to provide a facility for the community to use and to contribute to the economic regeneration of the area.

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