News
Pilot aims to give employers more control over skills training
A £250M FUND, TO BE made available to employers over the next two years, will enable employers to design, develop and purchase the vocational training programmes that they actually need. ECA Group CEO, Steve Bratt, commented: ‘By making training options employer-led, fi rms can ensure that their workers have the skills required.
Currently, businesses are shouldering the cost of training, but this is a huge strain, especially for SMEs, given the current economic climate, and particularly in sectors such as electrical, where an apprenticeship takes three years to complete.’
The ECA recently launched its Wired for Success campaign that aims to make the electrical
industry more accessible to women. Bratt said: ‘Traditional training routes can act as a barrier to entry, but Wired for Success has created a fl exible training model. We believe this programme is a blueprint for success which can be applied across other sectors, and hope that money can be drawn down to fund innovative initiatives such as this.’
In brief
■ Newey & Eyre has added a new and improved Category 6 Dado Trunking system to its popular Newlec own brand. Designed for the ultimate fast fi t, the innovative system is Category 6 compliant and is supplied fully assembled. It comprises a three compartment trunking, each compartment having a separate cover and the base is pre-drilled for easy yet accurate fi xing.
■ ABB has given its support to a new facility built by City College Plymouth aimed at encouraging the uptake of energy effi cient, sustainable technologies in industrial, commercial and residential projects in the UK.
■ EIC is to provide mechanical services to the UK’s largest Sikh temple. The construction of the £7.5m community annexe at Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick in Sandwell will be carried out in two phases, and EIC will work in partnership with main contractor, Thomas Vale Construction, during the fi rst phase of work.
■ Draka has been chosen to supply fi re-rated cable for critical life and property protection applications at Birmingham Airport. This is the latest phase
of a relationship between Draka and the Airport that has resulted in Draka cable being specifi ed across the airport complex, which has recently undergone a £100m redevelopment.
■ Brian Bailey has been appointed as area sales manager by The Wandsworth Group, with responsibility for sales and account management across the West Midlands, Staffordshire, Oxfordshire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
■ Rajiv Goel has been appointed as president of global operations for the Havells-Sylvania Group.
■ Legrand has crowned the hugely successful launch of its Salamandre trunking by winning the best Marketing Campaign of the Year award at the Electrical Industry Awards
■ Disruption from refurbishments and service upgrades will be minimised at Leighton Hospital in Crewe from now on, thanks to the use of Cablofi l’s EZ-Path system that combines both cable containment and an effective fi re barrier for any data communications cabling or low voltage wiring networks.
Vent-Axia welcomes new SAP calculations
VENT-AXIA HAS WELCOMED CHANGES TO SAP calculations that are set to boost the adoption of continuous centralised ventilation systems. The amendments, due to be launched in early 2012, have just been given the green light by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), and will reduce the current conservative performance ratings given to this ventilation technology, when it is installed by a competent person. Currently, conservative ratings are applied in SAP calculations to the performance fi gures of centralised mechanical extract ventilation (MEV) and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) because specifi c fan power (SPF) can increase if a system is not installed correctly,
10 ECA Today January 2012
affecting effi ciency. The government therefore applied ‘in use’ performance penalties to the technology’s laboratory data results in initial SAP calculations to compensate, adding a 40 per cent specifi c fan power penalty to MVHR, and 30 per cent to MEV systems. From January, a developer can choose to have the ventilation equipment installed by a competent person and at the same time reduce these penalties. The scheme is the result of the ventilation industry developing training and competency plans linked to assuring installed system operation. Under the scheme, a trained contractor – who must be a member of a competent person scheme – will ensure an installation is in line
with competency requirements and complies with, or at least meets the performance laid out in, the original system design, and complete a commissioning sheet capturing the installation details. ‘As we move towards the government’s target of all new homes to be zero carbon by 2016, it will be necessary to install continuous centralised ventilation. To meet this demand, it is essential to train installers to fi t the systems. By offering developers an enhanced SAP benefi t, this will encourage contractors to train to win work packages. As a result, home occupiers that use approved contractors will benefi t from quiet, effi cient, effective ventilation,’ commented Lee Nurse, marketing director at Vent-Axia.
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