Switchgear project meticulously managed

Electrical engineering and estates personnel at Sodexo--which manages a wide range of soft and hard facilities management services for five hospitals under a PFI contract at the Manchester Royal Infirmary--have successfully planned, managed, and co-ordinated, a complex electrical engineering project which saw high voltage (HV) switchgear in the site's main intake sub-station dismantled by the supplier to repair a potential earthing mechanism fault which would have prevented individual switchgear panels being shut down, to, for example, cater for renovation of electrical cabling or components cross the site's high voltage network. With detailed planning, including provision for bringing onto site temporary bulk generators, and the formulation of a 600-step switching programme, the replacement of potential faulty driver components in the disconnect mechanism for 20 HV switchgear panels was completed in just four weeks, with minimal interruption to the vast complex's power supply.