South Gloucestershire Council

AllPower were contracted as main contractor to carry out the supply, installation and commission of the following:

• Ground works consisting of trenching, ducting, plinths, curbing and line marking
• Bespoke 2150A rated busbar
• 800A LV cubicle panel located within the existing LV Switch room
• 800A LV Panel Board within new external enclosure
• External enclosure housing LV Panel board and Distribution boards
• Distribution boards for EV Circuits
• 10 no. EV Car Chargers

The project commenced in March 2020 and ran through to June 2020. The site had to be carefully segregated as the main Council offices were still in use during the project. As the works were predominantly within the main car park of the site, steel plates were required to bridge the new cable trenches and ensure that staff could safely navigate the car park safety barriers, with fencing erected to provide safe access and egress routes at all times.

The works commenced with excavations for the new cable trenches and installation of cable ducts for the new submains and EV charger circuits. Plinths were formed for the ten car charging points and the new external LV panel housing.

Internal works within the existing LV Switch room consisted of a new ladder rack over the new LV panel to provide a cable route for the parallel 240mm SWA Submains, which were needed to feed the external EV Car charger panel board. A bespoke section of 2150A busbar was added to modify the existing busbar system, providing a supply to the new LV Panel.

The external LV works required the installation of a new GRP enclosure to house the LV panel board and distribution boards feeding the EV chargers. From this new enclosure the final circuits were installed to the individual EV charger positions. Ten EV charging points were then installed on the cast-in bases. All terminations and commissioning were then completed together with final ground works and line marking of new vehicle bays.

A really interesting project to be requested as main contractor for and a great opportunity to showcase the supply and installation of a large number of EV charging stations for this very important client at their head office. It also provided an opportunity for our team to demonstrate their expertise and quality of installation which could only be achieved with Allpower’s careful planning and co-ordination. As the main contractor on this project we also needed to manage and co-ordinate a large number of contractors and ensure H&S and quality standards were met at each stage of the job.