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Orbis Premier stainless steel handles and door furniture from Laidlaw Solutions have been used in DWA Architects' design of Warren Lodge, a new, purpose-built BUPA care home in Ashford, Kent. Built to provide specialist dementia care facilities, Orbis Premier has been used on all interior doors including those of the 64 en suite rooms. Laidlaw was also briefed to supply newly designed matching rails with concealed fittings and scheduled door signage, fire door bar, tape barrier and bathroom fittings such as grab rails, toilet roll and brush holders, coat hooks and soap dishes.

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Decorative electrical wiring accessories manufacturer, Hamilton Litestat, has announced that it is expanding and strengthening its sales team with a number of new faces coming on board and a restructure of the existing sales team.

Sarah Cox has joined Hamilton as South Western Sales Representative. Julian Churchill, who previously held this position, will now head up Hamilton’s lighting controls department at the head office in Wiltshire. Julian has been designing lighting control systems for many years and adds his considerable expertise to this key area of Hamilton’s business.

Another new face at Hamilton is Jerry Kelly, who has been appointed Southern Specification Representative. Jerry has vast experience gained from over 40 years in the electrical industry and has been bought into this new position to support Hamilton’s growth in the specifier market.

Andrew Partington, who has been with the company for two years in roles as Northern Regional Manager and UK Specification Manager, will shortly take up the position of UK Field Sales and Specification Manager, heading up the entire UK sales team. Andy’s previous sales roles in the North of England have been taken over by newcomers Lisa Brown, North Western Sales Representative, and Ian Tweedly, North Eastern Sales Representative.

All these new appointments come as Bill Milne, Hamilton’s long serving Sales Director, retires after 12 years with the firm.

“We’re sad to see Bill go as he’s given us 12 years of invaluable service and he will be greatly missed,” said Rod Hamilton, Chairman of Hamilton Litestat. “However, it’s exciting for us to be welcoming so many new faces and expanding our team in this way. We supply quality electrical wiring accessories and lighting controls throughout the UK and further afield, and our sales teams have a pivotal role to play in growing our business. We’re sure that the newly restructured and larger team will offer an even better quality of service to our customers.”

T: 01747 860088
E: web@hamilton-litestat.com
www.hamilton-litestat.com

Picture caption: Andrew Partington, UK Field Sales and Specification Manager

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The VRV®III Heating Only system introduced by Daikin Europe, uses renewable energy from outdoor air to drive the heating process, generating 4 kW of usable heat for every 1 kW of electricity consumed. It is therefore considerably more efficient than heating systems that burn fossil fuels, reducing both energy consumption and CO2 emissions of a building. Even when the electricity consumed comes from non-renewable sources, CO2 emissions are still much lower than fuel oil or natural gas burning boilers. VRV®III Heating Only therefore reduces a building’s heating costs and its environmental footprint.

The variable refrigerant flow concept inherent in behind VRV® technology was developed by Daikin and has been updated continuously over the past 25 years to a point where it represents an ideal solution for buildings, which have separate zones with individual heating requirements.

VRV®III Heating Only uses inverters to dynamically adapt compressor speed – and thus heating output – to actual building demand. Full capacity provides rapid warm up times and once rooms reach their optimum temperature, the system throttles back, generating just enough heat to maintain comfort levels at optimum efficiency. VRV®III Heating Only also responds quickly to changes in outdoor and indoor temperatures. Furthermore, each indoor zone can be controlled individually, enabling room occupants to enjoy optimum temperatures, ventilation and humidity, while the system operates at peak efficiency.

VRV®III Heating Only is designed for buildings of all sizes with diverse heating needs but is particularly suitable for installation in public buildings in climates where summer cooling is not required. Outdoor units from 25 to 170 kW support up to 64 separate indoor units, with each indoor unit receiving precisely the heat it needs. Long piping runs are possible and the system’s modular construction promotes quick and easy installation. Start-up costs can be spread with phased installation and there is no need for fuel storage tanks and pumps.

Fifteen different model indoor units are supported, including ceiling mounted, floor-standing and wall mounted types. Fresh air ventilation and Biddle air curtains can be integrated with the system, which also supports a wide range of control possibilities, including multiple building monitoring from a central location via Internet.

VRV®III Heating Only offers top efficiency, low operating costs and reduced CO2 emissions, whilst retaining optimum comfort throughout the building.

Daikin Europe products are distributed in the UK by Daikin Airconditioning UK Ltd and Space Airconditioning plc.

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Creating a zoned heating system in any home is easy and affordable using Timeguard’s new Programastat electronic heating programmers with options for independent control of up to four separate zones for heating and hot water.

All of these multi-channel programmers are suitable for pump or gravity fed systems, offer the option of having different programs for weekdays and weekends and have as standard a range of features such as automatic summer/winter change, boost buttons and attractive LEDs giving a clear indiction of status at any time. Installation of all the products in the Programastat range is simplified with Timeguard’s universal wiring centre box. 16 terminal block circuits and four earth terminals are provided, as are a range of wiring diagrams, including S and Y plans.

The new programmers are available through wholesalers now. More information is available at www.timeguard.com. Alternatively call customer services on 020 8452 1112 or email them at csc@timeguard.com.

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…save more than £850 over the next ten years, just by replacing your heating system pump!

A quick look at the level of energy bills today compared with those ten years ago, would probably have you gasping in disbelief. The occasional lower tariff that catches the headlines can appear to reduce energy bills for a while, but they are usually used by energy companies as means to capture 'conquest business' from other suppliers. The lower prices seldom last long. Consumer Associations recommend that British customers that have a reputation for sticking with suppliers for decades rather than switching, change their ways and their suppliers – but this usually only leads to short-term savings – until the next price increase.

So it is more than annoying that in many households in the UK, at a time when we're all looking for ways of saving money, electricity consumption – and the resulting bills that thump onto the door mat – are unnecessarily high.

When you're looking for the culprits, one of the often undetected “energy guzzlers” in the home can be found as part of the heating system. It's the heating pump which is needed in central heating systems to distribute the heat from the boiler to the radiators or in renewable systems from the heat source to the heat emitters – whether radiators or underfloor heating. An old, uncontrolled pump – of which there are still millions operating in the UK – can contribute up to £130 on the annual electricity bill for a standard family house. An elderly heating pump can consume more energy than other big energy consumers in the house, including the electric cooker, cooling devices and refrigerators. These elderly pumps can be running non-stop – whether they need to or not, constantly using electricity and constantly racking up electricity bills – without the consumer knowing it!

Anyone with an old pump on their heating system shouldn't wait a minute longer than they have to. A relatively minor investment can reduce their electricity consumption quickly and sustainably. The “minor heating system modernisation” required is quite simply the replacement of an old, uncontrolled pump by a high-efficiency pump. A competent heating engineer or installer can make the switch in less than an hour. From the moment the new high efficiency pump is installed, annual electricity costs for operating that heating pump can be reduced by as much as 90 per cent.

A new high efficiency small circulator from pump manufacturer Wilo is incredibly economical. Independent testing has certified that the Wilo-Stratos-PICO model consumes only 46.5 kWh/a for a typical family home according to the standard Europump Commitment measurement procedure – the official EU body that measures these things. That's around 90% energy saving over an old uncontrolled pump and only 50% of the electricity demanded by what was previously the best energy efficiency class 'A' pump – and it is more economical than any other A-class pump you can buy. In fact – it uses less electricity in a year than a stand by light on a TV or DVD player! And the Wilo Smart A pump offers similar benefits – offering around 80% energy saving over an old uncontrolled pump.

Consumers who replace their old heating system pump before it breaks down save the most. Wilo says that the purchase of a new Wilo-Stratos PICO pump will have paid for itself in just a few years – as little as two or three years in some cases – just as a result of the saved electricity costs. And then it's all about further savings. Ten years down the line, they will have saved more than £850 that otherwise would have gone to their electricity supplier through regular bills, that's remained in their household budget to spend on more important things.

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Cromar LEAD-FREE is a high performance, low cost aluminium flashing suitable for use as an alternative to traditional lead in both flat and pitched roof applications. It has a durable, polyurethane outer coating and a polyisobutylene backing adhesive which ensures a strong, permanent, watertight bond, in most cases without priming. Its light weight and flexibility make it ideal for details such as abutments, chimneys, dormers, soakers, valleys and roof windows. LEAD-FREE can be cut and shaped with either a knife or scissors without producing sharp edges and worked in any direction using a mallet, roller or by hand. It has a 15 year guarantee and a life expectancy in excess of 20 years.

LEAD-FREE is available in 5 metre rolls and widths of 150, 300 and 450mm. The largest weighs just 4.5 kilos

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Timeguard has done it again, with a new product range that will boost your business and give your customers better service and performance.

The Programastat range of electronic room thermostats and heating programmers includes everything from simple roomstats controllers to multi-channel (multi zone) heating controllers and the increasingly popular wire free RF technology. This covers all the options you will need to improve energy efficiency in your customer’s homes and, as you will have come to expect from Timeguard, the range combines superior, guaranteed performance with remarkably competitive pricing.

Behind the sleek exteriors of the range are sophisticated electronic controls that react immediately to changes in temperature, minimising the over- and under-shoots (saw-toothing) of traditional thermostats. Even the simple room thermostats in the range, with adjustable dials, are electronically controlled. The precise control these products exert can quickly add up to big energy savings.

Wireless RF Programatats

Wire free installation is ideal where it is impractical to run wires between a room thermostat and other central heating controls, and this new device can be relied on to transmit time and temperature programmes to its wall-mounted receiver box up to 60m away.

Multi zone contol

The Programastat range also meets the steadily growing demand for mutli zone control. The range includes products are programmers with seven-day or 24 hour options and with as many as four independently-controlled channels. These will cover, say, hot water and three heating zones in the home.

The range also includes wall.-mounted room thermostats with adjustable digital control and cylinder/pipe thermostats. There’s even a wireless option for installations where it is impractical to run wires between room thermostats and heating controllers.

Installation of all the products in the Programastat range is kept simple with Timeguard’s universal wiring centre box. 16 terminal block circuits and four earth terminals are provided, as are wiring diagrams for S plan and Y plan installations.

Available now. More information is available at www.timeguard.com. Alternatively call customer services o 020 8452 1112 or email them at csc@Timeguard.com

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'clean and protect' saves money, energy, emissions and maintenance costs

All heating systems, however large or small, will work better with good quality circulating water in them. That's simply a fact. It's accepted by every boiler manufacturer, renewable heating manufacturer and under floor heating manufacturer – there's really no one who will argue with that.

Whether it's a traditional heating system driven by one or more commercial boilers, with radiators as the means of emitting heat, or a renewable heating system driven by a solar thermal system or by a ground source or air source heat pump with under floor heating as the main source of sharing heat – water treatment products will ensure that the system operates as efficiently as possible, saving energy use, saving money and reducing emissions – it's all about cleaning and protecting the investment in a heating system.

A clean system is an efficient and reliable system and ensuring the system is clean at the outset and inhibited or protected to keep it that way, is an important consideration. Renewable systems offer their own challenges with solar thermal systems needing to cope with extremes of temperatures from well below freezing up to in excess of 230 C and heat pump installations needing to be prepared to resist microbiological growth as bacteria and fungi thrive on the glycol content of the glycol based heat transmission fluid.

So having agreed that water treatment is a sensible necessity, it makes sense to use the best water treatment products you can buy. There's little point skimping on what for most systems, will be a very small part of the total system outlay. By using cheap water treatment products, you may in fact be putting the heating system it's in, at risk. By selecting high quality products you also buy into the opportunity to purchase a wider range of products, ones that offer increased robustness to deliver better protection and value added products such as test kits that allow you to quickly and simply test a system to see if it already has water treatment products circulating and also the level of dosage required to give the system the right level of protection.

Building Regulations accepts that water treatment is essential in the heating systems in our homes, so it's easy to recognise how important it is for larger living spaces to benefit from water treatment protection – nursing homes, sheltered housing developments and the like, or for commercial and industrial properties – schools, hospitals, municipal buildings, factories, offices – where you simply can't risk the heating system shutting down because of blockages, or debris in the circulating water, or in renewable systems, if the glycol-based circulating fluid degrades prematurely and fails to deliver the efficient heating it's designed to deliver.

The benefits of using high quality water treatment products – recommended by leading heating and equipment manufacturers by name – are many and various but put simply, they save money, save time, reduce CO2 emissions, result in the use of less energy and a vital argument that sometimes gets overlooked – significantly reduce the maintenance costs associated with heating systems and their components.

For commercial users, these products can contribute towards reducing a company's CRC commitment costs and with a larger than anticipated emphasis towards commercial premises in the recently announced Renewable Heat Initiative (RHI) – it could have a major role to play here too.

All boiler and renewable heating manufacturers – domestic or commercial – accept that the two key problems they face are poor quality installation practices and poor quality circulating water and glycol based fluids in the heating systems. They address the first problem by investing significantly in training programmes for the people who install their boilers and they encourage solutions to the second by recommending by name the water treatment products they want to see used alongside their products.

Making your heating system operate energy efficiently, day in, day out in this day and age, is essential. Extending the life of the heating system is vital. Using good quality water treatment products clearly makes huge sense.

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As was one of the first UK industrial sectors to publish its sustainability policy, the brick industry established key performance indicators as early as 2002 to assess its progress in matching the targets and aspirations defined in its own sustainability strategy.

The Brick Development Association (BDA) which represents the majority of the United Kingdom and Ireland's clay brick and paver industries has now published the Industry's sustainability credentials in a leaflet entitled; “Brick: Building A Sustainable Resource For The Future”.

Sustainability is not just about recycling or the use of carbon-free materials. Nor is it just about the embodied energy accrued through the processes of sourcing, production and transport. It is about the whole-life energy consumption of a product. The crucial additional element in any sustainability calculations is how much it costs to look after a product once it has become part of a building. This is where brick scores against competing materials.

The brochure provides crucial information for everyone involved in the specification of brick and masonry walling systems, including architects, engineers, planners, specifiers, developers, builders and property developers. All the facts laid down in it are fully supported by research and independent assessments.

Katherina Lewis, Marketing Manager for the BDA says, “We're keen to show the industry why brick is best and why it ticks all the boxes as a natural building material. The BDA continues to invest heavily in promoting the benefits of brick and by publishing our sustainability credentials in this way helps to support the brick industry by dispelling any misconceptions about using brick, including cost, durability and environmental issues”.

“Brick: Building A Sustainable Resource For The Future” can be viewed and downloaded from the BDA's website at www.brick.org.uk/sustainabilitythefacts.

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