11 March 2016

Quartzelec, via its Leeds building services and electrical contracting operation that opened just a year ago, successfully bid for and is currently delivering a £1m M&E contract as part of a multi-million pound project for the new archive building in Wakefield, which will become home to historical records of regional, national and international importance.

The £6.4m West Yorkshire Archive Building will eventually house over 10 million historical records over three floors. These will include the collections of the old West Yorkshire and West Riding Councils, and the current Wakefield district council. All the court proceedings of the former county of the West Riding, which was the third largest and most populous English county, will also be included along with a large collection of the National Coal Board's mining records and the UNESCO recognised files of the Stanley Royd Mental Health Hospital.  A local history centre is also being incorporated into the ground floor, which will offer a diverse programme of events, courses and opportunities for regional, local and family history engagement, and where groups can explore their heritage. 

“Being awarded the electrical and mechanical contract elements for this prestigious and iconic building was a major step forward in helping establish our operation here in Leeds,” stated Andrew Maloney the Manager at Quartzelec’s Leeds offices. “Significant planning and preparation work was required and we’ve had up to 20 qualified engineers working in close partnership with the main contractor and others on-site to help plan and deliver this project both on time and to budget. Quartzelec’s involvement includes provision of the hot and cold water services, the building management system and a sophisticated access control solution, plus the electrical, lighting and fire Alarms. The archive storage areas on the upper floors are particularly impressive as they are carefully controlled using state of the art equipment to ensure all the unique items remain in excellent condition for this and future generations.”

Andrew continued: “With the number of sizeable developments across the region and the UK as a whole rising, one initial challenge on this project was to assign a team with the necessary mix of skills to deliver on all aspects of the contract. Our reputation as employer, coupled with key people becoming available from other projects, good logistic planning and our apprenticeship programme helping to train up the next generation of skilled electricians, engineers and project managers together meant we quickly identified all the resources we’d need for this project plus have the ability to flexibly resource for other similar projects in the pipeline.”

Designed by architects Broadway Malyan, the construction project is due for completion in the next few months and is being led by Leeds-based Bardsley Construction Yorkshire. The project is being jointly funded by the five West Yorkshire Councils, West Yorkshire Joint Services and Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) which awarded a £3.9m grant to create a new permanent home for the region's archives.  In addition to this project, Quartzelec has secured a steady stream of sub £1m M&E design, delivery and support contracts plus is now successfully competing and winning an ever increasing number of large, prestigious projects.  Each typically includes delivering complex and integrated heating, electrical, water, ventilation, communications, building management and lighting systems and recent wins include: a £4.6m contract from main contractor Morgan Sindall plc, its largest ever contract to date, that covers four significant new framework schools projects located in Preston, Widnes, Birkenhead and Blacon Cheshire; a £3+m M&E design and installation contract for 135 bespoke homes for the over 55s for Wythenshawe Community Housing Group (WCHG) in South Manchester; a £1.4m project for the new Wirral Met College Campus at Wirral Waters; a £1.6m refurbishment contract for Manchester Metropolitan University; the final £700k refurbishment phase at Wakefield’s Grade II listed Carnegie Library and Art House; the sympathetic £700k refit of the Green Howards Regimental Museum in Richmond, just north of York; and a £1.58m 10-floor housing development at One Smithfield Square in Manchester’s fashionable Northern Quarter.

Quartzelec has an annual turnover in excess of £60m and a heritage that stretches back more than 80 years. The company delivers design, manufacturing, installation, maintenance and service solutions to customers operating across a broad range of industrial and commercial sectors.