PTSG Is The UK’s Leading Provider Of Lightning Protection Services - Here’s Why
PTSG Electrical Services Ltd combines the talent and experience of some of the UK’s leading practitioners in their field. In lightning protection, this includes JW Gray – dating back to 1835, it is believed to be the oldest trading service provider of its kind in the UK, possibly even in Europe. Further companies acquired in the south west, north west, midlands and Scotland give PTSG a national reach.
PTSG Electrical Services Ltd is a member of the Association of Technical Lightning & Access Specialists (ATLAS). Depending on the needs of customers in all sectors, PTSG’s expert design team can provide either a standard or bespoke solution – from the installation of a brand‑new system to the test and inspection, repair or upgrade of an existing system.
PTSG also specialises in the installation, testing, inspection and maintenance of surge protection systems and specialist earthing solutions.
Award‑Nominated Work – Gloucester Energy From Waste Plant
Based on the successful completion of lightning protection and earthing installation works at the Severnside Energy Recovery Centre (SERC) in Avonmouth, PTSG was approached by Urbaser and Balfour Beatty (a joint venture – UBB) to provide a proposal for a similar project in Gloucester Javelin Park, which would later turn into an Energy from Waste (EfW) project.
The Gloucester EfW plant generates energy in the form of electricity via processing and burning waste. After supplying 2.9 MW for the facility’s own needs, the remaining 14.5 MW of electricity is exported to the national grid which is enough power to support around 25,000 homes. The electricity is stepped up to 33Kv through a transformer on site and passes via a substation into the local grid.
Scope Of Work
As the structure was primarily composed of a steel frame and metal clad, it is in essence a self-conducting building; therefore, PTSG’s engineers had to ensure that every item of metal work within the facility was suitably earthed. The supporting steel work and secondary steel work that was required to support the internal parts of the facility was a main focal point and a big priority in ensuring that every steel column had a direct connection to the floor slab reinforcing.
In order to ensure all connections were installed, every steel connection was itemised and logged and the table updated for UBB to plot into their model. There was close coordination between the concrete pourers the steel frame erectors and the UBB project managers to make sure that the connection to the floor slab was installed in time for the concrete to be poured and the connection to the steel to be made in the correct order and timing to ensure that there were no delays to any trade and more importantly to make sure it did not affect the overall contract programme.
Once the main installation had been completed, the next challenge was ensuring the overall earthing system could be tested accurately. Given the sheer size of the complex, this meant running long leads out almost two kilometres away to ensure engineers were far enough away from the building so that the resistance value was not influenced by the natural earth of the building.
PTSG collaborated with the site team to look at the surrounding areas and agree a route. On one side of the facility, there was the M5 motorway – therefore, engineers were forced to run the leads out diagonally away from the facility in the opposite direction across two large fields. Close coordination and discussions took place with the local farmers and they finally agreed to PTSG run leads through their fields to carry out the calculations and completed the works.
These sort of projects come along every couple of years and a keen eye for detail is required both on site and off. PTSG completed works around December 2019, some three years after receiving the order. A real sense of achievement is felt when signing off a project so large and so important for the area.
Click the article to enlarge it.
