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Mitsubishi Electric has just secured ISO14001 recognition for its Sales and Marketing function in a move which brings the Living Environmental Systems Division (LES) in line with the company’s many manufacturing facilities around the globe.

“As one of the leading companies in the UK air conditioning market, we wanted to mirror the environmental commitment that our manufacturing plants have already demonstrated and ISO14001 is the best way of independently achieving this,” explained Martin Fahey, the company’s Green Gateway Initiative Manager.

Companies undertaking ISO14001 have to demonstrate an ongoing commitment to reducing their impact on the environment by cutting waste, unnecessary travel and lowering overall resource and energy consumption.

“Achieving ISO14001 demands the total buy-in of all staff which is another reason we wanted to do it,” added Fahey. “We realise that the big corporate statements businesses make can be meaningless unless they are wholeheartedly endorsed and accepted by staff.

“Having achieved this world-class standard, we know that we have merely started a process that will continue to help us grow our business in the most ethical and sustainable ways possible.”

The company is one of the UK’s largest suppliers of commercial heating, cooling and ventilation equipment, and is a pioneer in the use of air source heat pumps for the residential sector.

Mitsubishi Electric has now entered the power generation market with an advanced range of photovoltaic equipment. These have the ability to make renewable power generation achievable in any building.

“All of the initiatives including the decision to pursue ISO14001 stem from the Company’s Green Gateway Initiative, which fits perfectly into the Corporation’s global vision,” added Fahey.

The development of energy efficient buildings remains a long-term goal of Mitsubishi Electric under its framework for realising a sustainable planet – Environmental Vision 2021. This stands at the core of the company’s commitment to the environment, and outlines targets that the company aspires toward and that it can measure itself against.

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In early spring 2008 Urbis helped to transform the picturesque village of Mumbles, near Swansea. the existing lanterns lighting the main Road through the village were ageing and in need of replacement.

To give the town a fresh look Mumbles Community Council and the local tourist association looked around for a new lighting solution. Urbis’ decorative Frogner lantern hit the right buttons. Urbis supplied 50 elegant tapered columns, with Frogners mounted at 10m or 8m for re-lighting the main route from the White Rose up towards the famous ‘Mumbles Point’. The columns are also equipped to take floral displays, banners and festive decorations. This has reduced column clutter, giving the streets acleaner look. The 150W CDO-TT lamps produce a white light that gives the town a warm romantic feel by night. The Council commented that the new look will bring a boost to the village’s tourist business.

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The introduction by FAKRO of its SKW solar thermal system enables a modular approach to be taken using panels integrated with FAKRO roof windows. Systems are designed to provide 70% of a normal household’s hot water needs and are available for 2, 3, 4 and 5 person homes. Four standard solar panel sizes are available, the lightest of which at 78 x 140cm weighs just 21kg. The system uses low iron, toughened, optically efficient prismatic panes with a copper absorber sheet which transfers heat to a water and glycol solution. Once pumped through the panel this passes through a dual core cylinder with heat exchanger. Standard roof window flashings are used so panels can be installed on pitches ranging from 15° – 90° (with optimum efficiency at 35-55°). A patented fixing system has been developed which allows adjustment to suit rafter / batten spacing while the simple coupling system is housed in a specially designed upper cover plate. Panels can be purchased separately if required and are covered by a 3 year product guarantee.

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The installation of City Multi R2 air conditioning into a state-of-the-art, purpose-built auction house in Dromore, Co. Tyrone is helping to provide a comfortable environment for international bidders from across the globe.

The new system was installed by Air Cool Engineering (NI) Ltd of Limavady, which is a Business Solutions Provider for Mitsubishi Electric. This allows Air Cool Engineering to offer a five year warranty on the air conditioning installation.

The Dromore site is the new headquarters of Euro Auctions Ltd, specialist auctioneers of industrial plant and construction equipment throughout Europe. The huge building houses a 300-seater auditorium for buyers from across the world who bid on a procession of equipment that is paraded in front of them.

When not being used for auctions, the site houses the senior management, administration, sales and marketing departments of Euro Auctions, who also operate sites in the UK and Europe.

Air Cool Engineering worked in partnership with consultant engineers, Patrick McCaul, to realise the vision of Euro Auction owner, Derek Keys for an impressive, futuristic building that provided a healthy, comfortable and controlled environment for bidders and staff alike

“With this being a brand new building, Mr Keys wanted it to have a hi-tech feel to the interior and we have therefore left a lot of the services exposed,” explained Martin Mullan, Air Cool Engineering. “That presented several challenges for our team but meant we were also able to show off our high levels of finishing.”

The two City Multi systems serve 24 indoor units via two Mitsubishi Electric BC control boxes, which allow simultaneous heating and cooling. Five Lossnay heat recovery ventilation systems have also been used to increase energy efficiency even further.

All this provides Euro Auctions with complete control over energy use throughout the building, which was an important aspect of the job.

“The beauty of the City Multi system is the complete flexibility it gives to the design process and the advance controls it offers the building’s owners,” added Mullan.

“The Euro Auction building is made up of many rooms of varying sizes, all with different heating, cooling and ventilation requirements,” he said. “We have put together different Mitsubishi Electric technologies and bespoke control systems to deliver a state-of-the-art system which matches the feel of the building and maintains the optimum temperature, whatever the season.”

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The options available with Eaton’s COPA range of clip-on plate accessories is now much larger with the addition of four metal plates in popular finishes – stainless steel, highly polished, satin bronze and polished brass. The finishes, already popular with Eaton’s AURA flush metal plate and SPECTRA grid switch ranges, will further enhance the appeal of the COPA range, which uses a clip-on cover plate to conceal the fixing screws.

The COPA range, introduced last year, comprises switches, socket-outlets, fused connection units, telephone, TV, radio and satellite outlets, and all the other wiring accessories normally offered by Eaton. The existing moulded cover plates offer a choice of white, matt black, metallic gold, metallic silver, grey and metallic blue finishes. Now the mix-and-match option is increased to ten finishes.

More recently, Eaton introduced a new range of modular communications outlets (TV, radio, satellite, telephone, data, phono and ‘quad’ modules) with plates to match existing Eaton accessory ranges, including all ten COPA finishes. These enable interior designers and installers to satisfy virtually any modern requirement for communications and broadcast media connections, using products that suite with lighting switches, socket-outlets and other accessories in the home or workpla.

Apart from the aesthetic benefits, COPA offers a number of other advantages to interior designers, installers and end users. These include an efficient and cost-effective solution to the need to satisfy Building Regulations Part M for visibility, by using contrasting colours between the plates and surrounding dǸcor, and for ease of use requirements by offering broad rocker switches and outboard switches on sockets as standard.

For the installer, it is possible to fit the basic accessories, test the installation, and leave it safely without the cover plates while other trades continue to work. This avoids the risk of the plates being damaged or stolen, the contractor can benefit from improved cashflow because he does not have to buy the plates at the same time as the accessories, and the choice of plate finish can be left to a late stage.

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aM&T (Automatic Monitoring & Targeting) the combination of automatic meter reading and M&T are high on the list of requirements for Energy Managers and Building Services designers and Clamp-On, Ultrasonic metering can make a significant contribution. However, whilst major projects including BAA Terminal 5 and the ExCeL exhibition centre in London have taken advantage of the associated benefits, general uptake in Building Services design has been slower than expected. Micronics offer a wide range of fixed Clamp-On metering solutions as an alternative to traditional in-line meters, which offer the following benefits:

? No disruption of services or problems associated with system drain down for maintenance
? Minimum downtime and maximum availability
? Significant reductions in meter supply and installation costs for larger meters and retrofit applications.
? No in-line pressure drop and energy losses

The meters can be applied in a stand-alone mode and provide instantaneous flow, totalised energy and volumetric values, communicate selected alarm conditions via relay outputs or be integrated with BEMS, aM&T or Billing systems via M Bus and other industry standard communications.

At Terminal 5 London Heathrow Airport they were incorporated into the design to minimise system downtime and maximise availability of critical environmental systems in both the Terminal and the Energy Centre. Providing a cost-effective metering solution with the benefits of high availability and simple non-disruptive maintenance.

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Substandard work by contractors and the need for properly installed passive protection in hospitals

Over the years, British Fire Consortium member Envirograf, specialists in passive fire protection products, has experienced a number of hospitals with serious shortcomings in their fire safety provisions. Two recent examples, listed below, show how a fire could have easily and quickly spread to other sections of these hospitals.

Safety failures

In the first case, a hospital in Manchester had an inspection by the fire and rescue service. Its report highlighted that the laundry rooms were a key area of concern. The rooms are situated one above the other and have both large and small plastic pipes interconnected to each other. In the event of a fire in one of the rooms, the pipes would be a fast-track route for the fire and smoke to travel. In addition, the laundry is passed by motorised hangers to access chutes from upper floors, and these are left completely open at all times witout an integral fire barrier.

The second case involved a hospital in Kent that failed an inspection by the fire service. The brigade recommended that the hospital make a significant number of improvements or face potential prosecution. Its main cause for concern was that a number of contractors over the years had fitted and replaced services and had left large holes and gaps around the srvices in which a fire could travel. Examples included cables and cable trays passing through fire rated walls with no fire-stopping products being used, and pipes and services in open risers without protection.

The room next to the operating rooms had no fire break walls above the suspended ceilings, while in other rooms the fire barriers that had been fitted had either been damaged by unskilled contractors or completely removed. Holes in previous fire barriers were large enough for a person to crawl through. Temporary partitions that had been in place for many years needed upgrading. The services through the partitions need to be fire-proofed. Electrical trunking passing through escape corridors had no fire breaks.

Many hospitals face similar problems because many of the contractors doing the installation work are not aware or have not been trained in the need for passive fire prevention products.

Installation rigour

The Passive Fire Training Centre in Dover, Kent is a unique facility that highlights the urgent need for life-saving products such as Envirograf products to be used on all new-build and refurbishment properties. The centre also informs tradesmen about the dangers of ignoring this protection and, through the services of the Nationwide Association of Passive Fire Installers and Specifiers (NAPFIS) installers can then become accountable for their work, helping to avoid sloppy workmanship which could later prove to be fatal.

Many building control departments now require properly trained installers to carry out fire-stopping work and as NAPFIS members, these installers can show that they have the knowledge and have been independently assessed.

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The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) has entered into an exclusive agreement with AMTECH Group to provide CIBSE members with access to the new LUCKINSlive.com directory of building services products and services.

LUCKINSlive.com is the first online information centre for the UK building services industry that provides a single source of comprehensive, accurate and up to date information for hundreds and thousands of products. The centre boasts a clear, easy-to-use design, with consistent product presentation, is accessible to all as no log-in is required and includes regular newsletters which are sent to subscribers.

CIBSE Chief Executive, Stephen Matthews commented: “CIBSE members are becoming more and more focused on the need to provide building users with buildings which are as excellent in operation as they are on the drawing board. The only way they can achieve this is to ensure that they specify the right products and that they are competently installed.

“I believe LUCKINSlive.com, which will be accessible via the CIBSE website, will be a resource to which industry professionals will turn on an almost daily basis.”

AMTECH Group Managing Director Mark Tindall added: “LUCKINSlive.com is set to revolutionise the way that building services specifiers and installers access product and industry information. CIBSE’s endorsement is the latest development in a relationship between our organisations that continues to facilitate the work of building services engineers and enhance the service they provide to their clients.”

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