This month we look at how the ECA and its members operating in the North East are coping during these hard recessionary times

The North East tightens its belt

Following on from what were in hindsight the boom years for the m&e industry in the North East, it seems manufacturers, suppliers and retailers alike are all taking a deep breath and tightening the belt as far as it can go in the hope that they will be able to breathe more easily in the months to come.

Until 12 months ago it was an exciting time for developments in the North East, with a wealth of new home, retail and business developments spread across the region, including Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle.

Tell-tale signs of what was to come became apparent early in 2008 as the order books became a little slimmer.

ECA’s North East regional manager, Stuart Carvell, maintains that, despite all this, there remains an air of cautious optimism.

“Although our members are reporting a huge downturn in orders, and some are having to make necessary redundancies, they are reporting that there are still a large number of enquiries coming through, particularly in non-construction sectors.

“As with the rest of the country, businesses are looking at ways to cut overheads and also looking to be able to offer the best price for work that is available.”

School for the future

SES has completed the £5.7m m&e contract on one of the country’s first state-of-the-art Building Schools for the Future (BSF) schemes.

Tong High School in Bradford is a multicultural, co-educational secondary school serving a wide area of south-east Bradford. SES is proud to be involved in what is becoming the largest single government investment to develop school buildings in more than 50 years.

One of the BSF plan’s main aims is to rebuild or renew all England’s secondary schools in in the next 10 to15 years.

Jim Marner, SES divisional director, said: “We’re delighted to have been involved in this pioneering government scheme. Modern, well-designed buildings with big, welcoming entrances, lots of natural light and ‘social spaces’ will transform educational buildings.”

Working alongside main contractor Costain in the £25m scheme, SES installed complex heating, air-conditioning, ventilation, sprinkler, fire alarm and CCTV systems.

Northern Lights up t’mill

LJ Monks provided the m&e services for the latest phase of the multi-award-winning job at Victoria Mill, Shipley, near Bradford, West Yorkshire, for Newmason Properties.

This is the second phase completed by LJ Monks: the first was the conversion of the original mill building.

Northern Lights is a new-build scheme of luxury apartments on the site of a 19th-century mill located close to the Saltaire World Heritage Site.

The overall development of more than 400 apartments also includes recreational facilities such as a tennis court and gym, on-site security and riverside.

The £3m design-and-build m&e package was developed to take account of the features of the original mill, as well as the modern construction of the Northern Lights building.

Many of the mill’s original walls and ironwork were retained, and services had to be installed without looking out of place.

Sheffield scheme with edge

The University of Sheffield Student Village on the west side of the city is a development of almost 4200 student bedrooms and infrastructure.

Leeds-based LJ Monks Building Services is working with Bovis Lend Lease to deliver m&e services for this four-year, four-phase, £30m project.

Now well into the fourth year, the scheme has provided many challenges and involved various types of construction.

The student bedrooms are housed in a number of blocks across the site, and these have included the refurbishment of existing buildings, new traditional built buildings and more recently modular construction buildings.

The design-and-build plan involved dining and kitchen areas, plant rooms and site-wide infrastructure, which included data, voice, alarm, electricity, water and gas services to each of the blocks. The site-wide HV installation was carried out by LJ Monks Process.

The focal point of the village is The Edge, the building that houses the main IT room, security, laundry, bar and recreational area.

Modules shape refurbs

To capitalise on the trend towards modularisation of m&e services,especially in refurbishments, SES is offering Prefabricated Integrated Services Modules (Prisms).

The modules, originally launched in 2002, incorporate state-of-the-art modular installation technology. Modules are assembled and tested in quality-controlled factories, before being transported to destinations and swiftly being installed in position.

Seven branches mean North East region is one of ECA's largest

The North East regional office of the ECA covers one of the organisation’s largest geographical areas, with seven branches within the region.

The branches are: Newcastle, South Durham & North Yorkshire, Central Yorkshire, Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire, Grimsby, West Riding of Yorkshire and South Yorkshire.

With more than 280 member companies, the office is staffed by three people: Stuart Carvell is the regional manager and Graeme Watson is his deputy, while Bev Lyne is kept extremely busy as regional secretary for the branch.

Since the introduction of ECS health and safety testing in 2003, the region has carried out approximately 10 000 assessments, both in-company and at the regional office.

The North East regional office moved into a dedicated 5000 sq ft office facility, Camden House in Darlington, in December 2007.

The ECA Education and Training departments for ECS health and safety assessments and ECA short courses are all based in Camden House.

Source

Electrical and Mechanical Contractor