Industry News

AESSEAL HELPS CHILDREN ACCESS REMOTE LEARNING

AESSEAL PLC HAS DONATED £400,000 to Laptops for Kids – enough funding to supply connectivity to every disadvantaged child in South Yorkshire.

The charitable organisation will use £300,000 to supply refurbished laptops to 1,500 households across the metropolitan borough, meeting around half of the estimated need in Rotherham.

Chris Rea, Managing Director, AESSEAL.

The remaining £100,000 will be used to buy dongles for connecting 10,000 households to the internet, meeting the estimated total need across South Yorkshire.

Chris Rea, Managing Director of AESSEAL, said: “We believe in being a good neighbour, partner and useful member of the communities in which we live and work.

“Our donation is an investment in young people across Rotherham and South Yorkshire.”

Mr Rea added that 3i Group, an institutional investor with a significant minority shareholding in AESSEAL, has enthusiastically supported the decision.

Technology entrepreneur David Richards, a co-founder of the Laptops for Kids campaign, said: “Huge thanks to AESSEAL for this powerful expression of support, which will help thousands of children to access remote learning during the pandemic.

“This should be a clarion call to businesses everywhere to support our campaign and make sure every child has safe access to the internet so they can fulfil their potential.”

Any individual or business looking to donate devices or cash can do so by visiting www.LTFK.co.uk

STUART TURNER ACQUIRES HVAC STRONGHOLD MIKROFILL

STUART TURNER, AN INTERNATIONAL MANUFACTURER of water boosting pumps and systems, has announced the acquisition of pressurisation and HVAC specialist Mikrofill Systems Ltd (Mikrofill).

Stuart Turner has now acquired three complementary businesses. The acquisition of Mikrofill follows its purchases of Fluid Water Solutions in 2019 and GAH Heating in October 2018.

Mikrofill brings more than 25 years of innovation and experience producing pressurisation units for sealed system control, commercial-grade boilers and water heaters. With manufacturing based in Britain, its award-winning technical expertise, outstanding customer service, commitment to energy efficiency and reputation for reliable products have made Mikrofill the go-to brand for specification in its sector.

Stuart Turner’s acquisition of Mikrofill will significantly expand its range of products and services so that it can provide its customers with the most comprehensive HVAC and water supply solutions across domestic, commercial and industrial sectors.

Following the deal, Mikrofill will continue to operate as an independent entity, but as part of Stuart Turner.

Richard Harden, CEO of Stuart Turner, said: “Our ambition takes us far beyond our reputation for high-quality shower pumps. Through acquisitions and continued research and development, we have our sights clearly set on powering water for all applications. Adding pressurisation and hot water generation giant Mikrofill to our armoury makes us a real contender for large scale projects with complex requirements.

MBO FOR APEX PUMPS

PUMP MANUFACTURER, APEX PUMPS, has announced a management buyout of the business and assets of Apex Fluid Engineering Ltd and Precision Alloys Ltd, as the founder and principal shareholder Nick Sole steps away from the company.

Andrew Simpson, Managing Director, Apex Pumps.

Apex Pumps employs 24 staff at its site in Bristol, where it designs and manufactures centrifugal pumping solutions for water, industrial, energy, brewery, aquaculture, chemical process, oil and gas and many other similar demanding applications.

The company will continue to be led by the existing senior management team and will be headed by Andrew Simpson, Managing Director and Sam Kemp, Sales Director.

The whole of the Apex Pumps workforce has been retained, and the business will continue to operate from the existing Bristol premises.

The new leadership team has said it is committed to building on the relationships built over the past 33 years with the company’s customers and suppliers and will continue to trade on the same terms as before.

Commenting on the buyout, Andrew said: “The strong standing of Apex Pumps as a business and its position at the forefront of centrifugal pumps is testament to the dedication and commitment of Nick Sole. With an incredibly talented team and an enviable product portfolio, I’m looking forward to steering Apex Pumps into the future.”

HAYWARD TYLER REACTS TO UK SMR OPPORTUNITY

PUMP AND MOTOR MANUFACTURER, Hayward Tyler, is collaborating with the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre to develop a new reactor coolant pump (RCP) for small modular reactors (SMRs) and is helping the UK supply chain prepare to produce critical components for the global SMR market.

SMRs are advanced power plants that can be largely built-in factories as modules to minimise costly on-site construction, and which allow manufacturers to reduce costs by producing many identical units. More than 70 designs of small modular reactor are in development in 18 countries around the world, mostly based on Gen III+ reactor technologies which are relatively close to commercial readiness.

“Although there are different types of SMRs being developed by major players, water-cooled reactors remain very attractive and bring a new dimension to the more reliable, clean and affordable nuclear power,” said Dr Evgeny Polyakov, Sales Director at Hayward Tyler.

The project is funded by the Driving the Electric Revolution programme of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, delivered by Innovate UK, and will span nine months in the initial phase. During this time, key milestones will include concept design, verification and validation, along with an extensive supply chain engagement program. Further projects will be completed on various areas of the design, including detailed CFD analysis, prototype manufacture, quality control and lifecycle testing.

“Reactor coolant pumps are safety critical which require a specific coast-down flow rate to ensure the necessary rate of heat removal is maintained during a poweroutage to the pumps,” said Robert Bowen, Lead Design Engineer for the RCP project at Hayward Tyler. “To remove the complexities of dynamic sealing, the design uses an internal, high-inertia flywheel to achieve the coast-down flow. Reducing the large frictional losses by the large flywheel is a significant technical challenge which has required a combined input from the electrical, hydraulic, and mechanical expertise within our design team.”

Pumps for the reactor coolant system will primarily be made from low and zerocobalt metal alloys which have minimal risk of suffering radiation-induced corrosion. Very few UK manufacturers have experience of working with these alloys, so the project will draw on the Nuclear AMRC’s detailed knowledge of the UK supply chain to identify potential suppliers and help them prepare for new opportunities in the SMR market.