13 August 2013

Clutch of major M&E contract wins in the education sector secured this summer as Quartzelec’s Manchester and Leeds based building services engineering business win a number of M&E refurbishment and new build contracts at schools across the region,  all to be delivered to extremely tight deadlines.

This summer, Quartzelec’s Manchester and Leeds based building services and electrical contracting business, is going back to school, having competitively won a number of M&E refurbishment and new build contracts at schools across the region, that all need to be delivered to extremely tight deadlines.

Each year, when schools close for the summer holidays, it’s quite common for contractors to move in during the six week break to undertake any necessary refurbishment work or often to get a good start on any major new works. And when it comes to primary schools, one size definitely does not fit all.

At St Margaret’s CofE Primary School in Manchester, for example, Quartzelec, working alongside Seddon Construction, competitively tendered and won a £275,000+ contract for the complete rewiring of the school which includes lighting and emergency lighting, power, data, fire alarms, security, intruder detection and access control.

“Working in schools requires specialist skills and excellent project management,” stated Jon Murphy, the project lead at Seddon Construction. “Quartzelec completed a similarly challenging project at Lily Lane Primary School with us last summer so we were confident in their ability to cost effectively deliver the high standard of work required to the tight deadlines imposed on this project.”

At the other end of the spectrum Quartzelec secured a £1m+ M&E contract for Springbank Infants and Westroyd Infants, both part of the Pudsey Schools cluster between Leeds and Bradford. The project is being delivered through Willmott Dixon Construction and is split over two phases.  The first covers the refurbishment of various elements at both locations; with the complete new-build phase scheduled from October 2015 through to March 15.

From a mechanical perspective the project across both phases includes hot and cold water services; the low temperature hot water; gas; ventilation; sanitary ware; plus all the above the ground drainage.  On the electrical side, in addition to mains distribution and small power provision, the plan of works includes lighting controls, protection and emergency lighting; data installation including CCTV, access control, intruder detection and fire alarms.

“Working within schools is increasingly becoming a core part of our operational remit and we were delighted to be awarded both these projects,” explained Martin Broughton, General Manager of Quartzelec’s Manchester based building services and electrical contracting business.  “Selecting only appropriate projects to tender for is a key part of the business growth strategy at Quartzelec but it’s not just the size of the contracts that can vary. When dealing junior schools in particular the design and installation of all the utilities have to be appropriate to the size and height of the pupils. Things like low sinks and appropriately placed power sockets all have to be factored in, along with compliance to the additional health & safety regulations applicable to work implemented in schools.

“Having grown significantly over the past couple of years we’ve recruited new engineers plus increased our apprenticeship programme but all our employees are really versatile, easily adapting between projects, and always take real pride in their work. We are already tendering for the next phase of schools projects and when the current ones are complete our engineers will in the interim, be moving on to other similarly demanding commercial contracts.”