Story

Megger?s new MFT1553 On-site takes electrical testing to a new level. Instruments that transfer test results automatically to a laptop computer or other hardware running a test certificate generation program are nothing new ? but this new multifunction installation tester and certification software package from Megger takes this one step further.

Now, it is no longer necessary to have a cabled connection between the test instrument and the computer. With Megger’s MFT1553 package, all data is transferred via a wireless Bluetooth connection.

The benefits include faster testing, with no cumbersome connections to worry about, the elimination of data leads that are easily lost or damaged, plus the completion of certificates there and then on site on a lap-top, PDA or smart-phone, eliminating the need to note down readings.

The MFT1553 multifunction tester included in the package is the latest addition to Megger’s hugely successful MFT1500 range. The MFT1553 offers tests covering all the requirements of both the 16th and 17th Editions of the IEE Wiring Regulations, and is supplied, as standard, complete with a calibration certificate.

The PowerSuite software in the MFT1553 On-site package is among the most versatile of its type, and is available in versions for use on almost any hardware platform from a smart mobile phone to a full-blown PC. In addition to Windows, operating systems such as Symbian S60, and PalmOS V5 are fully supported.

The software includes over 25 certificates from the IEE, ECA, NICEIC and ELECSA, and also provides facilities for the generation user designed certificates.

Taken together, the components of the MFT1553 On-site package provide a comprehensive testing solution for contractors which offers safety, convenience and value for money, unmatched by any other product or combination of products currently available.

View Megger's profile:

Story

Hambleside Danelaw’s award-winning Insulator rooflight has become the first and only British rooflight to be labelled as an energy-efficient construction product under the EU’s GREEN-IT scheme.

Specifiers, especially those for public sector new build projects, will also be interested to learn that the Group’s tile roof ventilator range has been added to the WRAP procurement guide for construction materials that incorporate recycled content and help to reduce waste.

The latest seal of approval for Insulator’s capacity to save on end-users’ energy bills and cut their carbon emissions comes as BRE makes a renewed push to promote the GREEN-IT database as a tool for UK specifiers. The WRAP guide is used by government departments and local authorities to stop 8 million tonnes of waste materials from the household, industrial and commercial waste streams going to landfill.

Hambleside Danelaw’s almost unrivalled track-record in the sector for developing sustainable products has been further boosted by a report from the independent consultancy dcarbon8 which shows that the company slashed its carbon footprint by over 20% in 2006-07.

Commenting on these latest announcements, Robin Jeffery, Hambleside Danelaw’s vice-chairman, said: “Earlier this year a committee of MPs criticised procurers in the public sector for their lack of a sustainable approach in building new schools and hospitals. Schemes like GREEN-IT and WRAP with approved product databases easily accessible on the internet will make their job much easier in helping to meet the Government’s latest commitment to cut the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. Hambleside Danelaw is aiming to have more of its products on these lists.”

Hambleside Danelaw also announced today that its next generation of Insulator rooflights with a unique further energy-saving innovation will be unveiled at the Ecobuild show in London on 3-5 March 2009.

View Hambleside Danelaw's profile:

Story

The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) has joined forces with AMTECH Group Ltd on the promotion of the National Engineering Specification (NES).

The NES software packages, nes Specification Expert and O & M were acquired by AMTECH Group earlier this year. As the UK's leading building services software company, AMTECH Group is fully committed to maintaining the support currently enjoyed for the NES products.

Under the new agreement, CIBSE will exclusively endorse the National Engineering Specification (NES) software, training and associated customer services – the only specification system to have adopted a ‘greening' policy – recommending the products & services for use by building specialists.

CIBSE Chief Executive Stephen Matthews said: “We are delighted to be working with AMTECH and look forward to exploring further opportunities for future collaboration and developing a first rate specification system focused on engineering excellence and sustainability.”

AMTECH Commercial Director David Bell added: “This is the first stage in an enhanced relationship between AMTECH and industry-leading bodies such as CIBSE that will bring major benefits to all parties. Since we acquired nes Specification Expert in mid 2008 we have already established an advisory panel of CIBSE members.

“Drawn from leading consultants, contractors and construction clients, the panel will help us design the route map for the product’s future direction and ensure it fulfils its true potential. In parallel, we have already invested significant resources into Specification Expert, leading to major new features and enhancements,” he continued.

AMTECH Group is the UK’s largest supplier of specialist software to the building services industry and the only company to offer a true end-to-end solution. Through its AMTECH, Estimation and NES brands the company’s product portfolio encompasses solutions for specification, design, calculations, sizing, pricing, procurement, project management, accounts management, ongoing service and maintenance and test and certification.

“This comprehensive product range, combined with the enduring partnerships we have with the industry, will enable us to continue developing leading-edge solutions that deliver true benefits. Not just benefits for users but also for the industry as a whole; removing cost from construction and helping UK consultants and contractors to compete more effectively on the world stage,” David Bell concluded.

View Trimble MEP's profile:

Story

View Mira Showers's profile:

Story

Cityroofs’ solutions transform living space on podiums, balconies and terraces. Using Aquadyne technology, green roofs and facades are created using panels manufactured entirely from recycled plastic. The Aquadyne sheet acts as wick, water store and diffuser, primarily to assist with storm attenuation drainage. Its properties enable plants to be grown, fed and irrigated, the soil-less structure creating herbaceous growth without the risk of soil slippage. Dense, evergreen, self-seeding, non-invasive varieties with creeping root structures such as birds’ foot trefoil or rupturewort require little more than annual inspection. Whilst independent tests have shown that 22 sq m of Aquadyne will save approximately 1 tonne of CO2, it is also extremely lightweight when saturated Such lightweight green roof structures can remain green all year round with irrigation but if preferred, traditional sedums can be used without irrigation, retained water being taken from the roof deck to the roots by capillary action.

Non-irrigated modular systems can collect sufficient rainwater in their reservoir to support growth for 3 weeks or more. Used with the Dreen range of paving products, designs can be created for hard and soft landscaping and mixed use environments. Aquadyne’s high inherent strength enables it to be used for storm attenuation under Pardak slabs too. Designed for vehicular traffic, Pardak avoids need for visible surface drainage in shared pedestrian / car environments.

View Cityroofs's profile:

Story

Vaisala has introduced new versions of the ultrasonic wind sensor, the Vaisala WINDCAP® Ultrasonic Wind Sensor WMT52, and the weather transmitter, the Vaisala Weather Transmitter WXT520. Both instruments use ultrasonic technology for measuring horizontal wind speed and direction. In addition the WXT520 measures liquid precipitation, barometric pressure, temperature and relative humidity – all in one instrument.

The maintenance-free ultrasonic Vaisala WINDCAP® Sensor, in both the WMT52 and WXT520, ensures accurate readings from any horizontal wind direction avoiding blind angles and corrupted readings. In the WXT520 the Vaisala RAINCAP® sensor measures precipitation, providing data on accumulated rainfall, rain intensity and duration, all in real time.

Both the WXT520 and WMT52 have a housing and mounting kit that is water resistant with an IP66 classification. The transmitters have new interface cards and they are ROHS compliant.

A number of optional features are offered, such as, heating, a bird-deterrent spike kit, a USB connection, and a new surge protector. The wind and rain sensors can be equipped with heating to improve the availability of correct measurement data also in severe weather conditions. The USB connection facilitates the connection to a PC as a service connector, or when the PC is used as a terminal device. The Vaisala Surge Protector WSP152 is designed to protect the host PC against surges that may be entering through the USB port.

View Vaisala's profile:

Story

Estimation’s QuoteMaster quotation management module now incorporates advanced tools for managing Net Price Agreements (NPAs), increasingly used by suppliers to fix prices on key items for a pre-agreed term.

QuoteMaster provides an interface between the supply chain and Estimation’s Central Price File of materials used throughout Estimation’s software as well as to their Estimating and Procurement modules. This enables contractors to quickly prepare a list of materials, and then submit it electronically to suppliers as a request for quotation.

QuoteMaster interfaces to everyday tools such as Microsoft Excel and Word, into which suppliers can enter their prices for the contractor, so any need for proprietary item or vendor codes is eliminated. This also means there is no need for special product data or software. This overcomes the headaches from lack of industry wide unique product references.

As quotations are returned by suppliers, these are imported electronically into QuoteMaster, where the inbuilt adjudication screens assist the contractor in making easy comparisons and adjudicating between quotes received from multiple suppliers.

Once the contractor has finalised the choice of supplies, QuoteMaster posts the Net Prices from the supplier into the Estimation software, ready to be used when preparing estimates and raising purchase orders.

To make life even easier, Net Price Agreements are stored, ready to be refreshed at any time. So as the current agreement is drawing to a close, it is quick and easy to resend the Request for Quotation to suppliers and refresh the Central Price File with their latest Net Price Agreement.

View Estimation's profile:

Story

A wide range of Mapei products have recently been used in the construction of The Braid, Ballymena’s new Museum and Arts Centre. Consarc Design Group, Belfast, designed this prestigious flagship project, which has been developed with support from the Heritage Lottery fund and the Arts Lottery Fund. The new Museum explores the history of mid-Antrim from earliest times to the present day.

A system of Mapei products including levelling compound, adhesives and coloured grout was selected to prepare substrates and install and finish ceramic and porcelain wall and floor tiles. Tiling contractors, J & R Keys Tiles Ltd of Ballymena, supplied and installed the tiles on behalf of the main contractor, Patton Construction.

Mapei Latexplan, a premier two-component levelling compound was used to smooth mechanically abraded screeds to receive the tiled floor finishes. The low odour, protein-free product is self smoothing and suitable for levelling differences in thickness from 1-10mm.

A variety of tile types and sizes were specified for the project and Mapei were able to provide perfect product solutions for all of these. In the reception area and other ground floor locations 550m² of Imola Time Porcelain Tiles 1200×600 were installed with Mapei Granirapid in grey. A two-component, rapid setting adhesive, Granirapid is particularly suitable for installing large format porcelain and stone material which are subject to heavy traffic.

Mapei Keraflex Maxi white was used to install 700m² of Kronos 600×600 Lux white porcelain floor tiles on the first and second floor areas. Keraflex Maxi is a super single part flexible S1 adhesive suitable for thin or thick bed fixing of ceramic, porcelain and stone materials.

Mapei Keraquick, fast-setting flexible S1 adhesive was used in the toilet and bathroom areas including shower stalls to fix Pilkington Matrix tiles in cream to floor areas and Vogue tiles in a vibrant purple on the walls.

The most challenging areas to be tiled were the staircases and lift interiors which were all based on a steel frame. For this application Mapei Keralastic proved the ideal solution, the two-component polyurethane adhesive is particularly suitable for installing ceramic and stone materials on metal substrates.

All tile joints were finished with Mapei Ultracolor Plus fast-setting and drying cementitious grout for joint widths from 2-20mm which was suitable for both walls and floors. It’s DropEffect® Water-repellent and BioBlock® anti-mould properties make it ideal for wet areas including power showers. Available in 26 different colours there was a shade of Ultracolor Plus for all of the tile applications.

Mapei is the world’s largest manufacturer of adhesives, sealants and chemical products for building. With over 70 years experience, Mapei is a specialist in the production of quality products for the installation of all types of wall and floor coverings, and has a vast range of admixtures and repair products for concrete and building materials.

View Mapei's profile:

Story

Uponor have appointed Peter Roberts as the new Vice president of their UK & Ireland operations. Peter joins Uponor from Kingspan where he was Managing Director of the Pollution Control businesses. He has also held senior positions in other market leading building materials companies and an extensive knowledge of the construction industry.

Uponor Housing Solutions is the flexible plumbing and underfloor heating provider, specialising in producing systems for liquid transfer within the domestic and commercial markets. During the last five years Uponor has experienced continual growth, and 2008 will be no exception, despite adverse market conditions. The recent growth is linked to a number of key factors mainly centring on changing attitudes towards the speed, convenience and affordability of plastic plumbing. Peter joins the company at a time of significant UK investment, which will result in Uponor UK providing improved flexibility and availability to its UK distributors and customers.

Peter is looking forward to his challenge of increasing the awareness of the Uponor brand and products; further improving customer service and driving market share in flexible plumbing and underfloor heating sectors.

“Uponor is a strong market leading brand across Europe, with innovative and competitive products. The experience gained through a market and manufacturing presence throughout Europe and North America allows us to present tried and proven solutions to our underfloor heating, plumbing and housing connection customers.”

View Uponor's profile:

Story

AMTECH Power Software has launched HeatSmart, providing heating installers with all of the benefits of the popular and respected Mear Calculator on a Pocket PC.

Included in AMTECH’s GasCert Plus package or available as a stand-alone product, HeatSmart includes two easy to use calculators –Central Heating for calculating radiator sizes for individual rooms and Boiler Sizing for calculating the boiler size for a whole premises. Simply enter customer’s details, then enter dimensions and select variables from the dropdown lists to generate the radiator or boiler size required.

All calculations are displayed immediately on the Pocket PC and can also be saved for generating and printing reports later. Company details are stored on the Pocket PC to save entering them for each report.

HeatSmart also provides a complete audit trail to demonstrate compliance with relevant regulations and best practice procedures.

M. H. Mear director David Mosley commented: “We have spent a long time looking for a software partner that would complement our own strengths and add value to the physical calculator. AMTECH’s expertise and impressive track record provide very strong synergies to the M H Mear offering.”

“Our GasCert program has shown us there’s a huge appetite for mobile solutions among heating engineers,” added AMTECH sales director James Cooper. “Mear’s First Principles calculator is an essential tool for heating engineers so we can be confident the enhanced electronic version will be very warmly received by the trade,” he concluded.

HeatSmart is an ideal complement to AMTECH’s GasCert software. GasCert is designed for producing landlord/home owner gas safety records, gas warning advice notices and minor electrical works certificates. GasCert and GasCert Plus are available in both desktop and mobile versions.

View Trimble MEP's profile: