Contract News

PHAROS HITS THE JACKPOT AT THE HOLLAND CASINO UTRECHT

One of the most recent additions to the Dutch city of Utrecht is the glittering new Holland Casino; a striking building adorned in gold.

Designed by OZ Architects, the brief was to create a diamond-shaped building, adorned in gold, that was also completely covered in light. As well as illuminating the entire building and using the façade to display content, it was also important that the building met the criteria for the BREAAM sustainability certification. Keeping light pollution to a minimum was crucial.

System integrator Livingprojects worked closely with Lighting Designer, Siegrid Siederius, on behalf of Arup to deliver the vision of Holland Casino. The façade is structured with individual panels, and an LED fixture is built into each one. The fixtures are not directly visible, ensuring indirect light for viewers. The panels of the façade reflect the light for a seamless integration that delivers stunning results.

As well as the golden façade being fully illuminated in the evenings, content can also be displayed on the panels. This ensures the casino can respond to special themes or days through the use of the media façade. The custom-made lighting system allows for a different colour to be introduced every 100mm, making it possible to create a dynamic display and even show detailed video content.

The dynamic lighting is controlled by a system from Pharos Architectural Controls. The installation uses the Pharos VLC 500 (Video Lighting Controller).

The addition of 32 Pharos EDN 20 (Ethernet Data Node) remote devices, each with 20 DMX outputs, provides a convenient and scalable solution that delivers cost-effective Ethernet-distributed DMX ports for large control projects.

Coupled with the luxurious façade, the casino’s entrance adds to the excitement and awe-inspiring experience. Livingprojects worked with Rovasta to develop a 40m long light that shows dynamic content and wows visitors from the moment they step inside.

With more than 9000 fixtures, suitable locations for the cabling, connections, and the Pharos control system itself had to be carefully identified to ensure both safety and style were achieved.

Pharos Architectural Controls, pharoscontrols.com

ENDURANCE TEST IN THE CLASSROOM

The Clara Schumann primary school in Leipzig, Germany, is a state-recognised private school with a holistic approach to education and a creative focus, centred on music and the arts. The school was looking for a partner to refurbish its outdated T8 lighting solution in a total of 150 classrooms.

As a first step, a trial of the TRILUX Opendo LED was undertaken in one classroom featuring an integrated CO2 sensor for monitoring air quality.

The T8 fluorescent tubes installed in the school no longer met light quality and energy efficiency requirements. In addition, the luminaires are directly affected by the upcoming T8 lamp ban, so there was an acute need for action. The school sought a solution that would reduce energy costs and, with its light quality and luminaire design, match its high standards and artistic orientation.

The integrated CO2 sensor technology offers the school an additional practical benefit that makes many things easier, especially in times of a pandemic. The sensor continuously measures the CO2 concentration in the room and indicates the air quality via a three-stage traffic light mechanism. If the LED light switches from green to red, it is time to ventilate. This offers teachers and children a safer working and learning environment and introduces students to the topic of air quality.

Hardly any lighting management is implemented in the Leipzig primary school. However, networked Opendo LED solutions with daylight and presence sensors are used in similar school projects. Sensor control reduces energy consumption and increases the quality of light by ensuring a permanently uniform lighting level. TRILUX, trilux.com

COMPLEX M+E PROJECT COMPLETES AT LIVERPOOL SCIENCE PARK

Ash Integrated Services has finished work on an intricate and complex project at a key site in Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter. The company was tasked with installing pipework for ventilation and air conditioning as well as new electrics throughout the IC1 reception.

Due to the tight spacing, the team manufactured the pipes and lighting tracks to intertwine, while still maintaining the overall high-quality spec and contemporary feel of the building.

The company carried out the work over a period of 12 weeks on behalf of fit-out contractor Braithwaite Fit-Out.

Liverpool Science Park provides offices, co-working and lab spaces for a number of engineering, scientific and technology companies.

The new IC1 reception also boasts a ‘living wall’, a vertical blanket of greenery made up of climbing plants and grasses, a feature that Ash also played a key role in, in addition to an illuminated wall.

Antony Grace, co-founder and director at Ash Integrated Services says: “We installed a system within the wall to ensure there is frequent water drip-fed to the roots and that any excess is drained away.

“On the electrical side, we also installed an LED-style wall as well as plug sockets on each of the benches. It was important that none of the wires were on show to keep in with the style of the building, and we designed a solution to run the wires down from the ceiling area into the benches to successfully achieve this.”

Ash Integrated Services, ashintegratedservices.co.uk

UK’S BIGGEST TREETOPS TRAILS COURSE COVERED BY ESP CCTV

Lightwater Valley is a theme park in North Stainley, North Yorkshire, founded in 1969. The park is home to the UK’s biggest Treetop Trails course – covering over 2,000 square metres of beautiful woodland. Over the course of last year, the park invested in a number of new rides and attractions to enhance the overall visitor experience. At the same time, the owners took the opportunity to upgrade the CCTV systems which provide security throughout the grounds.

With around 30 different rides and attractions in total, the number and type of CCTV systems required is both extensive and varied and a mixture of wire-free and hard-wired systems from across ESP’s CCTV ranges have been installed. There are two main functions for the CCTV installations – one is the evidence-based collection of footage to help identify any potential breaches in security. The other is to provide the ride operator with a clear view of all aspects of the rides, to ensure the safety of those taking part.

The installer responsible for fitting the systems has been using ESP’s CCTV for a number of years and had this to say: “It was great to be able to get a broad range of CCTV solutions all from one supplier and the quality is excellent. I have used cheaper products in the past and they either break down or the image quality is inferior. The quality of the ESP systems is far superior. I like how easy the wire-free systems are to install and we have been able to spread the coverage across a decent amount of space. The hard-wired system is one that is mainly used for observing.

“As we continue to update the rides and facilities at the park, we will continue to update the CCTV systems to incorporate the best products from ESP.” ESP, espuk.com

ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR COMPLETES COMPLEX REVAMP AT HISTORIC AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Ash Integrated Services has completed a challenging project on the historic site of a West Midlands land-based college, while ensuring all studies and events could continue safely throughout.

Ash spent 12 weeks working on Moreton Morrell College near Warwick, a land-based college located on the estate of an Edwardian manor.

The company completed a full rewire and installed new lighting and electrical points for the college’s classrooms, labs and veterinary facilities, all while maintaining supplies to key systems such as IT, telecoms, alarms and the site’s freezers for storing horses for study.

This meant students who required distance learning were able to continue to do so uninterrupted, while those in attendance could have full use of the site as they needed, including for the college’s summer events.

Moreton Morrell college, part of WCG (formerly Warwickshire College Group), covers 650 acres of countryside and has a working farm, stables for more than 100 horses, equine and animal centres, a halls of residence and other specialist land-based learning facilities.

Greg Cook, Project Lead at WCG, says: “This was a major project to rewire and install lighting and electrical points across Moreton Morrell College and we are delighted that it was carried out with minimal disruption to operations at the college.” Ash Integrated Services, ashintegratedservices.co.uk

LAKE DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK ELECTRIFIES WITH ROLEC AND AMP EV

2022 is looking like a year of decarbonisation for the Lake District National Park Authority after installing both DC rapid and AC fast electric vehicle charging points at its premises towards the last quarter of 2021.

Rolec’s UFC 200 and Quantum:EV charging pedestals were installed by electrical engineers at AMP EV to enable Lake District National Park’s employees and visitors to recharge their electric vehicles whilst carrying out day-to-day operations or visiting the area.

The installation of electric vehicle charging points comes as the Lake District National Park Authority commits to reaching net zero emissions by 2037.

Rolec’s EV charging points will support the recharging requirements of Lake District National Park’s fleet of BMW i3s, as well as allow visitors to recharge whilst exploring the surroundings of Cumbria. For Lake District National Park, the deployment of EV charging facilities will provide great advantages, such as increased visitor footfall as well as additional revenue via the implementation of chargepoint user tariffs. Integrated with Rolec’s smart back-office management system, VendElectric, Lake District National Park can benefit from features such as chargepoint usage reports and customisable tariff settings, allowing chargepoint operators to make informed decisions on how employees and visitors can access their network of EV charging points. Rolec, rolecserv.com

NEW DEAL TO DELIVER SMART CHARGING

Electric Miles and Project EV have signed a three-year contract with plans for around 100,000 chargers deployed by Project EV to be exclusively controlled on the Electric Miles Smart Charging platform. As a result, thousands of EV owners will have access to a suite of services including automated charging at the cheapest time, saving drivers money and protecting the transmission and distribution grid from excessive demand at peak periods.

Through the Electric Miles app, drivers will have full control over the charging of their car to ensure it has the right amount of charge for the driver’s needs at the lowest possible cost. At the touch of their smartphone screen, they’ll be able to see the level of charge in their car’s battery to make charging more intelligent and automated.

With the government’s announcement that there will be a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, hundreds of thousands of EV chargers will have to be in place as a result. The government has made it clear these chargers will need to be smart to reduce the impact on National Grid. It won’t be possible for all EVs to be charging at the same time, without massive investment in transmission infrastructure and power stations.

Electric Miles is already addressing this problem by clubbing its intelligent smart charging platform with its innovative demand side flexibility services, where it balances EV charging with grid constraint. Through deals with three major Distribution System Operators (DSO) it will offer about 23MW of Demand Side Response (DSR). In the future, benefits from providing this service will be shared with the drivers who have allowed their car batteries to be used in this way. Electric Miles, electricmiles.io