Priva Building Automation on Tour: Building technologies manufacturer takes latest innovations direct to customers

A leading building technologies manufacturer has announced the launch of a new, safe way to stay connected with customers, consultants and Partners.

Priva Building Automation UK will tour the UK with its traveling ‘exhibition’, the Priva Bus during October 2020. The Priva Bus enables the company’s UK team to take its innovations and solutions direct to customers and stakeholders; wherever they are located. The Priva team will plan a route around the UK taking in all four countries within the United Kingdom. Depending on distancing measures in place at the time, customers and partners based in Southern Ireland may need to travel to location across the border.

The company believes its touring showcase offers a safe and attractive alternative to its usual schedule of third-party events and on-site briefings.

Gavin Holvey, General Manager – UK & Ireland comments:

“With so many trade exhibitions and face to face opportunities postponed this year, we knew we need to find a safe, alternative way to keep in touch with people. Sometimes, a video call just isn’t enough. The Priva Bus is a brilliant initiative: it will be a place where visitors can learn - in a safe environment - about our Building Management System (BMS) packages, Cloud Services, natural ventilation and smart, healthy building technologies. And, the real benefit is, we can bring our Priva Bus right to customers’ doorsteps.

Companies interested in booking a visit from the Priva UK Team and the Priva Bus can do so by email, phone or online. Strict social distancing and hygiene measures will be in place to ensure the safety of visitors and Priva’s staff.

For more information visit: https://www.priva.com/ discover-priva/stay-informed/ events/priva-on-tour

New Visusafe Workplace Products Add To Beaverswood Anti-COVID-19 Armoury

New levels of protection against the ongoing threat of COVID-19 in the workplace are provided with the latest additions to the Visusafe range from industrial visual communication solutions specialist Beaverswood.

Manufactured from robust foam plastics and incorporating tough and impact resistant clear PVC film, the new freestanding tabletop screen dividers are designed specifically to segregate tables to ensure the highest levels of personal; health and safety protection. Quick and easy to wipe down and clean, product is 610mm high and comes in three width options to suit most applications: 990mm; 1100mm and 1380mm.

New 1mm thickness white plastic urinal distance markers have also been designed and manufactured by Beaverswood to help people maintain social distancing measures in public toilets and restrooms while providing greater levels of personal protection and hygiene. Quick and easy to locate and reposition, the 160mm diameter markers can be suspended from the pipework or urinal units to indicate clearly to people which units should not to be used.

Also newly available is a PVC high visibility waterproof gaffer floor marking tape. Offering improved levels of durability and scuff resistance, the yellow and black tape offers longer lasting adherence to carpet, stone, cement, wood, plastic and other surfaces, providing a rapid and effective solutions for workplace social distancing and floor safety marking requirements. The tape, suitable for interior or exterior applications, is 50mm wide and comes in a 33-metre length roll.

Visusafe products are manufactured from good quality, high performance materials, helping businesses to comply with Public Health England guidelines, which ensure materials are as robust as possible and cleanable, providing maximum protection.

Jim Roberts, product manager at Beaverswood, said: “As people continue to return to the workplace, it’s critical they remain safe and fully protected against the COVID-19 threat. These latest additions to our personal protection range ensure we are providing endusers with a top quality, flexible and cost-effective solution.”

More at www.beaverswood. co.uk or tel; 0118 979 6096 or sales@beaverswood.co.uk

News BW transforms historic Harella House in London’s Clerkenwell into highly desirable Cat A office space

BW: Workplace Experts has sensitively refurbished Harella House on Goswell Road in Clerkenwell. In total, six floors of lettable Cat A office space have been created for Chait Investment Corporation, within a characterful building, which now has three new terraced areas.

Harella House dates back to the 1930s, starting out as a garment factory for Harella Clothing Manufacturers. This enterprising firm was famous in its day for producing garments in a wider range of women’s sizes. The 55,000 sq ft building has large Crittall windows, which were intended to create natural light filled spaces that could accommodate large items of machinery. BW managed the erection of scaffolding to the full perimeter of the building and a full temporary roof, enabling the original facade to be cleaned and all existing windows to be replaced with new Crittall. An electrical substation to the rear has been decommissioned and relocated into the basement and ground floor, with the access point on Gee Street.

A new reception entrance has been created on Goswell Road, providing the main access to the building. Original features have been restored, with exposed steel columns and brick piers on the upper floors and sanded timber sarking boards on level 4. Also, on this level, the roof has been completely replaced and altered to create

a mezzanine floor, with new roof slates throughout.

To the rear, adjacent to the neighbouring offices, a singlestorey extension has been demolished and completely rebuilt to enable a larger ground floor area. A rooftop garden, a highly desirable element for contemporary workplaces, has also been created.

News Protecting medical devices ~ The importance of surge protection in healthcare facilities

People rely on hospitals to provide the expertise and equipment needed to keep them healthy. However, if the electrical equipment fails at any point, doctors cannot provide this care and patients are put at risk. Here, Juan Chavez, vice president of transient surge protection specialist Energy Control Systems, explains how the UPS and transient detection solutions take care of equipment, so that doctors can take care of their patients.

Medical facilities rely on a steady flow of power to operate electrical medical equipment, keep the lights on and access patient data online. Equipment or system failure could lead to breakdowns, downtime and fatal consequences for patients.

For example, in summer 2019, a large-scale power outage left 48 million people across Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay without electrical supply. Power was out for only a day, but it impacted vital infrastructure, including hospitals, which had to use generators to continue treating patients. Power outages like this are out of the control of hospital directors and doctors but we can take preventative steps to ensure that power fluctuations do not impact operations.

Returning to power

Generators can help to provide power in desperate situations, but some critical equipment such as ventilators and other monitors must have a constant stream of power to reduce risks to patients. Instead of relying on temporary power generators, hospital directors and facilities managers should have a plan to stop any interruptions to power flow.

An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system should be a key part of a healthcare facility’s preventative maintenance strategy. UPS systems supply backup energy in the event of power losses and can protect electrical and electronic systems from issues when losing the primary power source. A UPS is an essential bridge between a mains supply and the power provided by a backup diesel generator.

Protecting equipment

However, power loss isn’t the only issue that the managers of medical facilities should have on their agenda. Medical device equipment is incredibly sensitive – as is the human body. In fact, once the electrical insulation provided by our skin is taken away, for example during open surgery, a voltage as insignificant as the one passed on when you touch your mobile phone screen can be lethal.

Given that IBM estimates that there are 120 power quality problems effecting sensitive equipment in a typical building every single month, it is clearly important to keep our medical equipment in perfect condition.

One way of doing this is to eliminate the lowlevel switching events, or transients, that occur constantly in electrical supply. Transients have high energy, with magnitudes in the thousands of volts, and short duration with rise times in the 1-10 microsecond range. While these surges are short, transients can disrupt, damage or destroy electrical and electronic equipment in an instant. Eliminating these transient surges reduces electrical damage and improves patient service by keeping electrical equipment out of the maintenance bay.

Energy Control Systems has developed SineTamer — a range of highly efficient surge and transient protection systems that help to protect valuable microprocessor based assets. SineTamer tracks events close to the sinewave, which would be invisible to most power quality devices, and eliminates the problems caused by regular transient events. Our experts will also work with hospital directors to develop a bespoke system with any special configurations needed to comply with medical industry regulations.

www.ecsintl.com

News Say no to sticky tables

As Brits continue to hit bars and pubs across the country, punters are being urged to look out for the telltale signs that they haven’t been cleaned to COVID-19 standards.

A leading cleaning solutions expert has warned that sticky bars, tables and floors are a giveaway sign that an establishment’s cleaning practices are not up to scratch in the post-lockdown world.

James White, Managing Director at Rawlins, is urging people to be extra vigilant when it comes to surface hygiene in any hospitality setting, to protect their health and prevent a second peak of the virus.

Mr. White says: “If you go into a bar or restaurant and sit down at a sticky table, it is proof that it hasn’t been cleaned properly. You should complain immediately to management and ask them to reclean the area to ensure all traces of bacteria have been removed.”

With research showing that COVID-19 can survive on surfaces for days, the warning is a stark reminder that traditional cleaning practices aren’t enough to safeguard staff and customers, despite the virus being in retreat.

He adds: “We all know that the virus can be spread by touching infected surfaces so it really is vital that cleaning measures are robust enough to eliminate any risk and stand up to coronavirus.

“I appreciate that establishments are working hard to ensure their premises are COVID-secure, and many have increased their cleaning efforts in recent weeks, but it is no longer enough to rely on disinfectants and mops.

“What many people do not realise is that, like the losing battle of antibiotics against superbugs, disinfectants become increasingly ineffective over time. Although the solution may kill most bacteria, it doesn’t remove them, leaving dead microbes, along with any surviving germs, spread across the surface. And these microbes, dead or alive, serve as a food source for the next wave of bugs.”

Mr. White states that the only way to ensure a surface is free from infection is by adopting a robust cleaning process that extracts dirt and protects the area from future germs.

Dubbed the ‘remove, improve and protect’ method, the stages include:

Remove

Tables, surfaces and floors in bars and restaurants can quickly become unhygienic, with high footfall, spills, and drips creating dirty, sticky surfaces. Traditional mopping and wiping won’t remove the bacteria, only move it around. The only way to eliminate dirt on hard surfaces is by adding water and the correct chemistry and removing the used solution using our high flow fluid extraction process.

Improve

All cleaning should be processdriven and continuously improve cleanliness levels each time. The effectiveness of the process can be measured by taking adenosine triphosphate (ATP) measurements before and after cleaning, to ensure that surfaces are not just clean, but free of germs.

Protect

The final step of the process should always be to protect the surfaces with a solution like the Zoono Z-71 Microbe Shield, which is a cost-effective, residual polymer-based antimicrobial protection.

The solution provides 30-days active protection for any treated surface, significantly reducing the spread of harmful bacteria and viruses, giving a unique, proven,

long-lasting barrier protection.

Rawlins recommends that main touch points, such as bars, tables, and door handles, are treated every seven days, with the wider area fogged or sprayed every 21 days for the very best hygiene. Routine cleaning can continue between applications, without disrupting the Zoono molecule or its antimicrobial activity.

For further information on Rawlins’ equipment and processes visit https:// www.rawlins.co.uk/removeimprove-protect-covid

20 YEARS’ WORKING IN HORTICULTURE. 5 acres of formal gardens. 30 weddings AND events each year. 1 BRAND OF CHOICE. STIHL LIFE. ƒ

For demanding work where the highest horticultural standards are required, STIHL has the professional tools to get the job done.

Not only does STIHL set the standard for reliable, quality tools, it’s also easy to maintain them for use throughout the season.

With a range of tools for precision topiary, grounds maintenance and lawn care, STIHL has the machinery to meet the daily needs of a professional gardener.

Andy Wain, Head Gardener at Euridge Manor, with the STIHL RM 655 RS rear roller lawn mower

AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL STIHL DEALER. STIHL.CO.UK