18 January 2015

Quartzelec’s Manchester based building services and electrical contracting business has just secured, via construction and infrastructure company Morgan Sindall, a £1.4 Million M&E design project for the new Wirral Met College Campus at Wirral Waters. 

Being constructed on two floors to provide over 4300 sq metres of educational and administration space, the college building is set on the Bank of the River Mersey, part of the largest regeneration area of the UK.  The campus aims to set new design standards and make the engineering a real life learning experience for students, staff and visitors, so particular attention to detail is required.  With the majority of the engineering services systems being ‘exposed’ as ‘features’ within the building, appropriate materials and methods to achieve a high standard of finish need to be used and the installation is anticipated to be ‘functional, utilitarian, and an essay to construction’.

Quartzelec’s remit covers the design, installation, testing and commissioning of the full Mechanical and Electrical installations on the project which is scheduled to be delivered between May and September, with up to 20 qualified Quartzelec engineers working on the project at any given time, working in parallel with other contractors. It is also envisaged that the project should achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating and some of the technologies being used include LED lighting, a CHP unit, heat recovery units and under floor heating. 

“Being awarded this contract is the culmination of months of hard work and planning and is the perfect start to 2015,” stared Martin Broughton, General Manager for Quartzelec’s Manchester operation. “We are pleased to have the opportunity to extend our already strong working relationship with Morgan Sindall and because of the exposed nature of the project; attention to detail is paramount and look forward to developing and delivering the various elements over the coming months.  2014 was another fantastic growth year for our part of the business, with a series of significant contract wins that recognise our high level of customer services and our ability to deliver professional, cost effective and well designed and implemented high and low voltage installation and maintenance projects in the UK’s fiercely competitive electrical contracting sector.”

The new Wirral Met College Campus at Wirral Waters is part of a long term vision by Peel Group to transform 500 acres of Birkenhead dockland, part of the Mersey Waters Enterprise Zone and will be a dedicated Built Environment, Skills and Enterprise Centre that provides young adults with relevant skills aligned to local industries.

Wirral Waters is part of a key regeneration strategy for the North West which should feature more than 50 projects with £50 billion of private investment over the next 50 years. Planning permission for Wirral Waters was first received back in mid 2012 and the emphasis at the site to date for the main project contractors and architects has been focussed on the lengthy process of site preparation, remediation and infrastructure.

In addition to a steady stream of contract wins and renewals, like the recently delivered M&E services for the Grade II listed Wilton Music Hall in Tower Hamlets in London as part of an extensive and demanding restoration project, 2014 saw Quartzelec’s building services and electrical contracting business secure a number of prestigious multi-million pound contracts.  These included framework agreements for both Anglian Water and Yorkshire Water covering the planned and reactive delivery of a range of mechanical and electrical services; Completing a £1.58m, ten month full M&E installation project for a 10-floor housing development at One Smithfield Square in Manchester’s fashionable Northern Quarter; Delivering all the necessary related works for the new heating, electrical, water, ventilation, communications and lighting systems within the Sheffield Cathedral Gateway Project; A £1.4m multi utility contract with Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust; And undertaking all the lighting, power, containment and life safety systems as part of a £1.6m refurbishment of two buildings in the city centre for Manchester Metropolitan University.