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Rockwool, the world’s leading manufacturer of non-combustible stone wool insulation, has developed a unique insulation system for a refurbishment project at the Grade II-listed Barbican Estate.

The project – which has been on-site since October 2008 – involves £40,000 of insulation product being installed to insulate the top three storeys in one part of the Estate’s buildings, which were being converted from offices into residential accommodation.

However, the tight radius of the Barbican’s barrel roofs meant that Rockwool, working in collaboration with its partners – the client; the roofing contractor, Delomac Roofing; and the membrane manufacturer, Sarnafil – had to develop a new kind of insulation system.

After designing, fabricating and trialling various alternatives, the team eventually settled on Rockwool’s 40mm Hardrock SPA roof insulation board (installed with Sarnafil membrane) with special grooves cut into the base of the board to allow for bending around the tight radius, fitting the roofs snugly.

David Adams, Market Development Director from Rockwool, said: “Barrel roofs are often difficult to insulate fully. Most insulation comes in boards, which is fine for covering vertical walls or horizontal roofs, but cannot always bend sufficiently to fit tightly – and therefore effectively – over a curved surface. Our bespoke product design will ensure the Barbican Estate roofs will be well insulated and as energy efficient as possible.”

Brendan McNulty from Delomac Roofing, the roofing contractor, said: “We have worked closely with Rockwool on developing this unique product. The installation is now well underway and reports confirm the system is performing precisely as intended.”

The Barbican Estate in the heart of London’s Square Mile contains a mix of urban residential accommodation and office space, as well as the Barbican Centre, Europe’s largest performing arts centre, which includes a library, concert halls, gallery, cinema and theatre auditoriums.

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Specifiers, housebuilders and self-builders looking to achieve Level 3 of the Code of Sustainable Homes (25% reduced CO2 emissions from January 2010) should consider the latest Genvex heat pump ventilation systems from Total Home Environment Ltd (T.H.E).

The new Genvex Premium range combines heat recovery ventilation with heat pump technology to efficiently harness energy from outgoing air. With a 35-year pedigree in developing advanced ventilation systems, the Danish company Genvex, has designed the new Premium range to provide heat as well as ventilation and also cooling on hot summer days

All this from one appliance, compact enough to fit into the loft space of the house.

The efficiency of the low energy Genvex Premium system is outstanding; the appliance generates as much as six times the heat energy, as the power it consumes. Whilst the system provides an air change in the house every two hours, it can take outside air of –1°C and convert this to an incoming air temperature of 34°C.

The Genvex system continually provides fresh filtered air (pollen filters as standard) whilst removing moisture and humidity. It also usefully extracts the harmful cocktail of chemicals and dustmites present in the modern home and all in extremely quiet conditions because of its advanced design EC motors.

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The new 17th Edition of the wiring regulations is due to be implemented on the 1st June 2008. There are a significant number of changes, additions and deletions, both big and small.By ensuring the manufacturer states the instrument meets this standard and you cannot go far wrong. And of course Megger testers all meet the requirements of the 17th Edition.

The new 17th Edition of the wiring regulations is due to be implemented on the 1st June 2008. There are a significant number of changes, additions and deletions, both big and small.

To align the British and IEC numbering system sections 6 (Special installations or locations) and 7 (Inspection and testing) change places. The new section 7 will now include sections on: “Marinas and similar locations”, “Exhibitions, Shows and Stands”, “Solar Voltaic Power Supply Systems”, “Mobile and transportable units”, “Temporary electrical installations” and “Floor and ceiling heating systems”.

The good news for anyone doing “Testing and Inspection”, – there are no changes that prevent your current Megger testers being used.

A brief summary of current instrument requirements is detailed below:

Insulation testing

The most important change is to the insulation test limits for SELV, PELV and systems of <500 V

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At 80 pages, Laidlaw Solutions’ 2009 Handrail and Balustrade Solutions brochure provides an invaluable guide to handrail and balustrade specification and design. It includes detailed information on stainless steel, nylon, timber and combination systems as well as uprights, infills and structural glazing. Guidance on key aspects of installation such as spacing and loading is also provided in relation to Approved Doc Parts M, K (England and Wales), R (Northern Ireland) and Non-Domestic Technical Handbook Section 4 – safety (Scotland). Coverage of Building Regulations and Standards includes specific reference to the newly updated BS8300 in respect of grip, dimensions, spacing, LRVs and visual impairment.

Diverse case studies for all key sectors illustrate how use of Laidlaw systems fulfils aesthetic as well as functional design requirements, utilising component based, rather than site fabricated systems. As market leader in the supply of doorsets and architectural ironmongery, Laidlaw, which is now Chas accredited, offers six handrail and balustrading systems:

• Nylon – using nylon-sleeved galvanised steel components Stainless steel – using stainless steel components
• Timber – using four basic types of timber in conjunction with either nylon-sleeved galvanised steel or stainless steel components
• Combi – using a combination of nylon-sleeved galvanised steel and stainless steel components
• 3kN – using larger diameter stainless steel uprights to resist the greater loadings required for certain environments
• Modu-line –an on-site, easy assembly component system

Specification clauses are available via NBS Plus or from the company’s Handrail department which can supply detailed technical support and guidance.

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Wilo UK has launched the incredible new Wilo-Stratos PICO high efficiency small circulator pump into the UK marketplace. The latest in the family of high efficiency ‘A’ rated small circulators, the PICO is right at the top of the class when it comes to energy efficiency savings with an average annual electricity consumption of just 46.5 kWh for a typical home. According to standard Europump Commitment measuring procedures, when it comes to electricity consumption, PICO is more efficient than any other A class pump you can buy.

A large percentage of the initial cost of the pump will be paid off in the first year of operation and by the end of the second year, it will have paid for itself and be giving back savings for the rest of its working life. There’s not many items in a home you can say that about!

As you would expect from a Wilo product it offers all the other benefits that you would want from a high efficiency small circulator, including reliable starting and maximum convenience due to its high starting torque and its in-built de-blocking software. It’s remarkably simple to set up and quick to install and features a display with a consumption reading along with a thermal insulation shell as standard

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Installing a pump has never been so easy as with the PICO. Its compact design allows this little high efficiency pump to fit into any set up you care to choose. And on top of that there’s its clever power connection mechanism. Until now you’ve had to connect the ends of the power cables to the terminal box but with the Wilo Connector that comes with the Wilo-Stratos PICO, you simply connect the cable to the patented plug connection, plug this into the corresponding connection on the pump and you’re done! In the blink of an eye!

Then what? Well it runs by itself. Just one press of a button sees the PICO activate its automatic bleeding device giving maximum performance and minimum noise. The most important thing is that the setting is correct and this is simple because this small pump has the same large display you have on the big brother – the Wilo-Stratos. This means the pump can be operated and read with ease from the front and all the setting parameters can be seen at a glance. The big display is also a big advantage for the homeowner as it allows them to read the current power consumption and total electricity consumption at any time. In effect this is like having your own electricity meter, so you can keep a wary eye on just how energy efficient the PICO is!

Dave Spragg is Wilo’s UK Domestic Product Manager: “Obviously I’ve seen this coming for several months and couldn’t wait for it to arrive here in the UK! We showed it for the first time at Installer Live 2009 a few weeks ago and it got an incredibly warm reception there. It’s great to have a pump that is ahead of all the competition in energy savings terms and it’s excellent to have a family of high efficiency ‘A’ rated pumps that we can offer to our customers. This is a little beauty and installers will love it – not just because its so energy efficient but because it makes their lives so much easier! It’s been designed to be the best of the ‘A’ rated pumps available but it’s also been designed for ease of installation and in such a way as you can prove its operating as it should do. It’s an installers dream and we have high hopes for PICO here in the UK.”

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Four new consumer units from Eaton are designed to help specifiers and installers meet the requirements of the 17th Edition of the Wiring Regulations for increased RCD protection. They are the first offerings in a package to extend the Memera 2000 AD range of consumer units. They offer a dual-RCD, variable split-load configuration, providing residual current protection of all outgoing circuits, and a generous number of outgoing ways to meet modern installation needs.

The new Wiring Regulations (BS 7671), published on January 1 and coming into force at the end of June, call for much more extensive provision of residual current protection in domestic and non-domestic premises. The practicalities of meeting the requirements for protection of cables buried in the plaster surface of walls or enclosed within partition walls, will mean that most circuits will require 30mA RCD protection. It is also a requirement that all 13A and other socket-outlets up to 20A, for use by “ordinary persons”, should normally be protected by a 30mA RCD. In bathrooms for example, RCD protection is also required on all circuits, including lighting.

Whilst compliance with the new Regulations can be achieved with conventional isolator- controlled single or split-load consumer units in combination with individual circuit RCBO’s, a more cost effective solution may be found with a dual-RCD consumer unit.

The latest Memera 2000 AD consumer units include 8-way, 12-way and 15-way dual-RCD split-load units controlled by a 100A isolator feeding two separate variable split busbar sections each protected by a 30mA RCD. The fourth new unit is a 12-way dual-RCD variant which provides an additional, third, 3-way busbar section fed directly from the main isolator. The three unprotected ways can be used to supply non group RCD protected circuits and can be equipped with individual circuit MCB’s or, more likely, RCBO’s.

All four new consumer units use miniature circuit-breakers (MCBs) for final sub-circuit protection and feature Eaton’s variable split-load design, which allows on-site selection of the number of ways allocated to each main section. The new dual-RCD isolator-controlled units offer high-sensitivity protection of all circuits

Splitting the load over 2 or more sections of the consumer unit will reduce the instances of unwanted tripping and take account of other risks and inconvenience associated with such events. It would be prudent to separate the power circuits and lighting circuits in an area such as a bathroom in order to avoid danger to users in the event of an earth fault on a shower circuit also taking the bathroom lighting off at the same time.

Other consumer units are available which provide 100mA time-delayed RCD protection on the incoming device, which can be effectively co-ordinated with downstream RCD’s or RCBO’s.

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Laidlaw Solutions’ new 28 page Orbis Anti-Ligature door furniture brochure contains comprehensive information on a range which has seen a significant number of additions since the last edition.

Co-ordinated, ready-to-install locksets are available with functions which include rollerbolt locks with primary and secondary barricade override options. Specific designs for washrooms and bedrooms are available with the option of auto-locking night latches, while new door pulls, radius plates, retractable doorplates and accessories have greatly extended combination permutations.

All have a standard 10-year guarantee, are supplied in either Satin Stainless Steel or Silk Anodised Aluminium and come complete with Torx pin tamper-proof fixings.

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Air conditioning provided by ‘commission-less’ Matrix 2 underfloor 4 pipe fan coil units, manufactured by Ability Projects Ltd, is an important component of the building services for the new Cabot House, Bristol HQ of the Environment Agency. Already ‘flagged up’ as the greenest complex of its type in the UK, the building has received the highest ever design and procurement stage BREEAM rating of 85.06% and relocating to energy efficient Cabot House should save the Agency £180,000 per year in operating and energy costs.

A total of 124 Matrix 2 underfloor fan coil units, fed with chilled water from a ground source heat pump (boosted by a chiller) and gas fired boilers, receive tempered fresh air at 100C and provide 200kW of free cooling. All fan coil units provide top access, have self balancing EC/DC motors, are pre fitted with BACNET controls and self balancing PICC valves and meet NR35 requirements environment at 30 Pascals resistance. Nominal unit cooling and heating capacities are just under 4.5kW. All units are also delivered to site with water flow rates, air volume and MAC addresses down loaded into their terminal controller strategy during manufacture – facilities that are unique to Matrix 2 models.

When installed, Matrix 2 units sense their surroundings and adjust automatically to provide and maintain the factory preset air volume and water flow design values. Furthermore, after a fit out, any value within the control strategy can be altered and transmitted to either a single fan coil, a group of fan coils, or the entire building system can be re-set in seconds through the software alone.

Once installed, each fan coil establishes the correct air volume as a total and along each individual duct, irrespective of the external static pressure of the ductwork system. Subtle variations between ductwork runs do not matter because the fans self compensate.

When installed, the fan coil control valve modulates between 0% (closed) and 100%, enabling the water flow rate to be adjusted through the software or the BMS, without the need for access to the fan coil itself. Flow rates are set with an accuracy of +/-2% on the maximum flow rate, and often even closer. The commissioning process therefore, becomes one of mere ‘checking’ rather than ‘setting’.

As well as banishing volume control dampers, Matrix 2 also removes the need for flow regulating devices, double regulating valves or similar, in the hydraulic system. It also helps limit energy consumption, enabling air volumes to be gradually reduced or increased in parallel with thermal load and reacts to an ‘unoccupied/occupied room’ situation by relaxing cooling and heating set points.

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Shackerley (Holdings) Group Limited is seeking to inspire and inform architects with its new Sureclad brochure which features an impressive ‘Gallery’ of the company’s ceramic granite ventilated facade projects across the UK and Eire. The 64-page brochure clearly demonstrates the enormous scope for ceramic granite as a facade material and reveals how Sureclad facades have been used to stunning effect to create landmark buildings in the education, healthcare, retail, residential, general commercial and hotel sectors.

The ‘Gallery’ includes some of the UK’s largest and most demanding ceramic granite ventilated cladding projects such as the Paragon in Brentford, the Sage HQ in Newcastle upon Tyne and the high profile Media City development in Salford, still under construction. Of interest to many specifiers will be the testimonials provided by leading architects who are specifying Sureclad ceramic granite as a contemporary and totally natural and logical alternative to hewn stone in its original quarried state.

The new brochure also reveals a number of new additions to the Sureclad range. The very latest ceramic granite facade options include innovative ‘metallic’ finishes which shimmer in the sunlight, ‘travertine’ panels with a naturalistic texture and appearance, and new highly polished black panels in a 1m2 format. Whilst most of the new brochure is dedicated to ceramic granite, Shackerley has recently extended its range of Sureclad facade materials and these new options are also featured. New large format engineered stone panels measuring up to 3060x1230mm and in 20, 30 and 40mm thicknesses are now offered in a wide range of styles, alongside a collection of large format single skin terracotta panels.

Like Shackerley’s ceramic granite, all the engineered stone and terracotta panels are prefabricated in Lancashire at Shackerley’s ISO9001 quality certified production facility and are then installed in conjunction with a Sureclad facade support system. A patented undercut anchor process is employed to enable the panels to be fixed mechanically (to comply with BS 5385 Part 2) in an invisible, safe and stress free manner.

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IT network solutions specialist KMH Group needed a supply partner with the power to perform when it was called upon to streamline the re-charging of staff communication handsets in Marks and Spencer stores throughout the UK.

KMH is working with the major retailer on upgrading networks at a number of its stores and, as part of this work, identified the need to improve facilities for staff to charge their in-store wireless handsets, used for internal communication and stock control.

By collaborating with cable management specialist Marshall-Tufflex’s Specials Department, KMH solved the dilemma, coming up with Universal Charging Racks – a wall-mounted system that delivers power to a large number of chargers. The customised system not only allows M&S staff to quickly and easily locate handsets in the charging rack, it also eradicates unsightly and potentially hazardous wires and leads.

The racks are constructed from Marshall-Tufflex’s impact resistant PVC-U Maxi-Trunking system. They are built in multiples of ten docking units to cater for the varying number of handsets in different stores. For example, a 100 handset unit has recently been installed in Marks and Spencer’s flagship store at Marble Arch, London.

Peter Hiscox, Director, KMH Group said: “Our policy is to work with UK manufacturers we can trust to do a quality job. We wanted a company we could work closely with from the concept stage so that modifications could be made as required. Marshall-Tufflex has performed well and we have had no issues with delivery or timescales, even though timing is critical as installation rolls out on a store by store basis.

“The partnership is working well, which is why Marshall Tufflex is now supplying us with bespoke ceiling application data outlet boxes for Marks and Spencer’s wireless network system. Two thousand units have already been produced and roll-out is on-going.”

KMH Group is only one of three IT designers for Marks and Spencer, and the only one handling IT security systems. The company ensures its position at the forefront of network development by specialising in bespoke solutions and maintaining quality across its products and services.

Marshall Tufflex’s Specials Department is a one-stop shop for all cable management solutions. The experienced team offers the required level of service from concept designs to the building of pre-wired customised solutions.

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