Birmingham contractors power up first phase of new student village
Marcus Aniol, managing director of JS Wright (left) and John Hawkes, managing director of JT Hawkes, check out the plant room for the firs phase of a new £215 million student village at Aston University. These two contractors worked with main contractor Carillion to deliver a range of sustainable eco-friendly M&E services for this development, which achieved a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating and is now open to students.
JS Wright completed the £5 million contract to install low-pressure-hot-water heating, hot and cold water services, ventilation, drainage, automatic building controls and rainwater harvesting for the 1300-bed first phase. The rainwater harvesting system will reduce the water bill by £1600 a year.
JT Hawkes delivered two 11 kV electrical substations and lighting distribution network for the two blocks of nine and 18 storeys. Voltage optimisers on each substation are expected to achieve energy savings of around 20%. The company also installed a wind turbine with a vertical axis and a more efficient alternative to one with a horizontal axis.
