Delayed Payments Still Causing Concern

Delayed payments continue to be a major cause of concern for businesses providing building services, new industry research has found.

The overwhelming majority of responders to the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA) survey indicated that in the final quarter of 2015 they were not always paid within 30 days. These payment terms are widely understood to be good practice in the sector.

Only 8% of contractors said that all public sector work was paid on time during this period. In the private sector, this figure was even lower with just 6% of respondents saying they had received payment within 30 days.

The survey also found that eight out of ten building and electrical services firms had increased their turnovers in the period. Specialist areas which enjoyed the most growth included: data communications, audio visual systems, fire and security, systems, and building energy management systems.

The research was produced in association with Scolmore.

Future Wind Turbines Likely To Be Higher Than The Gherkin

Wind turbines higher than London’s Gherkin are likely to be more common in future, according to a global power engineering specialist company.

K2 Management consultants believe that new manufacturing techniques will mean turbine heights are likely to soar up to 170 metres in the coming years. This is almost as high as the Eiffel Tower and taller than the BT Tower.

Over the last decade turbines have grown steadily in height as operators seek stronger wind speeds higher up.

A MW turbine located in a forest, for instance, with an average wind speed of 6 metres per second will meet 13% more wind speed if the turbine height doubled from 70 to 140 metres, according to wind resource engineers.

Going higher still to 170 metres is predicted to boost energy yield by 35% on average.

Ellis Clamps Supplied For Hong Kong High Speed Rail Extension

Manufacturer Ellis has supplied a total of 125,000 cable clamps for the Hong Kong MTR network high speed rail extension.

The clamps are being used to secure pilot, power, and fibre optic cables throughout all the tunnels in the Hong Kong section of the Express Rail Link (XRL).

XLR runs from the Shenzhen Hong Kong Boundary – where it connects to the China Mainland – to West Kowloon.

When fully operational, trains will be able to operate at a maximum speed of 200km per hour. Journey times would be cut by an average of 50%.

ETS Cable Components are the official suppliers, stockists and distributors of Ellis Patents cable cleats and clamps in the UK. See the extensive range here.

Images from ‘Aurelien Guichard’ (Guerkin) and ‘Patrickmak’ (Wind Turbine) – Creative Commons Licence.