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Consumers buying showers at the lower end of the market still want and expect value-for-money and a quality shower that offers both style and performance. Now they can have all that, and a competitive price!

Leading shower manufacturer, Mira Showers, has strengthened its entry-level electric shower offering with the introduction of Vie. Introduced exclusively for the merchant/distributor channel, this new shower range offers a competitive spec and competitive margin opportunities for the merchant.

Available in a choice of power ratings (8.5kW, 9.5kW and 10.8kW), Vie is a manual electric shower that features Select & Forget controls with a push button start/stop and power. For economy it features an ECO energy saving power setting that can halve the power consumption and is particularly beneficial for summer use.

In addition to the Eco setting, the power control gives the user the choice of Low and High settings. Once set, the user can simply press the start button.

Installation features include multiple pipe and cable entry points, which are achieved without the need for additional trims and which allow the ultimate in siting possibilities. For convenience, Vie also accepts both compression and push fit type fittings.

Other installation features include an easy clean filter and installation template. The Vie footprint has also been designed to cover the existing screw holes of the majority of competing electric showers, making it an ideal replacement product.

Safety features have also been designed into Vie. A unique flow regulator stabilises any temperature changes caused by water pressure fluctuations, which can result from taps being turned on or off, or toilets being flushed. Under such conditions, average shower temperatures will be held within a 6 degree C range, provided that the minimum required pressure is maintained. The shower requires a minimum pressure of 0.7 bar (1 bar for the 10.8 kW model). At pressures above 0.7 bar, the shower will minimise the temperature fluctuations caused when other draw-off points are used. If the flow rate drops below an acceptable level, the heating element inside the shower will turn off, resulting in a cold shower. Similarly, if the water temperature reaches an unsafe level, then a thermal switch will turn off the heating element inside the shower. The heating element will be turned back on when the water temperature drops.

With smooth curved styling, Vie comes in white and chrome, and satin and chrome finish for the 10.8kW model. Complemented by a five mode, RubClean™ handset with double armour metal hose, the Vie offers real style at an affordable price.

The new Mira Vie stacks up well against other manufacturers’ showers in the same price band, and offers more features. So confident is Mira that it states there is “No shower better than this at this price point”.

Mira Showers’ product manager for electric showers, Chris Clarke, comments: “The introduction of Vie will make Mira electric showers more affordable and provide our customers with more choice and a competitive alternative to other brands on the market. Vie offers the merchant a competitive margin opportunity and the installer a simple, easy-to-install, fit and forget product.”

Vie is supplied with a comprehensive Installation and User Guide which gives all the information needed for a safe installation that meets all the necessary industry regulations, together with guidelines on maintenance and safe use.

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In the ventilation and air management market, continual technological and product development can make fan selection an arduous task for specifiers and contractors.

With all of the new technology and fan specifications available, Vent-Axia has the solution to ensure that customers select the product most suited to the application.

Vent-Axia?s new Fan Selector Program is designed to allow specifiers to find a tailor made product list that details only the products suiting their specific requirements. In an easy to navigate format, the program is simple to use and selects from Vent-Axia?s extensive range of quality fans.

By entering the duty requirements, i.e. airflow and pressure, users will be offered a list of suitable fans, with the ideal fan highlighted on the list. Further parameters such as voltage, installation type and temperature can be added to filter the selection further. Any of the products can then be selected in order to view its full technical specification.

The program allows users to add products to a project schedule, which generates full technical details, fitting and wiring diagrams, an installation and maintenance manual, acoustic information plus a list of suitable accessories, with options to view and print the information.

Updates to products can simply be obtained online, making sure the customer has the most up-to-date information.

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Airedale has added a highly efficient reverse cycle heat pump option to its proven StoreMaster range of fully packaged / split system air conditioning units. The dual circuit heat pump offers the flexibility of cooling or heating dependant on the season and provides 3kW of heating energy for each kW of electrical input power.

Also new to the StoreMaster is the refrigerant R410A and EC supply air fans. These complement the product’s enhanced energy-efficient technology which includes electronic expansion valves, hydrophilic coils and on the cooling only version, tandem scroll compressors.

The StoreMaster now utilises Airedale’s most advanced microprocessor software control. The intelligent, modulating AireTronix microprocessor manages and self-optimises the system’s cooling-only / free-cooling / heat pump cycles. The network-capable, fully-programmable controller can be integrated with a wide range of BMS protocols.

Available in 50kW / 77kW cooling capacities, the StoreMaster is primarily externally mounted as a packaged unit, but can be positioned inside a building as a split system. Designed to support heavy ductwork, the StoreMaster is ideal for comfort cooling of superstore warehouses, department stores and other large retail outlets.

The cooling only version features two stage single circuit DX cooling for improved efficiency during part load operating conditions. It also offers simultaneous mechanical / free-cooling designed to achieve 0-100% free-cooling, offering substantial energy savings throughout the year.

The top unit return and supply air duct connections make the StoreMaster a compact and easy ‘plug and play’ system to install. The ease of installation can be further enhanced with the optional integrated return air fan. Removable access panels and simple filter replacement enables straightforward access for both service and maintenance on all major components.

The supply air fan speed can be preset at a constant design air volume and then will automatically modulate when operating static pressure increases. This reduces commissioning set up times whilst increasing filter life, thus optimising overall unit performance. Commissioning and installation set up times are also reduced because fan speeds can be varied within seconds via the Airetronix display and the return air and condenser fans are voltage controlled as standard (high efficiency inverter option available).

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Hager offers a wide range of Modular Devices to be used with all circuit types. This includes Switch Disconnectors, Contactors and Relays, Control Equipment, Measurement and Indication Devices.

Hager have now released a NEW range of Indicator Lights and Pushbuttons to replace all current SV ranges.

These products are used for remote controlling signalisation of any event in any electric installation (Domestic, Commercial & Industrial).

Benefits;

• LED technology providing longer life
• Modernised appearance
• Integrated label holder

These products are for small, medium and large electrical contractors who undertake commercial installations. Electrical consultants would also use these products.

They are composed of three families,

1. Indicator Lights are now available in various colours such as red, green, orange, blue and clear.
2. Pushbuttons are available in various contact types, such as NO, NC, NO+NC in 1 or 2 poles and latching or impulse buttons.
3. Indicator Lights & Pushbuttons as an association of the two above solutions.

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Following the decision by Wolseley UK and its appointed Consulting Engineer, Fulcrum Consulting, to specify Hepworth Building Products’ SuperSleve drainage system, Hepworth was asked to advise the sub-contractor on ways of improving the sustainability of the project on site.

Application
The site investigation report identified that the lower level sub-soils at the Sustainable Building Center were of a sandy nature and did not contain any large stones. Hepworth confirmed that the sub-soil would provide a supply of low cost pipe bedding and surround material. Unfortunately, insufficient quantities were being excavated on site to be used throughout the project and therefore Hepworth suggested that a local supply of recycled aggregate be selected as the next most sustainable option. These principles made the development more sustainable by preserving primary aggregate resources and reducing costs, without compromising the build quality of the development.

Testimonials
Allan Homewood of Fulcrum Consulting (a company member of the UK Green Building Council) said “Our approach to sustainability is the application of an integrated engineering design to buildings and infrastructure to provide the optimum solution for each of our clients' particular needs”. Allan continues “we have known for some time that SuperSleve clay pipes themselves provide a sustainable installation and was an obvious choice for this project, as it embraced the client's ideal of a sustainable building. But in addition to this, it is also sustainable in installation as recent research has demonstrated that suitable recycled construction demolition material can be used as a replacement pipe bedding and surround material. This reduces the need to import primary aggregates, thus reducing the overall amount of embodied energy in the building.” On the use of recycled aggregate, Lou O’Malley from Flair Build said: “Hepworth was very involved with this project from the start and spent a lot of time advising us how to implement a sustainable drainage system. The technique that really impressed us was the use of recycled aggregate. Not only did this process save money, it also reduced installation time with less bedding required. Hepworth’s advice helped us to be more efficient and environmentally aware. We will definitely use the techniques, including the use of recycled aggregate where possible, in the future”.

Conclusion
Paul Wydell, Product Manager at Hepworth Building Products said: “If more developers thought about sustainability in this way we would all be in a greater position to support good environmental practices.” He adds: “This project proved that if you assess the site before construction starts you can reduce its carbon footprint further and reduce cost without reducing quality.”

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The water delivery system for highly innovative ‘pre-wash’ stations being installed in the entry and exit corridors that athletes will use leading to and from the Beijing Olympic swimming pools has been designed by Cheltenham based Rada Controls, the commercial division of Kohler Mira.

The stations are a triumph for global inter company co-operation as the exterior elements are fronted with Kohler Water Tiles which create an invigorating 22 nozzle body spray. But behind the scenes it is Rada equipment that will consistently deliver the water through the nine tile banks that are ceiling mounted.

The spectacular $100 million ‘Water Cube’ which houses the Beijing National Swimming Centre for the XXIX Olympiad bristles with innovation. It has two full Olympic size pools, a diving pool, leisure water features and can seat 17,000 spectators. It has been designed for year around use by the residents of Beijing once the Olympics are completed.

The centre is designed by Australian architects and it was the style and quality of the Kohler Water Tiles that they felt complemented the pools overall design and quality. Having approached the Kohler China sales team to supply the tiles, they in turn contacted Group sister company Rada in Cheltenham UK to create a water delivery system that is consistent and fully automated.

Rada specified its Rada Pulse multiple outlet infra red control system with ceiling mounted sensors that activate the water supply to the panels. Each pre-wash station is served by 2 Rada 222-T3 thermostatic mixing valves which are fully TMV3 compliant.

The Rada 222-T3 is well proven, wholly reliable and offers safe, accurate temperature control under varying supply conditions, which will prove invaluable to the contractors in Beijing where, in a complex so large, maintaining constant water pressures is likely to prove a challenge.

On the installation, Roy Minett, Rada’s commercial manager comments; “to be associated which such a prestigious project is a great honour for Rada. We specialise in all aspects of commercial washroom activity and our design expertise and product range reflects that.

“As such, when we received the initial enquiry from our colleagues in Kohler China, we were able to respond with a constructive proposal. Our design theories were proven in our test facilities in Cheltenham before shipping the units to Beijing where they were successfully installed at the end of January this year.”

In total there are 10 water stations servicing the two Olympic pools in the Centre, each with nine Kohler Water Tiles, two Rada 222-T3 TMV’s and a Rada Pulse installation on each.

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Many will have noticed, by now, that there has been something going on at Lewden Electrical Industries over the last few months.

An announcement, last autumn, heralded the commencement of a joint venture with Palazzoli of Italy, both being similar companies in terms of the experience and respect that they enjoy within the Electrical Industry. From February Lewden : Palazzoli will be distributing, on an exclusive basis, the Palazzoli products in the U.K. along with many of the, already well accepted, and much demanded, Lewden products.

?We see this as a very exciting time for us and also for our customers?, said Alan Green their Managing Director, ?This joint venture enables us to offer a very much broader range of products, by utilizing the best from both companies. At the same time Lewden is investing a great deal more resources in it?s, constantly growing, custom build department, for which customer demand is continuing to increase at a steady rate. Lewden is now poised to reaffirm its position as a leader in the market place.?

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Environmental award-winning building products manufacturer, Hambleside Danelaw, has been presented with a Plan Vivo certificate in recognition of the carbon offset payments that it has made into a plantation and forestry project for farmers in south-west Uganda.

Carbon offset is an important, but only one, aspect of a comprehensive environment strategy operated by Hambleside Danelaw which involves the careful design and selection of raw materials for its energy-efficient products to ensure an extended service life, coupled with the recycling of production waste. Landfill waste is expected to be no more than 3 tonnes by the end of 2008, having stood at 900 tonnes per annum in 2001.

Hambleside’s Plan Vivo certificate resulted from its offsetting of 1,217 tonnes of CO2 last year. A payment by the Group through the BR&D Plan Vivo scheme contributed to an Ecotrust project in the Bushenyi district of Uganda. The project works with established groups of farmers to plan agroforestry and small scale plantations, helping diversify farm incomes and allow controlled access to fuelwood and building materials. The project has been operating successfully since 2003.

Commenting on the award of the Plan Vivo certificate, Hambleside’s environment manager Ray Khan said: “This certificate is a further symbol of our belief that environmental policies are good for business, improve customer relationships and provide far more reaching socio-economic benefits.

“The Plan Vivo project attracted Hambleside Danelaw because as well as making a contribution to biodiversity conservation, it is reducing poverty and helping to sustain livelihoods through sustainable agriculture and micro-enterprises.”

Hambleside Danelaw is also a member of dcarbon8 which encourages clients and end-users in the commercial property market to choose building materials that will help to achieve a sustainable, economical and responsible method of reducing carbon emissions.

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