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

15 December 2005

	July-August 2004

	Electric development Electric development: Hills Electrical & Mechanical has completed the electrical installation at Juxon House, near St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The project included a lighting scheme and a package substation to service landlord’s areas and offices. A bms and lighting controls cover all m&e services.

	BEAMA supports Euro cable colour changes Members of BEAMA have revised guidance to contractors on cable connections in switchboard assemblies following the recent change in cable colours legislation.

	£4M to replace British Library m&e services The British Library is seeking £4 million from the Government to replace its failing m&e services.

	Plumbing new depths The Plumbing and Heating Industry Alliance (PHIA) and SummitSkills have issued a joint warning over the number of training courses that are misleading people into thinking they can become qualified plumbers in just a few months.

	Fast movers Fast movers: SES is well ahead of schedule on its £20 million fast track m&e services contract at the new £311 million Home Office Central London Accommodation Strategy project in Westminster, London. Services installed to date include primary plant at basement, roof and floor levels on all three buildings, leaving SES in a strong position to complete the rest of its contracted works by November 2004. Bouygues UK is the principal contractor.

	Branching out in Bloomsbury Branch cabling system cuts costs and time on a central London refurbishment and expansion project.

	Mersey beat Mersey beat: Under the watchful gaze of the two famous 18-foot tall Liver birds, local electrical contractor H A Newall carried out a 16-week rewiring installation to the Crown Prosecution Service offices in Liverpool’s Liver building. The contractor removed all sub-floor wiring and installed a new infrastructure in Marco Cable Management’s wire tray above the ceiling. It then ran the supply down the walls using Marco dado trunking, and to mid-floor positions using the firm’s power poles.

	Light leads the way on toll road As you cruise along the car-free zone that is the M6 toll road, smiling smugly at the lack of congestion, you’ll never be left without traffic information. Contractor H Woodbine has built and installed lighting termination boxes and consumer units on the 36 sign gantries, housing 221 lighting units, over the motorway.

	Ghostbuster busting Tired of repeated noise, disturbances, vandalism and theft from its church, the parish committee of Borley, Essex has commissioned a state-of-the-art digital cctv surveillance system from Honeywell Security.

	State of the Barts State of the Barts: Electrical contractor DIS is to install over 600 m of Greenings RM cable ladder rack and support channel at the new £44 million building housing Barts and The London, Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry in London. The cable distribution system will be used in state-of-the-art laboratories and basement. The futuristic building is designed by Alsop Architects with AMEC as main contractor. It is due for completion in January 2005.

	Under control? Contractors and their customers can suffer because manufacturers have so many heating controllers and thermostats in their ranges.

	Induction loop systems Not being able to hear properly causes problems for millions of people when going about their daily business. These problems can be easily alleviated by the installation of induction loop technology in public buildings.

	Mitigating the migration What laws must be met when you employ a non-UK worker?

	Control centre Home automation offers a lucrative opportunity for wily contractors.

	You talkin' to me? What are the alternatives to adjudication when a dispute arises? David Rintoul outlines the options.

	The right time to give Notice How important is it to issue a Notice at the start of a Determination process? Martin Wade continues the series on contracts.

	Industry debates Part P The ECA and NICEIC took to the stage together for the first time in a question time forum concerning the forthcoming Part P of the Building Regulations.

	Modular wiring contract warning The increased use of modular, or prefabricated, wiring systems has given rise to concern that many installations may not be fully tested to BS 7671.

	Presidential VIEW The wide range of key industry figures brought together to address the 2004 ECA conference tackled admirably this year’s theme of ‘our partners, our people, our business’.

	Illegal working tackled by Act The Government has announced changes to the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 in order to prevent the employment of illegal workers.

	Agency legislation New legislation has been introduced that affects employment agencies and employers who use them.

	WEEE Directive update The DTI is moving forward with its plans to implement the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive and EC Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (ROHS).

	Fire and security manager Mike Turner is the new fire and security manager at the ECA.

	Future perfect The ECA and HVCA have recently held their annual get-togethers. Of course both conferences tackled the issues of the day head-on, but both also spent a fair chunk of their time predicting the contracting scene in years to come. If leading futurologist Peter Kingsley is to be believed, m&e contractors can look forward a whole new level of prefabrication as buildings grown organically using nanotechnology are delivered to site. Roger Flanagan of the University of Reading warned of hordes of contractors coming into the market from the emerging Eastern European and Baltic states and predicted consolidation of companies on a massive scale.

	Cable calamities Giuliano Digilio is joking with a capital J when he says the cable colours change programme so far must be considered a success (‘Feeling blue’, EMC June, p5). Has he honestly tried to obtain stocks of cable from a wholesaler? I doubt it. I have tried from day one to use the new cable and I still have not found a wholesaler who has enough stock to carry out a complete rewire of a domestic premises using all cable sizes. My gripe is not with the changes but with fudge after fudge. Yes, the industry has had plenty of time to prepare for the change but parts of it have been very slow to react.

	Red mist I have just read the letter by Giuliano Digilio. Such a patronising and glib letter does nothing to appease the fears voiced by many ECA members – that the ECA does whatever it wants, irrespective of members’ opinions. Digilio states that we have an “obligation” to harmonise. With whom? We should never have agreed to this change in the first place. Are our Associations so far out of touch that they fail to represent the members’ opinions? Surely the Associations are there to do what members ask. It would seem that a weekend in Europe, with abundant food, wine and ‘entertainment’ has far more sway with committee members than the voices of the British electrical contractors.

	EC presents new 48-hour week opt-out proposals The EC has presented four possible approaches to EU social partners in an attempt to calm the debate about Britain keeping its right to opt out of the 48-hour week.

	Amicus at Glastonbury Amicus chief Derek Simpson flew into the Glastonbury festival via helicopter to canvas views of the music-loving revellers on how to build the “trade union of tomorrow”.

	IEE launches Power Academy The IEE, the UK's electrical network companies and three leading universities are joining forces to launch the Power Academy. Backed by government, the initiative aims to combat a serious shortfall in the number of power engineers in the country.

	Engineering art Engineering art: Goodmarriott & Hursthouse has sponsored an art competition arranged alongside Arts & Business East Midlands. Ten East Midlands artists took part; Kate Brinkworth, a graduate of Nottingham Trent School of Art, won the £1000 first prize.

	Natural borne chillers Now that the CFC problem is largely resolved in Europe there are moves to phase out HFCs because of their global warming potential. Paul Haddlesey reports on the refrigerant situation.

	Schneider buys Balfour subsidiary Schneider Electric has boosted its building automation business with the acquisition of Andover Controls from Balfour Beatty.

	Institutions discuss merger plans Following the breakdown of talks on a merger between the three mechanical and electrical engineering institutions in April 2004, the two electrical counterparts are now considering the creation of a single institution.

	Grand design The vision of an intelligent home has reached a new level of sophistication.

	Sustainable delivery What is the future of sustainable engineering? CIBSE’s 2004 conference will offer contractors the chance to get involved in the debate.

	100 years of collaboration Join us on a journey through time as the first ever president of the HVCA discusses past, present and future with delegates at its Centenary Convention.

	Safety first Accident figures are falling in electrical contracting, but is your firm contributing?

	Government gives green light to Part P Electrical safety will become part of the Building Regulations with the addition of a new Part P that comes into force on 1 January 2005.

	Seaside attraction An upsurge in renewable energy solutions means new lessons in installation methods. One firm is making the grade in Southport.

	Employers and union agree three-year wage deal for electricians The ECA, Select and Amicus have struck a deal that will see electricians’ pay rise 14% over three years.

	HSE inspectors launch national site safety blitz Inspectors from the Health & Safety Executive have swooped on sites throughout the country as part of the FaTaL Risks Campaign 2004.

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