[ Spotlight: Member profiles ]
the Ramada Encore Hotel in London, ILEC and IMEC are also part of Gloucestershire County Council’s four-year framework partnership and are regularly engaged on new build, extension and refurbishment work for schools and public buildings in the county.
New ground As well as offering design and installation services, ILEC and IMEC also have a sister company called Indumission, which manufactures and supplies electrical fire safety products. It is a strategic partnership with a friend, former colleague and fellow electrical engineer that Appel had worked with in the past. Product manufacturing is a very different
industry from the one that he is used to, and asked to explain what prompted this move, Appel says: ‘Products currently available in this field are designed to detect heat or smoke when a fire has started. Conversely, the Thermarestor range prevents fire from starting. There are no other safety products that do this and the risk to human life, costly disruption to services and lost production are all minimised thanks to our innovative range of pre-ignition fire safety electrical products.’ Thermarestor products incorporate a heat- sensing device, which passively monitors temperature and is designed to disconnect the circuit protective residual current device (RCD) when it detects that the temperature within electrical equipment has exceeded its safe working parameters. It is purely a British invention that has been rigorously tested for Indumission by Vishay, a world leader in electronic component technology and production. Client feedback has been extremely positive.
Fire and rescue services teams across the UK are interested in its development and application. Asked whether the company is planning to launch more products in the future, Appel says: ‘We have already successfully launched three products, but can see the same patented device in many applications to many different situations throughout the electrical industry. Watch this space is all I’ll say!’
The hot seat Membership of the ECA is important to Appel, and he has been chairman of the south west regional branch since January 2012. ‘The ECA provides an unparalleled opportunity to
keep in touch with industry developments and gain access to high quality advisory assistance relating to training, legal advice and professional technical support,’ says Appel. ‘Our ECA membership has proved extremely useful in identifying new trends in the sector or changes in legislation likely to affect our business. Also, through regional branch meetings we, as
members, benefit from information-sharing with other contractors who we otherwise would not have the opportunity to engage with.’
Our ECA membership has proved extremely useful in identifying new trends in the sector or changes in legislation likely to affect our business
About the author
Rob Shepherd is a freelance journalist and regular contributor to ECA Today. He has worked in the electrical contracting industry for more than 14 years.
Rigorous evaluations help the company maintain quality
Onwards and upwards While it is important to be flexible, ILEC and IMEC’s success can also be credited to the senior management team’s uncompromising determination to keep all its work in-house. This, in turn, ensures that ILEC, IMEC and Indumission can maintain their exacting quality standards. On the future for the companies, Appel
concludes: ‘We will continue to invest and grow our businesses by capitalising on new opportunities. We will also continue to take on apprentices who are keen to enter a profession that has the potential to provide them with a reliable and fulfilling lifestyle.’
Health and welfare
Juniper House is a purpose-built nursing and residential care home completed for Barchester Healthcare and set on the outskirts of Brackley, near Northampton. The home includes a first-class environment with spacious en-suite
rooms, well-designed living areas, dining rooms and landscaped gardens. ILEC and IMEC Solutions provided the M&E services from the project’s
inception through to completion. The building boasts accreditation to Passivhaus and is the first care home in the UK to have joined the scheme, which was developed in Germany with a view to minimising energy usage in buildings. Features contributing to the building’s energy efficiency include low-energy light fittings, infra-red sensors and time switches for internal and external lighting. A comfortable, stable temperature is achieved through efficient air-source heat pumps and PH-compliant heat-recovery units. Results of thermal modelling indicated that the building was able
to achieve the Passivhaus standard without the use of renewable technologies being incorporated in the M&E designs. Of fundamental importance is how the building will perform while operating 24-hours-a day, all year round. Cardiff University is set to carry out a two-year study to monitor how the building performs while being occupied. A spokesperson for Barchester Healthcare, says: ‘The need to produce
energy-efficient buildings of this type will only increase into the future as this sector is set to expand.’
June 2013 ECA Today 35
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