SIG Building Solutions - Energy Focus July 2023

SIG BUILDING SOLUTIONS

Guiding You On Your Solar Journey

PRODUCTION: David Hill

A group of manufacturing businesses trading separately for well over a decade, SIG Building Solutions represents the customer-facing brand bringing this wealth of experience and expertise together under a single umbrella to deliver true innovation in the solar canopy space.

INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

//SIG Building Solutions offers a wealth of products and solutions, commensurate with the breadth of its talent and expertise. A wide range of Zed, Cee and Eaves Beam sections and accessories are manufactured to customer requirements, while its single skin steel cladding is suitable for a wide range of buildings and situations, from warehousing and industrial applications to agricultural and home outbuilding uses.

Furthermore, twin skin steel cladding roof and wall systems offer rapid coverage and swift completion of a weatherproof building envelope, to produce a high-performance building, and insulated composite panels are self-supporting making them ideal for building roofing and cladding.

SIG Building Solutions also manufactures bespoke architectural

fabrications and flashings in aluminium, steel and other metals to specific designs, as well as a comprehensive range of accessories and components such as rooflights, gutters and flashings to furnish any building with its finishing touches. “Fabrications are not limited to use in building and construction only,” the company clarifies, “if it can be fabricated from metal, we can make it.”

NIMBLE DIVISION

SIG Building Solutions resides within the Specialist Markets Division of SIG plc, who are the leading supplier of specialist insulation, roofing materials and sustainable building products to customers across Europe known for its expertise, quality service and reliability.

A group of specialist distribution businesses, SIG works in partnership with the construction industry via an extensive branch network of over

440 sites across seven European countries - in the UK alone, SIG has well in excess of 3,000 employees and close to 200 trading sites.

Inspired, rather than overshadowed, by its association with the major multinational, it is clear that SIG Building Solutions is a relatively unique part of the wider group, playing to their manufacturing strengths and working within their own clear identity and philosophies.

“SIG Building Solutions combines the powerhouse capabilities of SIG with a relationship-driven, solutions- focused dynamic,” is how Guy Chilvers, Business Development Manager for Solar Canopy Structures, best describes the relationship.

“We are a single-point communication solution, removing complexity for customers while increasing efficiency and adding value.”

What SIG Building Solutions offers is a bespoke service, with decades of manufacturing experience and expertise, backed by the robust supply chain and extensive capabilities of a major PLC with 6,700 employees across 425 sites, Chilvers unpacks.

“One of the great things about SIG Building Solutions is that it does

exactly what the name suggests,” he says. “We actually manufacture, in-house, and we have access to three factories within this division, the main one of which is in Carlisle and which we use to make all of the structures.

“We represent a nimble little group within a much bigger PLC, and we really pride ourselves on that; we are very close to our customers, and ultimately we like to think of ourselves as incredible flexible,” adds Samantha Jones, Commercial Development Director. “The fact that our products are both designed and manufactured in the UK is also huge, as are our rapid response times compared to those of our competitors.

“Even the site at which we produce our solar canopies has over 100 years’ experience of manufacturing products into the construction sector,” Jones continues. “These products then lend

themselves perfectly to their solar applications, and it is to these solutions that we are dedicating much of our thinking and investment at present.”

SOLAR SOLUTIONS

As countries around the world plan to ban the sale of fossil-fuelled vehicles in the years to come, and reductions in carbon emissions used around the Paris Agreement become ever-more pressing, the development by SIG Building Solutions of its Solar Canopy Support Structures starts to look more intuitive and adept by the day.

“As the construction industry responds to the climate emergency and rising energy costs, we are accelerating our own response and partnering with suppliers to ensure sustainability is at the forefront of our industry,” Jones states. “Using our Solar Canopy Support Structures will help improve the

// AS THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY RESPONDS TO THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY AND RISING ENERGY COSTS WE ARE ACCELERATING OUR OWN RESPONSE //

INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

sustainability of any organisation and, in turn, build a better planet for everyone.

“Using our insight and specialist know-how, we are supporting our customers and manufacturers to make tangible steps towards a greener future.” Jones and Chilvers jointly bring a vast amount of experience in their respective sectors, we learn, crucial to SIG Building Solutions’ ability to bring this offering to market. “Guy joining our team last year is what has made the difference for us,” Jones opines. “Of course, we have always had the

manufacturing capability, but Guy has brought the experience and industry knowledge - and contacts - to enable us to bring this offering to market.

“My background is in traditional construction, I have worked in and around the industry for 25 years; Guy, supported by our trusted supply partners and design team, are the ones who bring the experience in this particular sector.”

Maximising routes to market is high on the agenda for SIG Building Solutions at the current moment, Jones explains,

// AS THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY RESPONDS TO THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY AND RISING ENERGY COSTS WE ARE ACCELERATING OUR OWN RESPONSE

and finding ways to link in with the SIG businesses throughout Europe, which is partially exciting when it comes to solar. “You only have to look at France, for example, where a new ruling stipulates that all car parks must henceforth have these canopies,” Chilvers informs, “and I have already priced up hundreds of thousands of car parking spaces for big automotive groups.

“Through SIG we already have subsidiaries in France, as well as in the likes of Poland and Germany,

and our cold-rolled steel sections lend themselves well to being manufactured here in the UK and despatched throughout Europe. Currently there are companies in Spain and Denmark sending canopies to the UK; there is no reason why we cannot expand into Europe.”

Solar car parks are going to be one of the main drivers for SIG Building Solutions moving forward, Jones opines, with the move to electric mobility necessitating infrastructure for EV chargers around the world to keep customers and employees on the move. “Generally, when putting up these canopies, clients are thinking in terms of EV charge points underneath them,” she details. “That entails digging up the carpark, putting trenches and plinths, and then adding barriers.

“What we have done is to integrate what we call an EVB,” Jones resolves. “With this solution a steel beam runs across the underside of the canopy, onto which the EV

charge point is mounted, and then all the cabling is housed within the canopy. The initial feedback that we have had has been resoundingly positive, and this is something that nobody else has ever offered.

“Utilising the new customerfacing SIG Building Solutions brand has opened up so many new sectors for us,” adds Jones. “It has allowed us to take a really credible offer to market in a way that we never could before, and facilitates our being able to operate in ways that would until now have been beyond us.

“Nothing embodies that more than the solar structures package solution, which brings together all of the elements in which we have excelled for so many years, and presents it in a fresh way to a new market.”

// WE ARE SUPPORTING OUR CUSTOMERS AND MANUFACTURERS TO MAKE TANGIBLE STEPS TOWARDS A GREENER FUTURE //

INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

HELICAL PILE SOLUTIONS: QUALITY. SERVICE. EXPERTISE

Helical Pile Solutions is built on solid foundations and can provide your project with the same lasting strength. Operations Director Peter Farr explains how the company work with SIG to achieve lasting success onsite for a blue chip client.

Steel helical pile foundations are both strong, in terms of long-term durability, and flexible in terms of application. Steel shafts with helical flights, these foundations can anchor the heaviest topside without fear of movement or deterioration – when done right.

Helical Pile Solutions Ltd (HPS), the company of industry veterans Peter Farr and Nic Brooker is growing quickly to become the leading authority on the correct usage and delivery of helical piles, and Peter Farr is keen on promoting the benefits that can be achieved when using this alternative to traditional, laborious concrete foundations.

“It’s about getting engineers on board and changing their approach on how they build things,” he says.

Using helical piles is fast and easy, quiet, cost effective, versatile, and requires no heavy machinery. They can be installed in all weather conditions as well as sites with poor ground conditions.

A recent project completed in Milton Keynes, UK alongside SIG Building Solutions saw HPS install 140no. specially designed foundations for a 1Mw solar carport onsite for a major international automotive manufacturer. Steel structures sit on HPS foundations, safely holding solar panels that keep cars in shade, while generating significant energy resources at the same time. This is becoming a major focus area for HPS, and Peter Farr is enthusiastic about the potential.

“In the UK, there is potential for the energy market to grow for helical foundations to approximately £20 million per year should the UK adopt the same approach as Europe. In Europe, taking France as an example, we know that the requirement is huge given the recent change in legislation. We are working to expand HPS into the European markets, offering our services alongside what we currently do here in the UK. Although we are not currently focussing on solar arrays due to standard solutions (not in our portfolio), we plan to venture into this market as the business grows. We currently specialise in Solar Carports, Wind Turbines and Overhead Transmission Line upgrades. Energy has been a game-changer for helical piling over the years. I personally have carried out numerous projects on substation upgrades over the last 15 years, we are excited to demonstrate how we can improve current standards whilst leading the industry using our live data monitoring systems (Intelli-tork) in partnership with Pro-Dig Europe, which we together have integrated into the UK market since 2021 to mitigate manual logging of data.”

The HPS Founder and Director has been an advocate for helical piling after learning the industry top to bottom for the past two decades.

“We offer full knowledge from soil information, installation of helical piles and their versatility, through to design packages and in-house creation of fully bespoke products. Our business benefits from my extensive experience having worked in every role from the ground up to build a pioneering business, with clear vision to better and expand the helical piling industry.”

The company’s portfolio is large, including design, in-house manufacture in our 50,000sq ft facility, supply, and installation of bespoke helical pile foundation solutions. “We work closely with clients, offering services that are tailored to their needs to make sure everything works for them,” says Peter Farr.

The deep and solid foundations within the business make for a reliable partner that stands strong, withstanding the test of time. “We’re a small business but we deliver for big projects with our 40 years of manufacturing and 20 years of helical piling experience, providing the attention to detail and ongoing support that every client deserves to ensure the project runs smoothly,” states Peter Farr.

Contact HPS today to learn more about helical piling and how it can improve and elevate your projects. www.helicalpilesolutions.co.uk | 01223 652155