Electrical & Mechanical Contractor - official magazine of the Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA) and the voice of building services contracting.

15 December 2005

	April 2004

	It’s got to be Gordon’s It’s fair to say that Gordon Brown has his knockers among the m&e contracting community. Too much red tape, is the battle cry regularly heard from the lobbyists, yet few could argue that Brown’s eight years of Budgetary pledges for real increases in infrastructure, education buildings, new hospitals and social housing have helped keep the construction industry afloat.

	Retentions rights I read with great interest the letter from Roger Coonie of ATLAS on retentions (‘Use your vote’, EMC, Feb 2004). As an ECA member I, with Rudi Klein and John Nelson of the SEC Group and my MP Claire Curtis Thomas, recently met with Paul Boateng, chief secretary to the Treasury. The main reason I attended was to put the case for small and medium-sized enterprises (sme) in respect of retentions. I told the chief secretary that my views on come from the front line and running a medium-sized electrical business for the last 33 years.

	New rules for disabled From 1 October 2004, Part III of the Disabled Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) will require service providers to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to their premises to allow access for the disabled. This will apply to all companies who provide a service to the public. Under Part III, features including stairways, curbs, entrances, exits, toilet facilities, counters, lighting, ventilation, lifts and escalators will all have to be considered. Companies may have to remove obstacles, or alter building layouts in order to comply.

	Fire and security card In response, the British Security Industry Association (BSIA), British Fire Protection Systems Association (BFPSA), ECA and Select have agreed to support the Electrotechnical Certification Scheme (ECS) with the JIB for the provision of a new Fire and Security Systems card for work on construction sites.

	Pingles Leisure Centre Hills Electrical & Mechanical has completed the installation of building services at the new Pingles Leisure Centre for Nuneaton & Bedford Borough Council. The £7.25 million sports facility houses £1.3 million of m&e services, including four, large, gas-fired boilers for space and water heating and air handling units to provide fresh air and extract ventilation.

	Presidential VIEW The importance of the Electrotechnical Certification Scheme (ECS) in providing the basis for certification schemes within the electrotechnical industry has been underlined by its recent extension to two new industry sectors: fire and security and datacomms.

	ECA fights 48-h week As the spectre of a compulsory 48-hour working week hangs over the construction industry, the ECA is consulting members and other industry associations before presenting its views to UK and EU officials.

	Heathrow Terminal 5 Eaton MEM is supplying low voltage distribution equipment, along with project management services and start-up support for the new Heathrow Terminal 5. The contract, valued at over £8 million, includes temporary site distribution services equipment and distribution equipment for the Central Terminal Building Concourse A and Concourse B, the energy centre, airside tunnels and car parks. AMEC and Crown House are m&e contractors.

	Waste carrier registration: your duty ECA members who carry ‘controlled waste’ in the course of their business must register with the Environment Agency (EA). This is the response by the EA to the commercial contracts and legal department’s query regarding waste carrier registration and confirmation that legislation introduced in 1991 has not significantly changed. Controlled waste is deemed as any household, industrial or commercial waste, including building and demolition waste. Members must apply for registration at their local Environment Agency office.

	Efficient troubleshooting Finding and diagnosing faults in a cabling network costs time and money. Therefore, field technicians should be equipped with troubleshooting capabilities as a routine enhancement of their test/certification process.

	Who’s to blame? It’s about time that the HSE woke up. Every week hundreds of firms are fined for what can only be put down to gross stupidity by employees. It should be the firms suing because of loss of time etc. For anyone trained to do their job, all accidents should be on their heads. If I got a shock I should have tested; fall through a fragile roof/off a ladder etc, I’d class myself as an idiot. The balance should be in the firm’s favour in many cases where stupidity is concerned.

	Institution merger talks stop The proposed merger between the UK’s three m&e engineering institutions has been suspended due to concerns over differences in existing working methods and internal structures.

	ASTA and BEAB join forces globally ASTA Certification Services and the British Electrotechnical Approvals Board (BEAB) have merged to form ASTA BEAB Certification Services (ASTA BEAB).

	T Clarke buys again T Clarke has acquired Derby-based electrical and mechanical contractor Mitchell & Hewitt. The privately owned ECA company was bought for £5.9 million, of which £1.5 million was satisfied by the issue of new shares in T Clarke.

	The Lighting Design Awards The Lighting Design Awards were presented on 25 March. The winner of the external project category was Finsbury Avenue Square, designed by Maurice Brill and installed by MEICA. Six other project-based awards were presented on the night that featured the work of contractors: Copely Electrical (St Bartholomew’s, Leeds), Pulsar (The Gate, Newcastle), Clancy Contractors (Limerick County Council Offices, Ireland), Capri Services (King’s Library, London), Powerlite Electrical (29 Camden Mews ,London) and Hull City Council street lighting team (The Boulevard, Hull).

	Schneider brings it home Schneider has set up a new residential division under the Square D banner. It will supply products to the home automation and entertainment systems market.

	Novar boss hits out at electrical distributors Wholesalers’ own brand offerings are getting too close to premium brand products in terms of features, running the risk of eroding manufacturers’ margins such that investment in innovation is threatened.

	Fire deaths decrease Statistics released by the ODPM reveal that there has been a drop in the number of fire-related deaths in the year to March 2003 – from 602 in 2002 to 574 in 2003. The trend continues a favourable year-on-year trend: 623 in 1999, 613 in 2000 and 606 in 2001. The fire brigade attended 545 500 fires and 479 200 false alarms in the year, a marginal decrease on the previous 12 months. Of the latter, some 282 700 were attributed to poor apparatus.

	EMCOR contract EMCOR has won an end-to-end contract worth around £16 million to manage the design, construction and maintenance of m&e facilities at three leisure centres for Bexley Council in south-east London. Pictured is an artist’s impression of one of the centres at Erith.

	Hidden hazards Do you know how to protect yourself and your installations against the hidden risks of fibre optics? Alastair Waite outlines the things you need to know and the pitfalls to avoid to stay safe.

	Say yes to integration A fully integrated cabling infrastructure makes sense to corporate tenants, but too few schemes make use of the benefits.

	Retentions rife at MoD The Specialist Engineering Contractors’ (SEC) Group is challenging Defence Estates over the continued use of retentions across the department’s contracts. Complaints from members reveal that more than a year after the SEC Group initially raised the issue, Defence Estates is still turning a blind eye to its main contractors holding retention monies from their subcontractors. When quizzed, main contractors claim that they are receiving no guidance from Defence Estates on retentions. SEC Group chief executive, Rudi Klein, says: “We are still getting reports of retention use by main contractors on Defence Estates contracts. As a leading best practice client, Defence Estates can’t allow retention use down the supply chain.”

	Cablofil plans cable tray growth Cablofil is aiming to build on its dominance in the UK steel wire mesh cable tray market by offering a broader supply of products following its recent rescue of R M Greenings from administration.

	The White Van Roadshow The White Van Roadshow kicked off its tour in March. Sponsored by the HSE, the roadshow will deliver important health and safety messages to small construction sites throughout the country. It will include a 15 minute video, provide an opportunity for employees to try out safety equipment and give them a chance to find out about the effects of hearing loss. Watch out for an unusually well driven white van near you.

	Risky business Are your risk assessment methods working effectively? Paul Reeve discusses the need for ongoing controls.

	Whose fault is it anyway? EMC looks at the testing of residual current operated devices: why is it necessary and how should it be carried out in practice?

	Below the threshold Will increased audit exemptions levels benefit you? John Davies discusses the pros and cons of maintaining an outside influence.

	Protecting the environment What environmental aspects affect contractors? Chris Ottaway explains in the first of a new series on ISO 14001.

	Cool designs in Glasgow Visitors to The Lighthouse Centre for Architecture, Design and the City in Glasgow will be kept cool thanks to a new air conditioning system.

	Sheffield steel Sheffield steel: Thorn Lighting has helped future tv crews while creating a lighting scheme for a new English Institute of Sport facility in Sheffield. The £24 million centre designed by architect Faulkner Brown includes a 200-m indoor running track and facilities for a wide range of sports from basketball and boxing to table tennis. The objective was to provide energy efficient lighting with even illumination suitable for players, spectators and tv cameras. Thorn Mundial 1 kW low glare floodlights are used in most sporting areas. These have metal halide lamps with luminaires symmetrically arranged on high-level trusses. The main contractor was Interserve, Haden Young was m&e contractor.

	Putting up a light defence A 30% saving in energy consumption has been achieved with a 37% increase in lumens at the Defence Logistics Organisation in Andover with new lighting.

	Lessons in construction With classes to remain undisturbed and health and safety of prime concern, updating a school fire and security system while the building remains operable is a complex task.

	Hospital care Hospital care: Consort Healthcare has won preferred bidder status with Building Design Partnership working in conjunction with Nightingale Associates to design Birmingham's first new hospital for 70 years. The 1246-bed acute teaching hospital will be on the Queen Elizabeth site for the University Hospital Birmingham Trust. The project will be built under a construction joint venture comprising Balfour Beatty, Haden Young and AWG. The phased opening of the £521 million hospital is due to start in 2008/9.

	Datacomms JIB debate A debate is raging over the wage rates and conditions for datacomms personnel following their introduction to the Electrotechnical Certification Scheme.

	Interbuild Products and exhibitors

	Harmonising cable colours It’s all change for the colour identification of fixed wiring as the UK is harmonised with Europe.

	Egg plant The new Reading Sewage Treatment Works is, at £80 million, Thames Water's biggest current investment. An open book approach helped ensure the fast track project was completed on time.

	Construction takes flight Can construction learn from the aerospace industry? Alison Luke reports on new research.

	Timothy Lambert Our new series kicks off with a peek into the diary of Timothy Lambert, the busy head of the industry's charity, the EEIBA.

	M&E contractor condemned over onerous terms and conditions Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil has been attacked by specialists over unfair contract terms.

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