EoW May 2012

News Corporate

Council’s flagship all lit up

Modular Wiring Systems, a subsidiary of electrical cable manufacturer Tratos Ltd, has designed, manufactured and supplied modular power and lighting distribution systems for Birmingham City Council’s new flagship workplace. Birmingham City Council’s new 10 Woodcock Street office, located next to Aston University, is the council’s largest single investment in a new staff workplace in over a century and boasts seven sustainability features, including rainwater harvesting and a brown roof for wildlife. It will be home to 2,200 fixed desks over five storeys together with a further 500 “touchdown” work areas within the building to enable maximum flexibility of the space. Modular Wiring Systems has designed, manufactured off site and supplied multi-functional power and lighting distribution systems with standard Point-to-Point and switching and DALI control for the new offices. Unlike standard builds where the distribution systems are installed from the bottom up with cables running under false ceilings, the Woodcock Street office installation has been a top to bottom installation. Power is fed from above and cables have Heavy lift and transport specialist BigLift Shipping successfully completed the first job with its new super fly jib. Initiated by Huisman, the first ever super fly jib was equipped with special Twaron stay cables to lengthen the crane to a radius of 55 metres. The aramid fibre Twaron is lightweight and five times stronger than steel. This results in a reduced installation time while enabling an increase in lifting height and outreach during heavy lifting activities. By using Teijin Aramid’s fibre Twaron in FibreMax stay cables, ‘Happy Buccaneer’s’ new super fly jib extends the crane to a maximum lifting capacity of 350 metric tons at 35 metres outreach. The maximum outreach and height of the heavy lift crane are increased by 50%. The Twaron stay cables have a rated minimum breaking strength of 920 metric tons. Specialist in lifting, drilling and subsea solutions Huisman designed and manufactured the crane and the super fly

▲ ▲ Birmingham City Council’s new offices

who had never installed a prefabricated distribution system before, was able to undertake the work with minimal training in a very short space of time. This speed of installation was vital due to the extremely tight schedule and completion date. Modular Wiring Systems – UK Website : www.modularwiring.com

been run through raised flooring as there are no false ceilings. The second floor was a particular challenge, with all cabling fed under an acoustic canopy. As a result of the unusual design, flexibility of products and method of installation was vital, which Modular Wiring Systems was able to meet with ease. In fact, so intuitive are its systems to install that the contractor on the project,

Cables increase crane lift and outreach

sustainable, and characterised by thermal stability. Christoph Hahn, director marketing and sales of Teijin Aramid, said: “We are proud to be in the position to support BigLift, Huisman and FibreMax by applying Twaron in their heavy transport lifting stay cables. Twaron is a super strong fibre offering many fantastic technical features with which our customers can create many new innovations on top of the many existing applications. We are happy to share our knowledge about aramid to help our customers to develop new great products.” This is the first time that an aramid fibre such as Twaron has been used in a marine heavy lift crane application that complies to the requirements of Lloyd’s Register as specified in Lloyd’s ‘Code of Lifting Appliances in a Marine Environment’.

jib, equipped with Twaron stay cables. They are produced by FibreMax for BigLift’s heavy lifting carrier‘Happy Buccaneer’. Gem Wender, project engineer at BigLift: “The specifications and conditions of Twaron exemplify the suitability of these fibres for heavy lift applications. Because of the strength, flexibility and light weight of Twaron stay cables, we were able to significantly shorten and simplify the installation of the super fly jib on the ‘Happy Buccaneer’”. The properties of Twaron aramid fibres used in FibreMax stay cables ensure a number of significant advantages. Twaron stay cables offer smaller diameters, less weight and higher strength, resulting in major advantages in terms of easier handling, increased safety, faster operations and downsizing of constructions. Besides its strength and flexibility, Twaron offers long-term stability and performance. It is resistant to severe weather conditions,

Teijin Aramid – Netherlands Website : www.teijinaramid.com

10

EuroWire – May 2012