Flexicon’s Safe and Secure Cable Protection Solution for UK’s Largest Prison

19-10-2018

Flexicon’s Safe and Secure Cable Protection Solution for UK’s Largest Prison

Flexicon worked with Precast Concrete Structures to deliver cable protection and containment within prefabricated concrete walls and ceilings during the construction of the new prison in Wrexham County Borough.
HM Prison Berwyn, completed in Autumn last year, is the largest in the UK housing up to 2,106 category C prisoners in almost 1,500 cells.

The Design for Manufacture and Assembly Project saw the walls and ceiling for each prison cell constructed off site complete with fully contained services and then delivered for assembly.

Says Paul Smith, Technical Manager for Precast Concrete Structures: “Providing a precast concrete wall or ceiling that can be simply slotted into place and then connected to all services involves a lot of planning and co-ordination throughout the supply chain.

“For the electrical services we specified flexible conduit rather than rigid stainless steel because it is easier to fit it through the rebar steel cage, particularly when some of the conduit runs could be 3.5 metres long.

“For offsite manufacture it is important to work closely with the supply chain to ensure that we deliver an optimum solution. Flexicon worked with us from the beginning to provide the cable protection and containment solution.  In fact we were so impressed with their knowledge and innovation that we will be working with them to develop special solutions for future projects.

Each conduit terminates into a junction box, which is also contained within the structure of the wall.  Both ends are then sealed before the concrete is poured to form the structure.  The complete sections were then delivered to site for assembly. 

Precast Concrete Structures used Flexicon’s FPP flexible conduit, which being resistant to acid and alkaline environments is ideal for applications buried in concrete.  The FPA fittings used are tamper proof requiring a tool to remove them, have a high tensile strength, an IP rating of IP66 and are fast and easy to fit with a one-piece construction making it less likely that parts will be dropped or lost onsite.”

Says Tim Creedon, Sales and Marketing Director for Flexicon: “This is a great example of why it pays to use a British based manufacturer. We can input into the process and advise accordingly on the correct specification to both provide long-term cable containment and protection plus make installation simpler and faster saving valuable time. We can also deal with the logistics of deliveries for both off site and on site construction. ”

“And in the spirit of continuous improvement and innovation we carry on working with installers and specifiers to further improve both the process and the final installation.  This may be as simple as providing pre-cut lengths of conduit to site or even developing a bespoke solution to meet particular requirements.”

Flexicon has over 60 flexible conduit systems available as standard and can also work with customers to develop bespoke solutions.

For further information contact: Flexicon ltd, Roman Way, Coleshill, Birmingham. B46 1HG.  Tel:  01675 466900.  Email: FlexiconSales@atkore.com.