The Client
St. William’s Catholic Academy, Trimdon, Sedgefield.
The Brief
The building of St. William’s Catholic Academy, Trimdon, has been standing for around 40 years; and, as a result of a recent fixed electrical inspection, was discovered to require a full rewire; as well as an updated fire alarm system.
The Activity:
Working alongside some of our long-standing collaborators, T. Manners & Sons (Stuart Patrick), KYOOB Engineer Steve Irving, and Andy Owens plastering services; Tomlinson Longstaff installed a brand new section distribution board, requiring 7 additional sub-distribution boards.
New steel wire armoured cabling was introduced to enable greater efficiency in electrical transmission for the new submains feeding the distribution boards located around the building. Low Smoke Zero Halogen (LSOH) cabling was used throughout the school for lighting and power supplies.
We worked closely with Pointer Fire (Brian Frampton) to ensure that the fire alarm system we were installing was the best design and sensitivity solution for St. William’s; and provided training to the school Headteacher and Caretaker so that they were understanding of the fire alarm system and could operate and manage it independently in the future.
Our final solution for this job was to add access control to the gates and main entrance doors to the school building, partnering with IES (Will Wilson) increasing the safeguarding provision within the school. A Paxton video intercom system was installed.
Due to the rewire and fire alarm system installation being required to be completed over the 6-week summer holiday period, time was tight; and compounded by global staffing and skill base shortages as well as the management of staffing levels due to Covid.
But thanks to the dedication of our team and our excellent working relationships with our collaborators and suppliers; the full job was completed fully within the time constraints.
The Result:
Despite the challenges faced, as well as some design amendments and adaptations; Tomlinson Longstaff completed the full rewire and fire alarm system installation on time and to the exceptional standards expected.
St. William’s Catholic Academy now benefits not only from the knowledge that the electric wiring and fire alarm system meets the required standards and compliance, creating a more secure environment for their pupils and staff, but financial savings will also be evident for the school due to the LED lighting solutions installed, reducing energy usage and thereby energy costs.
We’d like to thank not only our working partners; but also Park Electrical (Tony Arena) and Pointer Fire for supplying the various lighting and electrical requirements for the job.
We look forward to building on our professional relationship with St. William’s Catholic Academy in the future, and are always on hand to answer any future queries, quickly and efficiently.
Our installation at St. William’s ended up in the NICEIC Connections Magazine!
Read more about our eduction sector installations.
Tomlinson Longstaff Ltd is an electrical contractor based in Country Durham, north east England. We offer a wide range of electrical services including design, testing, installation and maintenance.