The new generation of modular wiring systems from Apex Wiring Solutions have been specified for two of the world’s foremost teaching hospitals to cut electrical installation times, reduce onsite waste and provide a prewired factory tested power and lighting system.
The work has already seen Durham-based Apex supply a £9 million bespoke in-house designed armoured wiring system for the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel as part of Barts and The London NHS Trust’s PFI funded redevelopment of hospital and healthcare facilities across the capital.
Now, following the success of the Royal London installation, Apex has won a further multi-million pound contract to supply their pre-wired wiring system for the second phase of the Trust’s programme – the redevelopment of St Bartholomew’s Hospital (Barts) in the City.
The Royal London Hospital is being rebuilt to include London’s leading trauma and emergency care centre, the capital’s second largest children’s hospital and one of Europe’s largest renal units, with London’s Air Ambulance operating from the top of the new building.
A pre-assembled and fully tested modular system has been specified instead of a more traditional conduit, trunking and hard wired system, eliminating the need for on site electrical connections and cutting the number of qualified electricians required to carry out the work.
The system features pre-wired factory tested pluggable distribution boards to supply lighting and high and low level power covering an area of 100,000 sq m.
The use of prefabricated connectors and preassembled cables to provide a high performance, reliable and flexible wiring solution has provided significant improvements over alternative systems, reducing onsite installation times by up to 70%.
The installation work is being undertaken by subcontractors and is expected to be completed by summer 2011, which is one year less than it would have taken with other systems.
The £1 billion redevelopment of The London and Barts is one of the largest public-private partnership programmes in Europe and is being undertaken by leading construction group Skanska UK, which specialises in PFI projects.
The new hospitals will provide more than 1,200 new patient beds and offer improved patient care through the provision of the latest medical equipment and diagnostic and treatment technology.
Barts, which first opened in 1123, will become a centre of excellence for cancer and cardiac research and teaching with eight operating theatres, while the Royal London will have twenty two.
Dave King, project leader at Skanska UK, said the electrical wiring services specification required a solution that was quick to install to ensure compliance with the latest partition construction methods.
He said a metal clad system, incorporating both lighting and power has been specified for both hospitals and Apex was appointed as sole supplier for Barts and London after seeing the benefits provided on other projects.
“Apex’s modular wiring systems offer huge time, money and environmental benefits and in my opinion show the way ahead for future large scale electrical installations,” said Dave King.
“Not only are the components easier to install but because they are preassembled offsite they cut waste levels significantly and reduce the number of skilled labour required on site to install installation, providing further significant labour and material cost savings.”
A fully pluggable distribution board-based system, which will include over 50,000 power outlets and 70,000 lighting fixtures for improved connectivity, has been specified to avoid the need for any onsite preparation or termination and cut electrical installation times
This will be installed when the first phase of work gets underway at the end of 2011 and when complete will provide flexable combined lighting and power system with mechanical protection, as well as enhanced resistance to electromagnetic interference, will be provided by the fully armoured cable design.
A 27 core spine has been specified to provide additional flexibility, which can cater for a Bus facility to be fully integrated with the new building management control system. Standard lighting, dimming and emergency test will also be contained within the same lighting circuit.
Dave Lewis, managing director of Apex, said: “The contracts for the Royal London and Barts are among the most prestigious we’ve won and reflect our ability to deliver added value, high quality, high performance solutions for major national and international construction projects.
“The cost, time saving and environmental benefits of modular wiring systems are becoming increasingly recognised in the UK, enabling electrical contractors to complete even the most complex installations quicker and more efficient than ever before.”
Apex has established a leading position in the UK healthcare market for electrical wiring products having supplied systems to over 50 PFI and ProCure21 schemes totalling over two million sq m. Using its systems, a complete electrical installation can be achieved quickly and safely by plugging the system components together.
Systems are designed to customer specification using the latest PC software before being manufactured offsite in a quality controlled environment using the latest high performance components and sub-assembly techniques.
Modular wiring systems can also provide improved health and safety because they minimise the amount of time contractors are required to work at height while also reducing the need for onsite cable and conduit cutting tools which can cause accidents.
Apex Wiring Solutions
www.apexwiringsolutons.co.uk