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REHAU’s Passivhaus certified GENEO® window system was chosen for a new residential development for North Ayrshire Council which was required to meet a Silver Active Level of sustainability as defined by the Scottish Building Regulations (2012 ed), Section 7.

The specification was laid down by the council for twelve new bungalows built on an exposed site in the town of Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae.

In response, Architects Anderson Bell & Christie adopted a ‘fabric first’ approach focusing on optimising the thermal performance of the insulation, cladding and windows in the buildings, choosing

REHAU GENEO® because the system offers U-Values as low as 0.68 W/m²K.

North Ayrshire Council had stated a preference for a PVC-U window solution because of its proven low maintenance properties and the REHAU GENEO® was judged to be the most contemporary looking high performance window in a PVC finish.

Aesthetically, the architects liked the slim 115mm sightlines of REHAU GENEO® coupled with the fact that it could be foiled externally in a grey finish and left white on the inside.

In total, 150 windows have been installed in twelve bungalows on the development in sizes ranging from 0.6m² to 5.2m², with U-Values as low as 0.68 W/m²K. All windows were triple glazed.

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West Midlands Fire Service have awarded a four year contract to Ductbusters for the maintenance of 39 kitchen extract systems in their operating area.

Ever conscious of the dangers posed by grease laden catering extracts the service is setting the right example by having a regular clean conducted throughout their stations.

Certificates and photographic evidence are being supplied as publically funded organisations need to comply with insurance requirements in the same way as others.

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The brand new Abbey Sands luxury mixed use development has brought a new glow to the Torquay waterfront – but its residents are also glowing – because of some superb energy efficient designer radiators from leading radiator manufacturer Stelrad – selected to share the heat in the new building.

Designed by Kay Elliott Architects for Wiltshire-based developer Havard Estates, Abbey Sands has been built on the site of the former Palm Court Hotel.   The development consists of twenty seven apartments, a coffee shop and 3 restaurants. Abbey Sands, is a stunning new 4500m² luxury mixed usedevelopment on the English Riviera. The six-storey scheme is situated on a prominent waterfront location in central Torquay with views across the bay towards Berry Head. The design is influenced by the art-deco style of the British seaside, and presents a contemporary interpretation of the ‘Riviera style.’ The development is the result of significant commitment from Havard Estates which has recognised and encouraged the potential of this idyllic site and the design potential for maximising on the landmark nature of this exciting new development. Abbey Sands was recently awarded Best Mixed Use Development in the UK for 2014-2015 at the UK Property Awards.

Plymouth-based ECS – Electrical Contracting Services – was the M & E contractor on the project, and through careful negotiations with the main contractor ECS was able to value engineer the project, maintaining the high standards set by the architects throughout the development.

The first and second floors of this prestigious development will accommodate 5 star, luxury self-catering apartments with sea views across Torbay. On the third and fourth floors there are twelve modern, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments whilst on the top floor are two large luxury penthouses with breath-taking views over the bay.
The interiors, which were also designed by Kay Elliott, feature the very best in contemporary interior design. Detail is key which is where the use of designer radiators to provide the heating for the development comes in. Despite its sunny aspect and warmth in the summer months, the south Devon coast can be very cool in the colder months and a first class heating system was always going to be essential.

Stelrad’s Planar designer radiator is a stylish, understated, completely flat, smooth fronted, slim profile radiator model, that has won a legion of fans in the interior decorating and architectural sectors.  The range includes lengths up to three metres and heights up to 700mm – the largest radiator in the Planar range now delivers 16,726 Btu/hr (Dt50).

Planar is available in five heights – 300mm, 400mm, 500mm, 600mm and 700mm – and multiple length options from 400mm to 3,000mm. It’s available as a single K1 (Type 11) or a double K2 (Type 22) and is now available in an amazing 100 SKUs and 12 vertical options. The Planar vertical range has added significantly to the appeal of this excellent design, allowing it to provide more heat from a narrower radiator footprint, making it a favourite across the UK.

Jan Tribble from architect Kay Elliott says the Planar was the obvious choice for this stunning development: “We pride ourselves on detail and we looked long and hard for the right products to grace Abbey Sands and when we were looking for radiators we wanted something understated, with clean lines and the Planar met those requirements. As well as the aesthetics, we wanted a quality product that offered reliability and quality manufacture – and Stelrad products offer both.”

“We were delighted that the Planar was selected for this project,” says Stelrad’s Marketing Communications Manager, Sarah Baker. “It’s been very popular with architects and interior designers across the UK, looking to add a quality look and feel to a design through the use of a slim profile, flat fronted radiator that blends perfectly into the décor of upmarket apartments, homes and offices. We’re seeing Planar selected increasingly over the use of traditional steel panel radiators to lift new building design to a new level.”

Full details of the Stelrad range of designer radiators can be seen at www.stelrad.com, you can call for brochures and information on 0844 543 6200 or email marketing@stelrad.com . You can follow Stelrad on Twitter @Stelrad or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/StelradLimited.

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Roofline and rainwater products from Swish Building Products have been specified by Broadaces Housing Association for installation on over 350 homes. Black half-round gutters and round downpipes are being supplied alongside white fascias and soffits through local stockist, Quay plastics, to contractor and installer, Newlife Windows.

This is the first time that the low maintenance building product manufacturer will be supplying the North Yorkshire-based housing association with components from its sustainable rainwater range. Broadacres wished to align the rainwater system with the roofline supplier, the Swish products proved to be the best value, high quality option. The housing association conducts value for money reviews on its technical specifications prior to tendering for all planned maintenance projects.

“Historically these [roofline and rainwater] components have been on a 30 year replacement programme however this may be reviewed going forward due to the increased life expectancy of new generation PVC-U products,” comments Ian Pollitt, quantity surveyor for Broadacres Housing Association. “We also pick up prospective replacement jobs following stock condition surveys carried out by our Technical Services team. In most instances, they new roofline and raintwater systems are replacing existing PVC products but on this year’s replacement programme there are 13 properties with timber fascias.”

Forming part of an annual replacement programme, 191 properties were completed under phase one; a further 161 will be upgraded during phase two which began in October and will continue into the New Year. Fascias and soffits are replaced on all elevations of the properties while rainwater goods are only replaced if required.

“It is a little too early to comment on the success of the programme but, so far so good, we have no cause for complain,” continues Ian. “The systems appear to be performing well and this should become more evident as the weather changes over the coming months.”

Broadacres provides a comprehensive range of services to approximately 5,600 homes in North Yorkshire. Established in 1993, the Association has grown both in terms of the number of properties it manages and its awareness of the needs and aspirations of its customers.

With headquarters in Northallerton, Broadacres currently has stock in Hambleton, Darlington, Spennymoor, Richmondshire, Harrogate, Redcar and Cleveland, Ryedale, Selby and Easy Riding of Yorkshire and Scarborough.

Broadacres provides homes for rent, shared ownership and outright sale, as well as providing a range of support services to different client groups including persons with mental health problems, learning disabilities, older persons, people with physical disabilities, those fleeing domestic violence and the homeless. In addition, it has a home improvement agency to assist with property adaptations and repairs to enable people to continue to live in their homes.

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Newton Waterproofing Systems are now issuing cards to all our Newton Specialist Basement Contractors as a further way of raising the standard within the industry. The Newton Specialist Basement Contractor Certified Card Scheme (NSBC-CCS) ensures that our clients are confident that our contractors have the best training and techniques available for waterproofing new and existing structures.

Contractors are trained in the following areas:

• Internal Waterproofing
  Newton System 500 Cavity Drain Waterproofing and Newton System 100 Cementitious Products
• Deck Waterproofing
  Newton System 200 Deck and Roofing, incorporating Newton System 700 Liquid Applied Floor Coatings and Newton System 900 Liquid Primers & Sealers. Course will include floor preparation.
• External Waterproofing
  Newton System 300 Waterproofing of Concrete Structures and System 400 External Waterproofing focusing on Hydrobond and Hydrobond-LM including spray application
• Pumps and Panels
  Newton ground water, grey water and sewage pumping systems. Control panels and battery back-up systems.

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The Low Carbon Exchange is using the Klober Solar Cable Outlet Kit with all new build and retrofit PV installations for the Poole Housing Partnership, Plymouth Community Homes, Alliance Homes, Aster Properties and Radian Housing. 8 and 16 cable kits are available for up to 8 cables of 4mm to 8mm with a choice of 5 collar widths. It provides the ideal means of providing a neat, weathertight seal for cables from other services. The product is fully wind-tunnel tested, available in brown, terracotta and slate grey and suitable for pitches between 20°- 50°.

Low Carbon Exchange spokesperson Jennie Miller commented, “The Klober kit has provided the perfect means of weatherproofing PV installations and we have used it on all projects since the company was established in 2010.”

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Complete Building Services goes with ‘easy to fit, minimum disruption’ Wilo options

With water companies continuing to reduce the mains pressure to help hit leakage targets, the requirement particularly from local authorities and housing associations for pressure boosting equipment to ensure there’s water coming out of the taps on the top floors of tower blocks continues to grow. Unboosted water struggles to get above the third floor in most parts of the country.

A company that has specialised in the provision of these systems is Letchworth-based Complete Building Services (CBS). Director Peter Bradbury says that several of their clients have been looking to install pressure boosting equipment and the key to the success of these projects – apart from reliable pressure boosting sets – is easy installation and as little disruption to the lives of tenants as possible during the installation process. They’ve hit on a solution to all these requirements through their partnership with leading pump manufacturer Wilo.

This is perfectly illustrated by recent work undertaken by the company for clients Enfield Homes, the social housing arms-length management organisation (ALMO) for Enfield Council. Four tower blocks in Enfield, just inside the M25 in north London needed pressure boosting equipment to get the mains water reliably up to the top of the 13 story buildings.

The existing equipment – based in the basement of Brittany House was not up to the job and its reliability had begun to be called into question. CBS was asked to provide a solution that would provide reliability, cost effectiveness and the minimum of disruption to the tenants in the nearly 400 apartments affected. CBS is well placed to deliver the complete package of support with its excavation, building and heating and plumbing expertise.

Enter Wilo UK with its comprehensive range of pressure boosting sets. They recommended their Wilo Comfort – Vario COR-2 Helix VE speed controlled pressure booster set, supplied with a CAVSA anti surge valve to address the potential issue of hydraulic shock in the mains water system. Controlling the flow of water into the system can prove difficult, as you don’t want to affect the flow rate under normal working conditions. Wilo multi-pump sets are fitted with a CFS (controlled fill system) which limits the starting sequence after a forced shut down reducing the rate at which the system is refilled.

Preventing a vacuum can be achieved by fitting CAVSA valves (combined air vent & surge arrestor) at the top of each riser which will act as a vacuum break by allowing air to enter the system. These valves will also control the release of the air from the system when it starts to refill, therefore slowing down the rate at which the water enters the system.

The pump set selected for this project combines three pumps and the three-pump approach sees one operating, one able to assist if the call on water exceeds the capacity of that first pump, whilst a third ‘sleeps’. All three pumps operate on a cycle, ensuring even wear across each of the pumps, with the added benefit that there is no stagnation of water addressing any legionella bacteria issues in the system.

Pete Bradbury says CBS received plaudits from the client Enfield Homes for the speed of the job they undertook: “They were really impressed by the downtime that was achieved on this job. The water was off to the nearly 400 dwellings for less than two hours whilst the old system was decommissioned and removed and the new one installed and powered up. They had no complaints from tenants at all having warned them the work was being done and that they would have to survive without mains water for a short while. It’s human nature to scoff when you get messages like that through your door and you prepare for the worst – possibly no water for a day! But we were as good as our word and had the water back on in less than 120 minutes from the time it went off!”

Kevin Alexander, senior mechanical engineer at Enfield Homes was impressed by every aspect of the project: “As the water pressures are reduced we have serious issues with the potable water supply in our high rise developments across the borough. With this particular project we seem to have hit upon a very straightforward, easy to install and effective solution to the problem for the nearly 400 tenants who live in the high rise blocks affected. The solution was suggested to us by Complete Building Services, using a Wilo pressure boosting pump set that does the job perfectly and the design of the unit offers the in-built reliability and back-up that is essential for us and our tenants. In an area of our work where tenants quite reasonably assume they will get reliable water supplies from the mains but do not see what is behind that reliable supply, it is a job well done. And the cessation of supply to our tenants to fit the new system was remarkably short – less than two hours. That was quite remarkable and very welcome.”

The Wilo pressure boosting system option selected by CBS – a Wilo-SiBoost Smart Helix VE – delivers in all areas. Powerful motors allow a powerful drive and reliable pressure boosting. The highly efficient automatic functions offer a wide range of flexible parameters to be utilised to optimise the pressure control according to the specific characteristics of the building’s water network. Moreover, the system hydraulics were designed to meet the highest demands in terms of long service life and effectiveness. Beyond the optimised 2D/3D laser-welded pump stages, flanged pipes minimise pressure losses while the stainless steel, high quality hydraulic parts ensure a high resistance to corrosion. The installation-friendly systems are easy to operate. The display with in-built backlight, shows all relevant information at any time and the transparent menu structure allows quick access to the main parameters.

Set-up is achieved in no time thanks to the standard interface on the control cabinet and the pumps. The combination of an LC display and “red-button technology” from Wilo, allows easy settings and status information and the Wilo systems are ready for use very quickly. In order to optimise security, the pressure gauge and the pressure transmitter sensors are protected with extra covers. In addition, a cable channel ensures improved integration of the cables. Communication between the pressure boosting pumps and building management systems if installed, is possible via different data buses, including LON, ModBus and BACnet.

The Wilo-SiBoost Smart Helix VE system has two to four stainless steel high-pressure centrifugal pumps – in this case three – of the Helix VE range with an IE2-equivalent standard motor. The pumps of this highly efficient and connection-ready water-supply unit are switched in parallel and vertically arranged – including an air-cooled, integrated frequency converter. The integrated dry-running protection makes sure that in the event of low water, the motor control electronics will be automatically switched off. Thanks to the Smart Controller SCe control device, operating this system is particularly easy.

A subsequent project for the same client on a tower block in nearby Edmonton saw the water off for just an hour whilst the new Wilo pressure boosting set was installed.

Full details of the Wilo pumps used in this installation and the other pumps in the range can be found at www.wilo.co.uk. More information on Complete Building Services can be found at www.completebuildingherts.com and more information about Enfield Homes can be found at www.enfield.gov.uk/Enfieldhomes.

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In response to the growing need for earth electrode resistance measurements, Megger has added a new model to its popular and successful MFT1700 family of multifunction installation testers. When used in conjunction with the appropriate accessories, the new MFT1735 provides comprehensive facilities for two-pole, three-pole, stakeless and ART earth

electrode resistance measurements, as well as all the functionality needed to test electrical installations in line with the 17th Edition of the IET Wiring Regulations.

• Two and three wire non-trip loop testing for RCD protected circuits
• Type-B RCD and 3-phase RCD testing for industrial applications with no Earth
• 3-terminal earth test and stakeless testing for earth electrode resistance measurement **

Internal memory and Bluetooth® communications
Simple colour-coded test selection and large clear back-lit display for ease of use
EN61010 CATIV safety ratings and tough IP54 case

** The MFT1735 is supplied with a 3-wire earth test kit, however optional accessories are required for the ART and stakeless techniques.

Adds a range of earth electrode test to its multifunction
The wide range of earth test facilities provided by the new tester mean that it is well suited to virtually all earth resistance measurement applications, including the testing of electrodes in TT installations, as are used for certain vehicle charging points, verification of earthing performance in lightning protection systems and checking the earth systems used in wind turbine and other renewable power installations.

Safe, adaptable and hard working

Like all models in the MFT1700 family, the new MFT1735 features simple colour-coded test selection and a large clear backlit display, an EN61010 CAT IV 300 V safety rating, full input protection against accidental connection to live supplies when set for dead-circuit tests, visible and audible safety warnings of hazardous voltages, and rugged durable construction with an IP54-rated case.

The MFT1735 also offers a choice of two-wire and three-wire non-trip loop testing, along with high-current loop testing, which means that users can always choose the loop test method most appropriate and most convenient for the application in hand. Other key features include the ability to test all commonly used types of RCD, including Types AC, A, S and B as well as programmable types, and provision for three-phase RCD testing in industrial applications with no earth. A timesaving auto-test feature for standard single-phase RCDs is also included.

Rechargeable from line or vehicle supply

Power for the MFT1735 tester is provided by NiMH rechargeable cells, which are supplied with the instrument. This arrangement eliminates the cost, inconvenience and environmental impact associated with using ordinary disposable batteries. A mains charger is supplied as standard and a charger for use with 12 V vehicle supplies is available as an optional accessory.

Learn more about the MFT1735

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Triton’s new ‘Type B’ waterproofing website has been designed as the perfect resource for specifiers of watertight concrete structures. Triton supplies a complete range of products for structural waterproofing but this new site focuses purely on the company’s BBA approved watertight concrete system that conforms to BS 8102 (2009).

Used primarily in the construction of basements, underground car parks, swimming pools and lift pits etc, the system comprises a unique chemical admix, products for sealing construction joints and products to make repairs.

There are direct links on the site from individual product sections to technical data sheets, detail drawings and case studies on Triton’s main website. The enquiry form lands directly on the desk of technical staff who can help you with your project.

Triton offers full system support, including liaison with the concrete batching plant, mix design, construction joint detailing, site monitoring as well as concrete repair systems and a warranty when required.

Visit www.typebwaterproofing.co.uk

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Roof ventilation market leader Klober has launched the 20k tile vent. This will not only enable far fewer vents to be used on a roof but fulfil the need for a bigger aperture required for MHVR. In addition to a tile vent, a slate vent is available for use with natural and man-made slates. Both have been designed for universal use and can be fitted with a 150mm adaptor.

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