In recent Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) testing, the results showed that the cool roof coating, Belzona 3111 (Flexible Membrane), exhibited high solar reflectance properties with an average* SRI of 99.4%. Considering the vicious cycle of increased global temperatures leading to an increased use of air conditioning, which exacerbates the problem further, polymeric technology like this plays a valuable role in mitigating this damaging process.

*Average figure based on SRI calculated in low, medium and high winds.

EngineeringUK has today launched its policy asks for the next government which are centred around 2 clear priorities: workforce planning and STEM education and skills.

With engineering jobs expected to grow faster than other occupations across the UK between now and 2030, (Engineering Skills Needs – now and into the future 2023) and a lack of people and skills to deliver infrastructure improvements, decarbonisation and growth, the new government needs to urgently address skills shortages and the UK’s changing labour market needs.  

EngineeringUK wants the next government to take a more strategic approach to address skills shortages and the UK’s changing labour market need, and for this to be led by the Cabinet Office. The not-for-profit believes consolidating the work of existing skills taskforces under a new cross-departmental skills committee will encourage collaboration,  reduce siloed thinking and support the next government’s ambitions to grow the economy.

EngineeringUK also wants the new government to develop a holistic STEM education and skills plan, which, if acted on, will help deliver the engineering and technology workforce that the UK so urgently needs, which will address issues and concerns in the education sector.

EngineeringUK’s policy priorities for the next government: 

Strategic workforce planning:

• Establish a national engineering & technology workforce strategy
• Ensure a strategic approach to workforce planning based on workforce needs
• Enhance diversity in the STEM workforce
• Support international talent via appropriate immigration and visa systems
• Link STEM education and skills planning to the strategic workforce plan

STEM education and skills plan:

• Deliver on careers provision
• Grow and sustain engineering apprenticeships for young people
• Commit to T Levels
• Improve STEM teacher recruitment, training and retention

Head of Public Affairs and Policy, Beatrice Barleon comments, “We are asking the next government to take urgent action on workforce planning and address the critical challenges we are facing over STEM skills and teacher shortages in schools and FE providers.”

“Specifically, we want the new government in its first 100 days in office to commit to a national workforce strategy.

“On apprenticeships and T levels, we want to see better access for young people and a commitment that T Levels will continue in England. We also need a long-term careers strategy to ensure schools and colleges have the funding and up-to-date knowledge of 21^st engineering careers required to support and inspire young people.”

EngineeringUK are calling on the next government to tackle the STEM teacher shortages head on and invest more in Continuous Professional Development training for STEM teachers. Evidence shows this has a positive impact on teacher retention. 

Read the policy asks in full

For more information visit: EngineeringUK's website

— Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, has announced that Tottenham Hotspur Football Club has been recognised as a European winner in its annual Sustainability Impact Awards.  

Port of Dover and Platinum Electrical Engineering for its work with Brilliant Planet have also been announced as UK winners. 

The awards are designed to recognise organisations that are making a positive impact on sustainability, showing leadership and innovation as the world looks to reduce its carbon emissions.  

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club – transforming to become the most technologically advanced stadium in the world 

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is on a journey to operate and maintain the most technologically advanced stadium in the world whilst supporting its journey to net-zero. 

The club is driving innovation and technology initiatives to ensure the stadium operations are as energy efficient as possible, using only 100 per cent renewable energy to power all electrical equipment on site. Its award-winning stadium is regarded as a global benchmark for design and innovation and the club has been named as the Premier League’s greenest club for four successive years. 

In September 2021, the stadium was home to the world’s first net-zero football match, #GameZero, raising awareness of the impact of major sporting events on our climate amongst millions of footballs fans around the world  

Port of Dover – taking an ecosystem-wide approach to decarbonisation 

Port of Dover plays a critical role in the supply of essential goods to the UK with 33% of all UK trade with the EU passing through the port. Its ecosystem accounts for 8% of all UK maritime emissions and Port of Dover is on a mission to reduce this, setting itself challenging targets on the road to decarbonisation. 

Through investment and innovation Port of Dover has reduced its own emissions by 95% since 2007. The introduction of smart lighting design/management, the electrification of heating systems, a move to Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) for plant, machinery and vehicles, and the use of building management systems are just some of the initiatives that have helped it make huge strides to decarbonise operations and become more energy efficient. 

Port of Dover plans to decarbonise its remaining ecosystem emissions through electrification and is embarking on an ambitious project to become one of the first high volume Green Corridors in the UK. It is exploring the possibility of shore power as ships transition to become fully electric, transforming from a transport hub to an energy provider through onsite energy generation and microgrids. 

Platinum Electrical Engineering – creative approach to industrial automation for Brilliant Planet as it looks to build its global presence for commercial-scale carbon capture  

Gateshead-based Platinum Electrical Engineering, an award-winning systems integrator, delivered a software-centric industrial automation project for Brilliant Planet. 

London-based Brilliant Planet is a pioneer in low-cost, carbon capture which is crucial in our efforts to tackle climate change. It grows vast quantities of algae which can sequester up to 30 times more carbon from the atmosphere than the same area of forest. After several years of research, development, and trials, Brilliant Planet is now ready to scale up and build its presence worldwide. 

The carbon capture process requires a highly flexible and efficient control system that can easily scale as needed. Platinum Electrical Engineering’s approach to the project showed great creativity and depth of knowledge in its use of Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Automation Expert. As a result, it was able to easily troubleshoot and adapt industrial processes to meet Brilliant Planet’s specific needs and deliver a completely bespoke and scalable system. 

It means Brilliant Planet can reduce the time spent integrating and testing control software at each of its sites, getting up and running much more quickly in new locations as it builds its global presence. 

Kelly Becker, President UK&I at Schneider Electric said: "Each of our Impact Award winners is leading the way to sustainability. They went above and beyond in terms of our judging criteria when it comes to innovation, inspiration, and leadership. The focus of our next edition of these awards remains on decarbonization efforts to electrify, reduce, and replace, and we’re looking forward to learning about those projects in due course.” 

Belzona UK has announced that Mr Jérémie Maillard has been appointed as Managing Director.

Mr Maillard is the newest appointment following the creation of Belzona UK as an independent distributorship in January 2024, servicing the UK with industrial repair and maintenance solutions.

With eighteen years within the Belzona community, Mr Maillard’s expertise ranges from Mechanical and Chemical Engineering as well as Business Development and sales. Beginning his career in 2006, providing technical advice and training to international Distributors, he went on to offer commercial support to increase the market penetration of Belzona solutions in Europe and Africa.

More recently, Mr Maillard was instrumental in establishing an independent Belzona Distributorship in Germany, overseeing the North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and Thuringia regions. With this experience, Jérémie is ideally placed to provide a new vision for the domestic UK market.

Asking Mr Maillard about his mission as newly appointed Managing Director, he says, “We want to strengthen our position in the field of composite repairs and specialist protective coatings and assist the key industries present in the UK. Our aim is to offer end users the opportunity to use Belzona solutions, either themselves, via our own Application Team or via a Trained Contractor.”

Mr Maillard continues, “I will communicate the strategy for the next three years with specific industry targets to ensure optimum cohesion and collaboration between the various aspects of the business, including: Sales, Training, Application Service, Customer Service and Marketing.”

Belzona is a global leader in providing repair and maintenance solutions to all industries. Belzona UK was established to create specialised focus in supporting industries to help conserve equipment and facilities within the UK. Our solutions empower the industry to reduce its ecological footprint by rehabilitating and sustaining the life and performance of its physical assets.

For more information, please visit: www.belzona.co.uk

A bitumen tape wrap system from Winn & Coales (Denso) Ltd was utilised for the repair of damaged pipework at the new HS2 terminus at London Euston train station.

Following damage to the existing factory coating, corrosion had already begun to inflict damage upon the pipe and had propagated underneath the coating itself, causing it to delaminate. To eliminate further damage, the Denso^™ Bitumen Tape Wrap System was applied to not only protect the pipe from the effects of further corrosion, but to provide a large degree of mechanical protection too.

Winn & Coales (Denso) Ltd are leading manufacturers and suppliers of corrosion prevention and sealing systems. The bitumen tape wrap system supplied for the project was comprised of a bitumen-based primer (Denso Primer D^™), a heavy-duty PVC-backed bitumen tape (Densoclad 70^™ Tape), and a protective outerwrap (Denso^™ Glass Outerwrap). The protective outerwrap offers exceptional mechanical and impact strength for buried pipes exposed to aggressive backfill conditions. Once applied and fully cured, the whole system provides a long-term protective coating that is ready for immediate service.

www.denso.net

Landia has won important new orders from the food industry for its Chopper Pumps to work in wastewater treatment applications.

In the north of England, for a family business that specialises in authentic Halal foods in small, starter portions and snacks, two 7.5kW Chopper Pumps made by Landia are due to be installed for an end-of-process tank where solids need to be continuously reduced in size.

In the Midlands, four Landia Chopper Pumps are heading to a multi-million-pound-business that focuses on prepared main-meal foods and plant-based industries. The new 18.5kW units are a repeat order for Landia, whose Chopper Pumps are replacing models made by a different pump manufacturer that have caused downtime due to blockages.

And in the South West of England, two new Landia Chopper pumps have been ordered for a food manufacturing firm that has become a leading supplier of desserts. These 5.5kW pumps are highly efficient at handing effluent that contains problematical solids, but are very low on energy consumption.

Howard Burton, Technical Sales, Landia UK, commented:

“Demand for our proven Chopper Pump, which was invented by Landia in 1950, remains as strong as ever, because it is a long-lasting, no-nonsense piece of simple yet highly effective engineering that gets on with the job.

“We’ve seen strong interest of late from the food industry, where total cost of ownership is more important than ever.”

In addition to these new orders, Landia has completed successful installations with companies that include Deeside Cereals, which saw the Landia Chopper Pump as the central part of a new AirJet aeration system.

Landia’s AirJet has also been introduced at Timothy Taylor’s brewery, where the existing pumps used for a balance tank were not providing enough agitation to adequately keep solids in suspension.

01948 661 200

www.landiaworld.com

We aim to establish a directory of businesses supporting the steam industry, providing end users with a centralised resource for services, products and expertise. Our easy to navigate website features categorised sections which enables services to be located with ease. Additionally we utilise social media to share members services, products and case studies with a wide audience.

Our mission is to support business and end users of steam and boiler systems across manufacturing, process and industrial environments. By fostering a network that facilitates business to business interactions, we aim to address the growing scarcity of engineering disciplines in todays industrial sectors.

Our platform is broken down into key elements supporting the generation and distribution of steam. The main categories being:

• Burner Manufactures
• Boiler Manufacturers
• Consultancy Services
• Training Providers
• Components and Ancillaries
• Control and Automation
• Temporary Solutions
• Water Treatment
• Chimneys and Flues
• Emissions

So how can Steam Network benefit me?

If you’re a Businesses supplying products, service into the steam industry:

By becoming a member of Steam Network UK offers businesses a unique opportunity to be listed under categories specific to their services and products. We will actively promote your business to our extensive network and end users. As the only directory dedicated to supporting the steam industry, Steam Network UK ensures that your services are showcased to key stakeholders in need of your expertise.

If you are an end user of Steam and boiler systems:

In need of a boiler service engineer, Combustion Engineer, new Water treatment? Then look no further, Steam Network UK has all the contacts you need at your finger tips.

Our website allows for individuals to search the directory for relevant services that they may require. Whether you work in Engineering, Procurement, Management or Health and Safety, you’re sure to find a member that can support your needs.

Whether you are on the look out for a new Boiler, Water treatment services or stack emissions testing, then Steam Network can put you in contact direct with a reputable business to support you and your asset base. Partnering with one of our members provides peace of mind that your assets are in the capable hands of the UK’s leading specialist in their field of expertise.

Visit www.steamnetwork.co.uk today, to find the support you need.

Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. should you have any further questions.

Hart Doors has completed two more contracts featuring its Speedor high-speed doors on one contract and a large double reduction chain operated shutter on the other contract.

John Loftus, a senior manager at Hart Doors, says the recent contracts show the flexibility the company offers. “Hart’s durable rolling shutter doors have been installed for a leading supplier of construction and building materials in the UK and Hart’s high speed door, Speedor, has been installed for the UK arm of a global company in the specialised eatery sector.”

“Our product choice is an immensely attractive option for a very wide range of business categories which inevitably are faced with many different requirements. Hart’s roller shutters are available in a wide range of  sizes, specifications and colours to suit virtually any application. Further they are designed and manufactured in the UK to the highest quality and safety standards in solid steel or aluminium, with optional insulation.

“As a result we supply a huge range of industrial and commercial premises, in fact anywhere that requires protection from physical attack or fire. Our shutters are available in sizes up to 10m. Hart’s roller shutters can be manufactured with light or heavy-duty wind resistance, for low or high use or standard opening/closing or high speed.

“The shutters can be manufactured in a choice of plastisol or powder coat finishes, in a variety of colours. Automatic or manual electric operation is available, as are a range of safety devices for pedestrian use, all complying with the Machinery Directive 2008.”

The Speedor has been installed at a UK facility for an international specialist retailer within the eatery sector. “The company is viewed as  one of the most innovative and scientific in the World,” says Mr Loftus. “Our Speedor has been installed for the UK & Ireland arm of the business.”

www.hartdoors.com

WearDetect IoT combines Gill’s market leading oil debris sensors with Gill’s new IoT data platform to provide seamless equipment oversight for confident asset management.

Gill’s WearDetect oil debris sensors reduce unplanned downtime by continuously monitoring ferrous wear debris in lubricating oil to give the earliest maintenance warnings. This real-time condition monitoring, right in the heart of the equipment, is made all the more powerful when combined with the ability to collect, visualise and analyse that data using the Gill IoT Platform.

WearDetect IoT also allows alerts to be configured from multiple assets and multiple locations and sent straight to your PC, phone or other device, providing insight into gearbox and rotating equipment health, at your fingertips.

• Enhanced data collection & analysis – data assimilated from remote sensors in one simple-to-use platform.
• Remote monitoring and control – remote asset oversight enables timely maintenance.
• Scalability and flexibility – additional sensors can be added to the platform enabling systems to meet changing requirements.

WearDetect IoT offers:

• Real-time condition monitoring – live updates, alerts and machine wear data insights direct to your device.
• Precision sensing – WearDetect employs advanced solid-state sensors (no moving parts) to detect both fine and coarse ferrous wear debris.
• Trending data for predictive analysis – the Gill IoT Platform allows data visualisation for clearer insights supporting informed decision making.
• Instant alerts – user specified alarms ensure users are aware of changes as soon as they occur.
• User-friendly intuitive interface – easy data access and settings configuration puts the user in control.

Typical applications include:

• Industrial machinery – centralising wear data for rotating equipment allows maintenance professionals to pinpoint issues and minimise downtime.
• Automotive production – visualising wear data provides clearer and earlier maintenance insights on production lines with numerous loaded gearboxes.
• Cranes – heavily loaded critical gearboxes in hard to access locations benefit from remote wear monitoring.
• Wind farms – supports wind turbine gearbox monitoring and proactive, data-informed maintenance scheduling.

All Gill products are solid state, with no moving parts for minimal maintenance and low cost of ownership.

Gill Sensors & Controls is an established leader in the design and manufacture of advanced measurement sensors. Gill specialises in providing cutting edge products for level sensing and real-time ferrous wear detection, delivering market-leading performance and reliability. 

Gill is based in the UK with facilities including R&D, manufacturing, sales and customer support but also sells across the world through a long-established base of highly experienced distributors.

One of the UK’s most progressive pig production companies has completed the first phase of a major new upgrade to its slurry tanks by installing mixers made by Landia.

Serving concrete tanks manufactured by A-Consult, and steel tanks produced by Reliant Installations, a total of 14 Landia mixers have been supplied to Yorkworld Pigpro in recent years, who at any one time, have 100,000 pigs on the ground.

Landia has also been awarded a contract to service the mixers every twelve months across sites in Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.

“In the process of upgrading and putting up some new precast concrete slurry tanks supplied by A-Consult, it was time we also introduced some proper preventative maintenance,” said Joe Dewhirst, Group Managing Director of Yorkwold Pigpro.

“We’ve used Landia mixers previously, and they also came highly recommended by both A-Consult and Reliant Installations, so we know they will do a good job and last ten years or more if well serviced. And importantly, that in addition to the servicing, we’ll also get good back up from Landia when we need it.”

Each of the 14 Landia POP mixers are 18.5kW, designed to effectively mix slurry (with a high dry-matter content) in short intervals that keep energy consumption as low as possible.

The 14 Landia mixers that help the management of slurry are installed in seven slurry stores across a group of Yorkwold’s breeding units in the region.

“The upgrade of our tanks and mixing systems increases our capacity, and allows us to store our slurry for longer, when required,” added Joe Dewhirst.

“During the main spreading times in spring and autumn, we can run the mixers for 12 hours in advance; with a timing and control system that Landia has also developed for us. These long-lasting mixers create a very good homogenous mix, even when they run for just one hour per day.

“As well as improving our preventative maintenance, we are also monitoring our energy costs far more closely, so the control system from Landia ensures that the mixers (especially at 18.5kW) are only running when they really need to.”

For its wheat, barley and hybrid rye production, that are part of the Dewhirst Farming Group with E.Reed & Son, the homogenised slurry significantly reduces the use of costly fertiliser, boosting crop production by adding much-need nitrogen, especially in the spring.

“Overall,” continued Joe Dewhirst, “the Landia mixers play a very important part in improving our slurry management, and the equally good partnerships we have with A-Consult, and Reliant Installations means we have the best of both worlds.”

Yorkwold Pigpro has a closed breeding pyramid that produces all its own replacement breeding stock. Continuous improvement of its practices and facilities ensures that conditions on its farms are of the highest standard; creating a working environment that is great for its people, that in turn, allows them to take great care of the 190,000 pigs that are produced per year.

www.landia.co.uk

www.aconsult.co.uk

www.reliant-tanks.co.uk