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It is increasingly important in the current climate of public sector budget cuts that public buildings are as energy efficient as possible. In addition the Government wants to be at the forefront of the reduction in carbon in public buildings. One such building is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office which occupies a Victorian, Grade 1 listed building in St. James Place, London and has great historical value. A recent upgrade project at the FCO required the energy monitoring of approximately forty combined heating & cooling circuits in order to calculate and benchmark savings which could be made. The quest for energy and utility efficiency requires the best and most reliable measurement systems and Bridge Controls Ltd from Reading, Berkshire, the nominated BMS specialist on this project, had experience of the Micronics range of heat meters from past projects and specified the U3000 range of ultrasonic flow meters for this project. Bridge Controls undertook the installation of the flow meters and CF51 energy calculators which provide direct communication to the Trend BMS network and energy manager software suite.

Martin Knowles, Bridge Control’s Contracts Manager specified the U3000, a transit time ultrasonic flow meter and the CF51 Heating & Cooling Calculator as ideal for the job. Consequently, 40 U3000s were installed in the heating and cooling circuits throughout the building. The U3000 is designed to work with clamp on transducers and accurately measures liquid flowing through a closed pipe. It eliminates the need for any mechanical parts to be inserted through the pipe wall or to protrude into the flow system and because it takes just a few minutes to install, there is no need to shut down flow or drain the system. The CF51’s multifunctional display means that it is easy to read, providing rapid and clear access to important billing data.

Officials at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office were pleased with the installation which proceeded rapidly with no interruption to the day to day functioning of the office. They would certainly use Micronics heat meters in other Government buildings.

For further information on this project or the Micronics range call Micronics on +44(0)1628 810456, or visit www.micronicsflowmeters.com.

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Triton’s elastomeric, liquid applied TWS-Fastcoat, has provided a rapid drying waterproofing solution for the floor slabs of the subterranean light wells at the Material Store housing development in Hayes.

The material Store development is part of the £250 million regeneration of The Old Vinyl Factory in Hayes, West London, where thousands of people worked for EMI, pressing and packaging vinyl records and making everything from radio sets to bicycles.

The slabs were constructed approximately 1.5m below ground level and although the new concrete incorporated a watertight concrete admixture would have remained gas and vapour permeable. Two coats of Triton’s TWS- Fastcoat, (which can be applied effectively in ambient temperatures even when substrate temperatures are as low as 0o), therefore provided an impervious barrier which will also lower the potential risks of corrosion of the steelwork in the slabs as well as protecting the outer surfaces.

TWS-Fastcoat is a single pack, moisture curing, elastomeric resin. The membrane cures in a continuous and elastic form, as a totally adhered layer. It guarantees total water tightness and withstands minor building movements and vibrations. TWS-Fastcoat can be used as a base coat, a reinforcing layer or a top-coat. Other typical applications include podium decks, low pitch and flat roof areas with pedestrian traffic, wet rooms, lightly trafficked flooring, water channels and ponds. In green roof applications, the addition of Triton’s geotextile fleece between the two coats of TWS-Fastcoat provides an effective root barrier and waterproofing layer.

At the Material Store development, as part of the preparation for the application of TWS-Fastcoat, Triton’s Fillet Seal was applied in 25mm beads to all internal angles that eliminates 90o angles at wall/floor transitions and minimises the risk of leaving gaps or holes unsealed. It was also important to ensure that the concrete surface was clean and dust free. On porous or friable surfaces, Triton’s TWS-PU Primer should be applied before the application of TWS-Fastcoat.

The slabs will receive raised access floors over the TWS-Fastcoat layer, allowing any potential water/rain ingress to enter the drainage systems of the individual dwellings beneath the raised floor.

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Imperial War Museums is a multi-branch national museum founded in 1917 to record the story of the Great War and the contributions made to it by the peoples of the Empire. IWM Duxford, a branch of IWM is Britain’s largest aviation museum. The site was originally designed as a Training Depot Station and construction started on 15 October 1917. The buildings have been adapted from their original use and in 2004 work to convert the Armoury into a Visitor Centre and Café was completed. The wet heating system for the café was integral to the Visitor Centre. The Facilities Management team at the site use a Micronics clamp-on ultrasonic flowmeter to monitor the energy use by the Café. The partner is charged for energy usage and Malcolm Price, the Facilities Manager was keen to establish the relative usage to ensure that the charges were apportioned accurately. The museum is committed to sustainability, reduced energy use and effectiveness and energy costs are a major part of the museum running costs, and measuring and monitoring use is a vital tool in achieving this. Malcolm Price saw the Micronics stand at an energy event and was impressed by the simple but seemingly reliable technology.

The Micronics flow meter was chosen because it offered a non-invasive, quick and reliable flow measurement solution. With its easy to follow menu and simple set up it proved to be a cost-effective alternative to a traditional in-line meter installation. No installation drain down or pipe cutting was required and in addition dry servicing is possible so that downtime is kept to a minimum, absolutely vital in a building which is open to the public throughout the year.

Malcolm Price has total confidence in the Micronics product born of many years of experience. “It is crucial to have the ability to monitor the flow in the site. The unit has worked extremely well for 10 years and is still producing the data we require. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to accurately establish the amount of energy being used. This is particularly important in public buildings like the IWM where there is a statutory requirement to be as efficient as possible.”

For further information on this project or the Micronics range call Micronics on +44(0)1628 810456, or visit www.micronicsflowmeters.com.

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Recotherm is an established company that has built high quality climate control systems for indoor swimming pools since 1985.
Recotherm developed a unique concept in 1991, which was an industry milestone when launched. Previous experience with heat pumps showed that the technology was often under utilised and therefore expensive to run, so they set about a redesign that utilised the properties of ‘fresh air’.
This concept breakthrough set the tone for Recotherm products for the next 25 years.
Recotherm’s Martin Killen advised ‘Recotherm’s mission is simple, we want to engineer the best product for the job, for the best price, ensuring efficiency and running costs are at the forefront of our thinking and to develop new ideas whenever viable.’

Recotherm products offer several advantages, they offer

• Products built specifically for the swimming pool environment.
• Utilisation of ‘Fresh air’ for better climate control
• No use of harmful refrigerants
• Ultra Low running cost
• Reliability, and are ease of maintenance
• Simple installation with a flat pack solution for difficult sites, the systems need only to be connected to a heating circuit, low amperage electrical supply and return and supply ductwork and condensate drain
• Large screen monitor for easy operation
• Internal or external location

Why Recotherm use Fresh Air
Simply it replaces stale air with fresh warmed air, thus Chemical odours, stuffiness and condensation are removed.
With modern controls, efficient heat reclamation units and a modern custom designed ventilation strategy; Fresh air systems easily become more economical than refrigerant based dehumidifiers.

Recotherm are always innovating in their product features and can offer additional enhancements such as:
SCENT SOLUTION
This introduces fragrance into the air meaning that you can choose from a range of aromas making the pool hall smell like a spa experience
REMOTE MONITORING.
Recotherm units can be fitted with extra sensors and a SIM chip, to eliminate mis-diagnosis in the event of problems meaning wasted site visits are eliminated and a return to service speeded up.

Recotherm design and build their products in the UK and are available to consult with you and your technical advisors to engineer a perfect solution.
Please contact Recotherm for more information

Unit A Astwood bank Business Park, Astwood Lane, Astwood Bank, Redditch
Worcestershire B96 6HH

Tel 01527 894533
www.recotherm.co.uk
Email: sales@recotherm.co.uk

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According to Aviva, prolonged storm force winds, sub-zero temperatures and snow pose a growing threat to roofs. Dislodged materials present a major risk of injury, particularly on low pitches where débris can accumulate. With extended overhangs, the potential for pedestrians to pass directly beneath where a tile will fall is all the greater so buildings in school playgrounds and busy town centres should, ideally, be given added protection.

Individual insurance claims for injury in such situations have exceeded £10,000* so straightforward preventative measures can pay considerable dividends throughout the year. A Klober Trapac® Tile & Snow Guard will catch tile pieces and mortar, while allowing water from melting snow to pass through it. Its support brackets are lightweight, simple to connect and suitable for flat or profiled concrete interlocking tiles and no additional support battens are needed.

*Freedom of information request – Daily Mail online – one claimant received £13,500

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Never one to stand still, Giant Peach New Media is introducing another brand new addition to its portfolio of communications media, this time targeted at exhibition and events organisers and their myriad of customers, that currently sell and buy stand space and utilise the events to spread their messages amongst visitors and attendees. The new addition is also relevant to companies wanting to video their CPD presentations for sharing on digital platforms.

This new offering will allow these customers to spread their messages far wider, to individuals and businesses that have not attended the shows or events themselves but who are keen to find out more about what was on offer – and perhaps what they missed by not being a part of the event. It’s a service that event managers will warm to as a value added service, offering exhibitors who want to take advantage of the resident film crew at an exhibition or event the chance to video their stand and key messages to pump out across the digital networks to ensure the highest possible coverage for their investment at the show through every possible media.

It’s an extension of the recently launched podcast option that has seen companies providing information to Giant Peach to translate into podcast broadcasts, utilising the words and images that customers can provide to be seen through the BusinessNet Explorer portal or through the BNE YouTube channel. This exciting new offer involves Giant Peach providing a live recording of the company’s offering at an exhibition or at an event or CPD presentation with the benefits of seeing and meeting that company’s senior people with a relevant platform in the form of the exhibition stand or backdrop and even possibly the opportunity to see the products or services being made available, there in front of the camera – and even seen operating or in action if that is feasible. Giant Peach offers the full package including a high quality video team to record the message and provide post-production services to enhance the quality of the delivery of the message, to maximise its impact. In the case of a CPD presentation, the opportunity exists to stay on afterwards and record an interview with a senior member of a company’s team to give them a second bite at the cherry for added value digital activity.

One of the first users of the recently launched podcast service said that in five minutes of audio visual, he could get across messages that would take several well-crafted media releases, read multiple times, over a number of hours to understand: “You only need to show someone an idea once on camera whereas you may need to explain it over the phone or in writing several times before the target audience gets to grips with the message you’re trying to share,” he said. The same sentiments are relevant for the new service on offer from Giant Peach.

Giant Peach CEO Mick de Leiburne says: “People are always looking for new ways to share news and messages with their target audiences and this new offer is a logical and natural progression of what we have been offering for years using the BNE portal and more recently extending that to a podcasted format.

“This is a value added service offering marketing communications collaborative opportunities. In this case, each podcast will have its own URL making it linkable and shareable through a customer’s own social media and email updates – expanding the scope of the message sharing exponentially. It’s a simple and relatively inexpensive way of increasing exposure for news stories and product information through the modern use of audio visual activity, shared through the digital networks that exist. It’s a simple but effective way of sharing key messages with your prime audiences.”

Giant Peach New Media offers the whole package from planning the shoot to providing the film crew at the event and producing the finished item to share on You Tube and through the many additional media available in this day and age.

“For brand and event managers looking for exciting new content opportunities and with the increasing importance of video in web sites and in social media, it’s a natural progression for companies looking to widen their sphere of influence,” says Mick de Leiburne. “Not only is it an effective new medium – properly planned, it’s an enjoyable one to be a part of and a very personal one that allows you to be right there, in the offices and workplaces of your target audience and as they travel around during their working day, right across the UK and further afield, simply by making a few clicks on their laptop or mobile devices. It’s a simple concept that enables a complex communications opportunity to come to life quickly and effectively. If you’re ready to embrace the new communication opportunities that the new digital technologies allow, Giant Peach can help you join the podcast revolution!”

For more information on how you can spread the word through this exciting new medium, contact Mick de Leiburne via newmedia@BusinessNetExplorer.com or mobile 07971 081 620. Or you can head for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-LLRE7HG_U to hear from Mick direct.

For more information –

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Taking cues from British countryside heritage, Norfolk-based manufacturer of rustic shepherd huts, the English Shepherd Hut Co, prides itself on its range of traditional huts; designed with modern convenience in mind.
Shepherd huts were traditionally used for shepherds to shelter in remote areas whilst tending to their flocks. The portable units were built from wood or corrugated iron and featured a stove for warmth and a window for keeping an eye on the sheep. Modern agricultural machinery has all but eliminated the needs for such huts, but nostalgia for tradition and heritage has led to a new demand for portable accommodation for weddings, festivals, campsites – and even as offices, garden rooms and playrooms.
Huts, such as the company’s Poachers Hut, feature all mod cons including bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens and seating space thanks to ingenious interior design that maximises every inch of available space.
Unlike a lot of portable accommodation the flushing toilet is not a chemical loo. The company specified the Sanicompact with integrated macerator from Saniflo. The ideal WC for compact spaces where mains drainage is unavailable, it was recommended by local plumbing contractor, R Weston Plumbing from Langham, Norfolk, who now install the units as standard in a number of the company’s huts.
The Sanicompact has an automatic push-button flush connected directly to a water supply and needs no cistern. It also features a wash basin inlet so grey waste water can also be processed through the macerator if required. Waste is discharged via 32mm pipework either to a storage tank or to the nearest mains.
Product innovation is the cornerstone of the English Shepherd Hut’s ethos and new products are launched regularly to meet the dynamic needs of the leisure sector. Recently the Aquarius – a posh, portable toilet block for weddings and events – was launched as part of the Shepherds Rest range. It provides upmarket showering and WC facilities and is available for hire or sale. Wanting the latest in contemporary fittings, the company used Saniflo’s Saniwall so that modern, wall hung sanitaryware could be specified. The Saniwall is a built-in frame system with an integrated dual flush cistern and macerator pump. With two extra side inlets it can take waste from wash basin and a shower as well as the WC.
Craig Nield owns and operates the business from his manufacturing plant in Norfolk;
“Saniflo products have enabled us to develop huts that do away with the need for chemical loos. Customers are happy to pay a bit extra for nice, clean-smelling bathroom facilities whether it is one of our accommodation huts or our bathroom blocks. They not only look nice, but are easy to use and offer home from home comfort. Our next range, The Neptune, will be launched in the very near future and is an upmarket loo block for events featuring Saniflo macerators. We’ve worked out the optimum size waste storage tank to ensure our products overcome the ever-present problem of over-flowing toilet facilities at festivals and events. We’re grateful to our plumber, Sam Weston, for his expertise which has enabled us to develop a great range of Shepherds Huts.”

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Saint Gobain PAM is supplying a complete above ground sanitary soil and internal rainwater drainage system for the new £429 million Royal Liverpool University hospital in Liverpool.

The new purpose built hospital will have 23 wards with 646 single bedrooms and 18 operating theatres. Each patient will have a single bedroom with ensuite facilities making it the largest all single room hospital in England and Wales when it is completed.

Says Malcolm Atherton, Public Health Design Engineer at Hoare Lea, Manchester: “We prefer using Saint Gobain PAM’s cast iron Ensign Soil system because of its superior acoustic performance and fire safety when compared to other pipe materials, especially in a hospital environment. Patient comfort and safety are both top priorities for hospitals.

“It is also durable and designed to last the lifetime of the hospital with minimal maintenance and is resistant to any possible damage whether accidental or deliberate.”

In addition to the Ensign Soil drainage system, the company is also supplying products from its new Vortx range including plant gullies, shower drains and roof outlets, ductile iron pipe-fittings for the pump drainage systems and grip collars which are fitted to ductile iron couplings to provide higher-pressure drainage applications for sensitive drainage areas.

Says Richard Smith, sales engineer for Saint Gobain PAM: “We have a wider range of products and fittings than other suppliers which for an application as diverse as this is vital. As a UK manufacturer we can also meet the project’s supply needs and deal with any unusual specifications promptly.

“An example of this is with the shower drains for level 4 of the building, which had to be supplied with various different spigot lengths already fitted to them, in order to speed up installation time. These spigots could be up to 2.8 metres in length as they had to pass through a concrete beams of different depths and then simply push straight into the connection below.”

The new hospital is due to be completed in 2017 and the main contractor for the build is Carillion.

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Saint-Gobain PAM’s cast iron Ensign and EEZI-FIT drainage systems have been awarded the top rating for their Classification of Reaction to Fire of A1.

Both ranges of products were tested at the Warrington Fire Research Centre to EN 13501-1:2007+A1:2006.

Says Marketing Manager for Saint-Gobain PAM UK, Mike Rawlings:  “Many buildings are not protected enough against fire hazards.  It means that fire can spread rapidly, destroy the building in a short time and, more importantly, jeopardise the lives of occupants.

“If a fire breaks out, the first objective is to slow down its horizontal and vertical spreading.  Drainage systems should be selected so that they resist the passage of fire and do not feed it.

“This is important because above ground drainage systems will pass through a separating wall and floor.  They need to withstand fire and not provide open breaches and, for a given time not allow the passage of fire, smoke, heat or combustion from one area to another.

“Both Ensign and EEZI-FIT do not burn or melt producing molten droplets like DDPE and unlike plastic based systems only produce minimal smoke and fumes, which is often the biggest killer if there is a fire.  It is the safest material available for fire safety and, depending on the severity and duration of the fire will likely remain standing and operational.”

For further information about Ensign and EEZI-FIT cast iron drainage systems contact:  Saint-Gobain PAM UK, Sinclair Works, Station Road, Ketley, Telford, Shropshire, TF1 5AD.   Tel:  01952 262500.  Email:  sales.uk.pam@saint-gobain.com.   www.saint-gobain-pam.co.uk.

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The benefits of Timbmet Engineered Components (TEC®) compared to Timber are explained in a new brochure that underlines why the company is at the forefront of innovation in the largely traditional timber industry.

Manufacturers and installers will find that Timbmet’s multi layered construction of TEC® offers stability and stress performance far in excess of Timber. These highly engineered wood products – available in four key species – are made by joining/gluing multiple pieces of material together.

TEC® is designed to provide uniform performance; a flawless appearance free from nots, splits and staining; reduced levels of waste; and savings on material yield costs and labour costs.

“We hope that we can help our customers to see the benefits of using Engineered Timber” says Justin Hayward from Timbmet. “Timbmet is so confident that you’ll see improved results using TEC® that we can provide working samples for you to trial.”

Compared to solid wood, TEC® could save approximately 25% on material yield costs; made to measure components could also result in 30% less waste and lower associated costs. Waste is also produced at the source of manufacture which means it is recycled back into other wood products.

Labour costs are also reduced because of ease of storage and assembly of the quality controlled product.

Mike Thompson of Biker Group says: “We now use engineered Red Grandis for all our doors and windows because of its quality, performance, stainability and sustainability, and because it is economical and 100% FSC® certified.”
TEC® is available in European Oak, Sapele, Redwood FSC® or PEFC certified, and FSC® certified Red Grandis, exclusive to Timbmet in the UK.

Julian Connelly of Patchett Joinery says: “Red Grandis being a hardwood, the consistency of the grain means no imperfections appear after painting. The result is a high performance, low maintenance material that ensures higher value for our customers.”
Timbmet can offer a comprehensive off-the-shelf range and the capacity to manufacture bespoke components, plus the fact that all TEC products are FD30 fire certified. The range includes Window, Door and Stair parts, in addition to Sandwich Panels, Insulated Sandwich Scantlings and Glulam Curtain Walling.
If you would like to learn more about how engineered timber can benefit you in the manufacture and installation of windows, doors and stairways contact marketing@timbmet.com .

Further details on Timbmet’s full range of TEC products and the new brochure can be found at www.timbmet.com . Hard copies are also available by contacting marketing@timbmet.com

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