Safety Switches and Disconnects News

Scolmore is delighted to announce the appointment of Darren Staniforth, one of the electrical industry’s leading technical experts, to the newly created role of Head of Technical Engagement for the Scolmore group of companies. With nearly 30 years’ experience in the industry, Darren Staniforth has amassed a wealth of technical knowledge and expertise, which he will be utilizing in his new position, where he will primarily be responsible for engaging with professional contractors a...

Scolmore has welcomed two new members to its technical team. The appointment of James Hannon as Senior Technical Lighting Engineer and Mark Lagoe as Technical Support Engineer will further strengthen the Technical Support Department of Scolmore, to meet the needs of the company, as it continues to expand its products in all divisions. James Hannon’s experience includes five years working as a qualified electrician and eight years as a senior site services engineer with a globally renown...

Scolmore International has supplied a comprehensive range of CLICK wiring accessories for the new Holiday Inn Hotel, currently being built at Chessington World of Adventures & Zoo, in Chessington, England, United Kingdom (UK). One of the key criteria for selecting products from the CLICK range was the ability for them to be supplied in a finish that complemented the hotel’s décor. Scolmore’s products for Chessington’s Hotel Scolmore’s products were supplie...

The University of Bristol has invested nearly £4 million in funds, in order to provide a state-of-the-art lecture theater complex for its students and wiring accessory products from the Scolmore Group have been installed throughout the new facility. Switches, sockets and spurs from Scolmore’s Part M collection have been installed, in conjunction with products from the Essentials collection of Metal Clad wiring accessories, in the new 450-seat lecture theatre, at the University o...

Following a second major investment in its wiring accessories division this year, Scolmore Group announces the launch of its brand new Gridpro® collection - an extensive range of interchangeable mounting plates and modules, available in the most comprehensive choice of finishes, to offer the ultimate in flexible, modular grid solutions.   Building on the company’s hugely successful MiniGrid® range, Gridpro® has been developed with speed and ease of installation as its key...

Coming up with products that will help electricians carry out installation projects more quickly and efficiently is what drives Scolmore’s new product development program and the latest additions to the Click Flow Connector range are no exception. The new 20A 3 and 4 Pole Fast Fit Flow Connectors feature push-in, low maintenance terminals to offer a time-saving benefit for the installer, with no screws required. In a speed test carried out by Scolmore, the installation times were compared...

In what it is describing as its most significant investment in recent years, Scolmore announces the launch of a brand new collection of premium wiring accessories – Deco Plus - designed to bring even greater choice and flexibility to the market. Totaling more than 800 products, and the result of 18 months of development, Deco Plus is a comprehensive range of premium decorative metal wiring accessories that builds on the huge success of the classic Deco range first launched in 2003 and int...

Scolmore’s collaboration with globally renowned low energy lighting solutions manufacturer, Energetic, continues to produce new products, and the latest addition is a range of FlameGuard fittings that are designed to fit a wide variety of GU10 and E27 lamps. Energy efficient lamps The energy efficient lamps are fully compliant with Part L1 Building Regulations and incorporate the high protection FlameGuard system, which provides a fire and acoustic barrier. The new range includes a fi...

Scolmore has updated the app for its click smart range with a new feature that the company is calling the ‘cloud function’. It will provide access to click smart installations through the internet, allowing secure control of devices from anywhere in the world – from simple dimming and switching, to more sophisticated controls like live status, scenes, and schedules. Until now access to click smart through any smart device or tablet was only really possible when the user was lo...

Scolmore has upgraded its 13A 2-Gang USB socket which now features 2 USB charging ports which are both capable of delivering 5V 2.1A simultaneously. This allows for optimum charging of two devices at the same time, without fear of fluctuations in the power supply interfering with the charging process. Unlike some products on the market, the total power available is 4.2A, thus allowing both ports to deliver 2.1A at the same time, so the user is guaranteed optimum charge every time, regardless of...

If rising prices for oil and gas, combined with COP26 sounding the “death knell for carbon” weren’t already enough for fossil-fuel-based companies, a new survey has found that 56% of those working in oil and gas want to pursue jobs in renewable energy in the coming years.  Energy companies such as Shell, BP and a range of smaller firms cut tens of thousands of jobs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as they tightened budgets. Now, even as energy demand recovers, many co...

Siemens Smart Infrastructure’s building products KNX/DALI gateway N 141 and the switch/dim actuator 2x DALI Broadcast N 525D11, as well as the Desigo PXC3 controller, were recently certified under the new DALI-2 communication protocol standard for lighting in buildings. DALI-2 is an update to the original Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) protocol and facilitates interoperability and control for LED drivers. Application integration Customers can choose between soluti...

As the number of people owning a smart phone increases year-on-year, the popularity and use of apps continue to rise. Marie Parry, the Group Marketing Director of Scolmore Group, looks at some of the statistics and how apps are making life easier for contractors and installers. mobile phone population and apps In 2015, 52.7 percent of the global mobile phone population accessed the internet from their mobile phone. This figure is expected to grow to 61.2 percent in 2018. In 2020, the number...

With an influx of budget products from hitherto unknown names hitting the UK electrical accessories market, Marie Parry, the Group Marketing Director at Scolmore, outlines the value of investing in a trusted brand. wiring accessories market growth According to AMA Research, the UK wiring accessories market is expected to be worth £1.8bn by the end of 2018, while the market for home automation products, including intelligent wiring accessories, is described as a rapidly growing market...

Mark Flanagan, the Technical Manager with Scolmore Group looks at some of the problems associated with inferior quality connector products, which don’t meet the required standards and therefore, represent a safety hazard. Since Scolmore introduced the first-ever Flow Connector in 2007, it has proved a highly popular product and has continued to grow and develop the range. Inevitably this has led to a lot of copies of the product being brought to market. They may be cheaper, but in many...

In the light of the Grenfell tragedy, the spotlight has been shone on fire safety with the result that building regulations are becoming much more stringent, and building products are coming under more scrutiny. As the first manufacturer to launch fire-rated downlights back in 2005, with the award-wining FlameGuard fire protected and acoustic rated products Scolmore has had years of experience in developing, modifying, and improving the range of products to ensure they meet the latest requi...

A recent survey by online wholesaler - Electrical Direct found that despite the ever-growing popularity of smart home products, many tradespeople are unprepared for the increasing customer demand. The poll found that 82% of tradespeople have never undertaken any form of training in smart home technology and this figure remains largely unchanged following results from the same poll in 2018. Smart home integration While this may come as a surprise to many, it shows that despite the huge growt...

Marie Parry, the Group Marketing Director at Scolmore Group, looks at the latest report on the UK lighting sector. According to the latest report by AMA Research - Lighting and LED Market Report - UK 2018-2022 the UK lighting market was estimated to have increased by 44% in 2013, in value terms. Retro-fitting lighting solutions The key driver for the lighting market is LED lighting, which has gained a significant share in the non-domestic sector and has started to make inroads into the do...

A new generation of touch voltage detectors with a built-in lamp. Acquisition system with high-speed data processing microcontroller. Providing maximum reliability in areas where there are complex electrical fields. Lamp in the top part with high-brightness, low-consumption LEDs, for use in dark places Lamp use is independent of the detection Voltage present indicator using multiple high-brightness red LEDs over 360° and buzzer-type intermittent acoustic signal Absence of voltage indic...

Megger are pleased to announce that they have acquired the BALTO product line from STEVO Electric bvba (Belgium). The BALTO products, continually developed since their launch in 2003, are used to test the operation of DC high-speed electrical circuit breakers.  Acquisition of BALTO products These circuit breakers provide protection to equipment and are frequently found in DC traction, rail and underground transportation, where their reliable operation is critical to maintaining safe opera...

Relay and current transformers have been in high demand for a long time in India with only a handful of brands that customers are able to choose from. Megger entered this market in early 2016 but faced two critical challenges: Matching technical and commercial qualification criteria Identification of 765 kV site for validation Long-distance travel The end-user in India required specific criteria of performance certificate for the MRCT from 400 kV substations. After a series of demos at m...

Electrical measurement company Megger Group (Megger) announces it has acquired the entire share capital of Metrycom, a provider of grid network sensors and analytics to the electrical supply industry. Metrycom supplies unique grid sensor and analytics solutions for online measurements, condition monitoring, and fault location using extensive detection and prediction algorithms for medium and high voltage grid networks. Smart grid sensor networks bring insight to grid operators, enabling trackin...

Standards Australia published Amendment 2 of the Wiring Rules on 30 April 2021. These standards will come into effect on 1st November 2021 for all states and territories. The amendment covers the following areas: Clarifications concerning RCD requirements for alterations. Clause 2.10.2.2 — switchboard accessibility and emergency exit facilities: location, spacing, room layout, switchboard doors, and switchboard room doorways. Clause 2.10.3.2 — switchboard construction and verifi...

When it comes to wiring accessories, installers want products that are as simple to fit as possible. Marie Parry, Marketing Director at Scolmore Group, looks at the sector and how it needs to keep evolving to meet these requirements and the implications for the electrical wholesaler. Expected to be worth £1.8bn by 2018 according to AMA Research, the UK wiring accessories market is a mature one, with the product mix remaining fairly stable in recent years. As a mature and sizeable market,...

According to the latest market report from AMA Research – ‘Home Automation Market Report – UK 2017-2021, the UK home automation market is worth £160 million annually. It has experienced significant growth since 2010 as homeowners seek out system solutions that include access, security, climate, lighting controls, home entertainment, and communications systems. It describes the market for home automation products as a rapidly growing market that has benefitted from the sp...

Scolmore Group is delighted to announce that it has been successful in upgrading its ISO 9001 certification to the new International Quality Standard ISO 9001:2015.  Benefits of the certification With only 15% of UK companies having applied to transition from the old standard when it was introduced in September 2015, Scolmore’s decision to update to the new system early demonstrates a continued commitment to remain at the forefront of developments in their industry and sets them a...

Scolmore Group is delighted to continue to provide its much-valued support and products for several very worthwhile projects that are helping to transform the lives of deserving families throughout the UK. In a recent collaboration with Gra-Bern Electrical Contractors in Telford, products from across Scolmore’s lighting and wiring accessories ranges were installed in a property that was being extended and adapted to allow a young family member to return home from a prolonged hospital...

With a career spanning an impressive 60 years, electrical industry legend, Tony Cable, has amassed a wealth of experience and knowledge during his rise from apprentice at the age of 15, to his most recent role as senior marketing and events engineer with the NICEIC. Director's comments Although officially retired from his full-time role, Tony will not be disappearing completely from the electrical industry scene, and Scolmore is delighted to announce that he will be taking up a consultancy r...

Scolmore Group’s ongoing commitment to deliver a first-class service to its customers continues to pay dividends, with two more accolades added to the company’s growing list of industry achievements.  Unicrimp has just been voted ‘Best New Supplier for 2017 by the IBA (Independent Buying Association), while Scolmore was voted the IBA ‘Highly Commended Supplier for 2017’. Both achievements were awarded in recognition of outstanding performance in Product Ra...

Although officially retired from his full-time role with the NICEIC, industry legend, Tony Cable, has not disappeared completely from the electrical industry scene, and Scolmore is enjoying having him on board in a consultancy role with the business. Tony will be joining forces with the nation’s favorite sparky, Billy Byrne, on the Scolmore stand at the first ELEX show of 2018 which kicks off at Alexandra Palace on Wednesday, 31st January, and Thursday, 1st February.  Work experie...