CMD Ltd puts University of Birmingham’s News School of Engineering on Track for Future Flexibility
CMD Ltd, the specialist in workplace connectivity and ergonomics, has supplied the power distribution and workstation power modules for the University of Birmingham’s £47 million School of Engineering.
The showpiece development will create a centre of engineering excellence for the university, with pioneering facilities that will drive interdisciplinary study and collaboration between the university and private sector companies. The facilities include an anechoic chamber for specialist experiments, and a laboratory environment designed for research into digital railway engineering, complete with a rail cab and hydrogen powered train track.
CMD Ltd has supplied more than 1km of its ‘plug and play’ Betatrak® busbar powertrack system to enable the installation of an agile power distribution network throughout the building. The 63A Standard Earth Betatrak® system offers effective futureproofing for the state-of-the-art facilities, with ease of reconfiguration and the capacity to add or alter the position of tap-offs every 30cm.
Alongside the Betatrak® system, CMD Ltd has also supplied more than 1000 of the company’s Conti under desk workstation power modules and the same number of 210mm cable grommets, enabling the workstations to connect to the underfloor power distribution network. Working with the client to tailor the under desk workstation units to the requirements of different areas of the building, CMD Ltd provided more than 20 Conti configurations, comprising power and prewired data configurations, along with 16A RCBO protection.
CMD Ltd was also responsible for the supply of on desk workstation power modules. The company provided c.1500 Contour on desk modules in anodised silver with white fascias to complement the high tech research environment. Each of these modules combines two 13A power sockets with twin 5A Type A chargers.
For the lab areas, CMD Ltd also supplied the company’s surface workstation power modules, providing power and twin 5A Type A charging for workstation locations.
A number of 20 Series Fast Fit Floor Boxes and Cleaners’ Hives were also supplied by CMD Ltd.
John Archer, Area Sales Manager at CMD Ltd commented: “This project continues our enviable track record in the higher education sector in an environment designed to combine commercial R&D projects with pioneering education and research.
“We were able to offer a complete solution to take power distribution from the switchboard to the point of use at each workstation, with sufficient resilience and flexibility to continue adapting to changing needs in a fast-paced, high-tech setting.”
