Electrical Services Design

We have expertise to provide all elements of electrical design solutions and comprehensive power systems design for any project.  This ranges from high voltage (11kV), mains low voltage (0.4kV) electrical infrastructure in large scale buildings and estates to on floor electrical services and final circuit delivery.

We work with our clients and any in-house specifications or standards as well as local, national and global regulations and codes applicable to the geographical area of the project to understand the client’s needs.  From here we are able provide options and make recommendations early on that provide capacity, flexibility, future growth potential and long-term reliability of the proposed installation.  The services offered include an intimate knowledge of critical power services such as generators, uninterruptible power systems and central lighting battery systems as well as complex electrical control systems to ensure the power gets to where it needs to be during any utility failure scenario.  Core services cover critical business systems and data centre environments and we are well versed in undertaking risk analysis of networks and single points of failure (SPoF) assessments.

We regularly work with complex earthing systems for critical buildings with generator and utility supplies interlinking as well as clean, dirty and standard earthing solutions for various environments such as trading floors, data centres and main electrical switch rooms.

We also offer support and management in the testing of existing complex electrical systems in line with integrated systems testing (IST) and survey works of existing networks.

Lighting Design

We have an ongoing and excellent knowledge of lighting in all sectors where this is an important aspect from a light level and performance perspective as well as energy consumption reduction and improved control. We work on large scale projects of new and refurbishment projects where fluorescent tubes are being replaced for modern LED equivalents with minimal disruption to the business and existing ceiling systems undertaking payback and return on investment calculations as well as support in ECA schemes on rebates. The sectors covered include broadcasting, healthcare, commercial, academic and residential where normal, emergency and control are a key part of delivering a quality solution to the end users.

In addition to modern LED lighting technology deployment we also work with a number of leading lighting control manufacturers to select the correct system for projects of all sizes from 100m², to 100,000m² for new and refurbishment projects.

Fire Alarm Design & Verification

The key to a quick and targeted emergency response and the minimization of damage and loss of life is provided through proper fire alarm design and verification. Systems can range from simple residential battery powered systems to single loop systems to complex systems involving smoke control, pre-action release, fan shut downs, vertical transport interface, stair pressurisation, smoke extract systems, gas suppression systems, VESDA and VIEW systems and much more. We have experience of producing cause and effect matrices for all sizes of system as well as undertaking survey works to establish the C&E for clients where information has been lost over time.

We have a good working knowledge of the British Standards and work on a number of projects where we advise clients of upgrade requirements as part of refurbishment projects where the codes have changed, and the existing system requires upgrade as part of the replacement works.

In addition, we have worked on the design and installation of voice alarm systems which serve as the notification system on buildings rather than bells as well as doubling the system as the personal address system with market leading manufacturers on both fire and voice alarm systems.

Public Health & Water Services Design

We have a public health and water services team available who are can provide our clients with a fully comprehensive service in the design of the public health and water engineering services required in modern buildings as well as any issues in existing buildings related to upgrade or water regulation compliance matters.

We can provide above ground drainage, hot & cold-water infrastructure services design up to point of delivery, as well as sanitary ware selection in conjunction with the project architect or in isolation as required.

Mechanical Services

Our mechanical team is experienced in all elements of assessment, design, specification and support throughout any project regardless of size.  We have extensive experience of small-scale DX, VRF, VRV services as well as large central chiller installations utilising chilled beams (active or passive), VAV, FAT VAV and fan coil units providing cooling solutions to all sizes of building. We work in critical environments specifying and overseeing close control cooling solutions for the range of devices in these applications (CCU, DFU, UFU, PAHU, CRAC).

We work with boiler installations and the full LTHW network for ceiling void solutions such as fan coil units, chilled ceilings as well as wet pipe radiator systems and trench heating solutions and over door heaters to ensure the correct design and installation is provided for each application individually.

In addition to the selection of the main systems we work at performance specification production level of automated building controls (BMS or BEMS) and then develop the solution for full design and install with a specialist contractor of which we have good working relationships with a number of market leading control system providers.

Site Investigation

A large part of our work is for clients looking for up-front advice on either existing site they occupy and are looking to either upgrade and refurbish or vacate and are collecting dilapidation information for discussions with their landlord.  Where clients are looking to acquire new properties of any type (residential or commercial) we have a proven track record in assessing all sites under consideration and providing a scoring matrix on engineering subjects for client review in a language they and all members of the board can understand and make decisions on the basis of.

Where it is an existing site being reviewed for refurbishment this is a strong area of Apex Core’s expertise where we undertake these reviews and produce capital plant replacement strategies.  In these reviews all equipment is identified and established in terms of age and condition and future life expectancy with recommended date of replacement made based on industry standards (CIBSE) and our experience of the installed equipment and environment it operates within and level of maintenance provided.

Utility Supplier Coordination

We work for a number of clients looking to upgrade, replace or remove utility supplies to existing buildings and new sites.  Utility companies are historically notoriously difficult to deal with and although major improvements have been made in this sector in terms of customer support the requirements of these applications can still be daunting to deal with.  Apex Core has a good history of dealing with electricity, water and gas applications of all types on all sizes of properties and are able to assist in any applications you may need to make as part of any sized project within the UK.

Power Quality & Energy Audits

All building owners and occupiers responsible for the utility bills are always looking to reduce energy consumption across their estates, we have worked on all types of buildings to assess the existing installed services across mechanical and electrical services as well as water delivery equipment to identify areas where improvement can be made from changing light fittings, to improving water services lagging and changing direct motors for EC motors as well as modifications to the air control strategy and temperature adjustments. Improvements are recommended on an impact basis of energy savings against cost to implement ratio.

We have undertaken power quality assessments and have experience in voltage optimisation, power factor correction and harmonic filtering services and good relationships with all leading manufacturers of equipment in these sectors.

Electrical System Fault Analysis

Electrical network system studies are conducted using on-site data gathering of protective devices and settings, cable length, busbar length and type and quality of installation which are all major considerations when constructing the desktop computer model for the discrimination study using industry standard software. These studies are conducted to ensure correct operation of the protective devices under fault conditions and to alleviate nuisance tripping of breakers.

We attend site to gather the data, perform the analysis, make recommendations, and advise the client of issues and recommended solutions to remove any risk discovered as part of the examination.

Additionally, we have recently been involved in a number of investigations of the “tin whiskers” phenomenon where copper bar has been annealed with tin to avoid tarnishing as part of the manufacturing process.  This was common place in the late 90’s to mid-00’s. The tin has a tendency to "grow whiskers"  and cause arc’s across the phase bars inside major electrical panels, if the corrective devices are set correctly then the arcing will only cause annoying disturbances to power however if not set correctly and the device does not trip the incident can cause severe risk to anyone in the room of the panel and massive destruction and damage to the panel. The process is relatively simple which is to undertake an investigation and agree remedial works with a switch panel maintenance company.

Commissioning

We offer a full commissioning service through our associated and supporting companies who provide this as a specialist service, as we are involved within projects, we introduce our commissioning engineers at the correct time to become involved in projects at the client’s request. This service can be provided integral to our design services as required or as a separate offering entirely direct with our preferred service providers depending on contract structure and nature.

Design Build

We undertake a large amount of our work directly with multi-discipline services contractors as well as single discipline contractors on a design and build basis where we work directly for the contractor and take a high level performance specification or employers requirements documentation from the ultimate client and develop into a full detailed design package with technical submissions and material samples for the approval of the client and the clients professional team. We then continue throughout the project process developing shop drawings, construction drawings and finally as-built drawings and full operation and maintenance manuals supporting the contractor in all elements of the design, drawings and documentation processes associated with the project cycle of construction.