News
May 30, 2013
Thursday 23rd May saw the King Power Stadium in Leicester play host to the British Precast annual exhibition and conference. The event attracted over 400 delegates and 50 exhibitors, as well as 27 companies competing for ‘Best Practice’ awards. The British Precast AGM and Best Practice Awards lunch also took place during the day.
Seminars took place during the day on various industry issues such as skills, sustainability, technical matters and health & safety. Tributes were paid to Martin Clarke of British Precast, as this was his last annual conference as Chief Executive. Spiroll would like to join these tributes in thanking Martin for his efforts and dedication to the industry, particularly in driving health & safety and sustainability issues to the fore.
We are also delighted to announce that our MD, Stephen Carr, was presented with an award by Judith Hackett CBE, Chair of the Health & Safety Executive. Stephen was given the award to recognise his ‘outstanding contribution to health and safety’ in the industry. He has supported the prestressed concrete industry by providing training, risk assessments and safe systems of work for customers around the country.
Photo courtesy of Martin Neeves Photography http://www.martinneeves.com
Spiroll have also been servicing and calibrating stressing equipment, as well as providing the UK’s only prestressing grip cleaning and maintenance service, for the past 10 years. Stephen was instrumental in the genesis of the current prestressing training scheme, as accredited by Proskills, and has now personally carried out over 100 training courses for precast companies.
As associate members of British Precast, Spiroll are delighted to have played our part in a successful event. We look forward to taking part in Precast 2014 on May 1st next year and helping to celebrate the 50th anniversary of British Precast!
Tags: British Precast, Prestressing Equipment, Prestressing Grips, Prestressing Training, Safe Stressing
Posted in Events
May 16, 2013
On Thursday 23rd May 2013, the King Power Stadium in Leicester will play host to Precast 2013, the annual exhibition of the British Precast Concrete Federation, and the biggest expo dedicated purely to precast concrete. The schedule of events for the day includes the exhibition itself, safety demonstrations, seminars, the AGM and Best Practice Awards Lunch.
There will be around 50 exhibitors at the event this year, including suppliers and manufacturers from across the precast concrete industry. Prominent guests include Judith Hackett, Chair of the Health & Safety Executive and Patrick Declerck, President of BIBM. As well as presenting the Best Practice Awards with Patrick, Judith Hackett will also be launching the Precast Flooring Federation’s revised Code of Practice.
There will also be a number of free seminars on a diverse range of topics including; Skills & Sustainability, Health & Safety, and Technical Seminars by Associate Members. There will also be safety demonstrations running on site.
Spiroll will be exhibiting at Precast 2013, and visitors can find us on stand number 40. We will be delighted to discuss any queries relating to precast concrete machinery, prestressing equipment and training. Interested visitors will also be able to sit in on a seminar given by Spiroll MD Stephen Carr, with the subject of ‘Safe Stressing’.
The exhibition starts at 8:00am and finishes at 1:45pm. More details can be found at http://www.britishprecast.org. We look forward to seeing you there!
Tags: British Precast, Precast Concrete Machinery, Prestressing Equipment, Stephen Carr
Posted in Events
April 29, 2013
With approximately 530,000 visitors from 200 countries, bauma 2013 certainly lived up to the expectations of the 3,420 exhibitors that took part. This edition of the show broke all previous records for both visitor attendance and exhibitor space. The proportion of international visitors also made for a diverse and cosmopolitan show.
Spiroll co-exhibited with Russian partners Vikon, and the show was an outstanding success. It was nice to see old friends and customers, as well as new acquaintances and enquiries. In fact, Spiroll came away from the show with an order or two!
Agreements were reached with SKSM of Smolensk, Russia, for a new Spiroll hollowcore factory, as well as the addition of two beds to an existing order for Fedorchenko in Ukraine. Further to this, the Spiroll team are hopeful that with the positive enquiries received during the week, we will be adding to the 28 new hollowcore factories we have set up in 17 different countries during the last 10 years.
With coverage of the Spiroll – Vikon partnership in recent issues of CPI (April 2013 p. 320) and BFT International magazines, interest from Russian visitors to the show was high, as expected. With a growing market for precast construction in Russia, we can only hope to build on the foundations laid down by both companies over the past few years. Spiroll would like to offer our thanks to Vikon’s staff for their efforts all week and for making the visitors to our stand feel so welcome.
Spiroll were represented by Managing Director Stephen Carr, Marketing & Commercial Director Paul Tate, Design Engineers Jimmy Roche and Daniel Nottage, and Sales & Marketing Assistant Tom Goosey. There were enquiries relating to our world famous hollowcore production machinery, as well as bespoke precast production machinery for other elements, precast design consultancy, prestressing equipment and prestressing training.
Spiroll’s aim was to showcase our flexibility and capability to design, engineer and commission turnkey precast production facilities tailored to suit the requirements of individual customers. Development and innovation was also high on the agenda, with the original hollowcore slab extruder now performing better than ever before.
Overall, the exhibition was a great success thanks to the hard work of both Spiroll and Vikon employees. Although it was a tiring week, everyone enjoyed their time in Munich, even finding the time to sample the fantastic local beer and food. See you in 2016!
Tags: bauma 2013, Hollowcore Production Machinery, Precast Production Machinery, Prestressing Equipment, Prestressing Training
Posted in Events
April 9, 2013
PEPSCON – A conference on “Pre-Engineered and Precast Concrete Structures” took place in Hyderabad, India on March 8th and 9th 2013 at the Hotel Taj Deccan in Hyderabad. In terms of precast concrete, the conference focussed on planning, design and detailing, precast production machinery, transport and erection, and cost analysis. As a leader in the field, and with an ever growing reputation in India, Spiroll’s Managing Director Stephen Carr was asked to give a presentation at the conference.
The aim of the conference was to attract builders and developers, and disseminate information about the precast industry. This including the associated costs of starting up a precast production facility, transferring design information to engineers and case studies of other precast concrete projects. PEPSCON Chairman Mr. P. Surya Prakash said; “Precast structures not only answer issues of labour shortage but also saves project execution time and comes with assured quality. There is a need to propagate these concepts and ensure wider acceptance.”
The conference was widely regarded as a great success, with avid interest in all the speakers. The vision of the conference organisers is one shared by both Spiroll and their Indian partners Apollo Infratech: to bring about transfer of knowledge regarding modern building techniques to the Indian construction industry. Events such as PEPSCON help to raise the profile of prefabricated construction methods, not by changing the market itself, but by convincing designers, architects, engineers, builders and contractors, that precast concrete is sustainable, can add value, and also meet existing market demands.
Coverage of the conference in The Hindu highlighted the advantages of precast over in situ methods, such as: flexibility in design, quality control, speed of construction, and lower labour requirements. The savings made in raw materials mean that precast is also environmentally beneficial. Spiroll and Apollo are pleased to play an ever increasing role by attending such events, and hope to continue offering our knowledge and expertise in precast concrete to India for the foreseeable future.
Tags: PEPSCON, Precast Concrete, Precast Concrete Construction, Precast Concrete India, Stephen Carr
Posted in Events
March 26, 2013
With well over 500,000 square metres of exhibition space, over 3,000 exhibitors and more than 400,000 visitors, bauma is the the most important construction industry event in the world. It covers all sectors of construction, from smaller companies to market leaders, and is the place to find innovation in the industry.
Spiroll will be exhibiting for the 3rd time at bauma from 15th – 21st April, and visitors will be able to find us in hall C1, at stand 523. Our stand will showcase all that Spiroll has to offer in the field of prestressed precast concrete, from consultancy and training, to stressing systems, precast production machinery and bespoke engineering solutions.
The exhibition will also be a chance to unveil further developments to Spiroll’s flagship machine, the Universal Extruder, including new noise reduction technology and variable speed controls. These additions will help to meet the production requirements of individual customers.
Spiroll will also be joined by co-exhibitors Vikon, who are acting as agents in Russia and CIS countries. Following initial contact in 2008, the mutual benefits of collaboration between the two companies were clear. With Spiroll’s vast experience in hollowcore production and Vikon at the forefront of promoting modern precast technologies in Russia, the partnership has gone from strength to strength.
If you are interested in precast concrete design, production machinery or prestressing systems please do not hesitate to come and discuss your requirements with us. The Spiroll stand will be manned by Managing Director Stephen Carr, Commercial & Marketing Director Paul Tate for the duration of the show, and they will be joined by engineers Dan Nottage, Jimmy Roche and Sales & Marketing Assistant Tom Goosey at different points during the week. Vladimir & Oleg Konovalov will be representing Vikon.
If you would like to let us know when you plan to visit in advance, in order for us to dedicate more time to your visit, please contact us on +44 (0)1332 365 132 or e-mail us at enquiries@spiroll.co.uk. For more information on the exhibition, visit http://www.bauma.de/en/.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Tags: bauma 2013, Hollowcore Machinery, Precast Concrete Machinery, Prestressing Equipment
Posted in Events
March 24, 2013
With the last key development to Spiroll machinery coming with the launch of the Universal Extruder cassette system in 2008, much work has been done since then to bring new improvements to the machine. These have been aimed at improving production speed, control and decreasing the noise level of the machine whilst in operation.
Variable speed controls have now been fitted to the extruder, which allow the user to increase or decrease the motor speed to meet specific production requirements. Changeable factors such as mix design and concrete availability can now be allowed for and adapted to, giving further scope for operators to optimise the hollowcore production cycle.
One of the biggest concerns for Spiroll’s engineers has been reducing the noise levels created by the machine. This has been a challenge as the attribute that gives the Universal Extruder its unique compaction strength is the high frequency vibration utilised in the auger drive system. Of course, at the same time this means that noise levels can be quite high. In response, new anti-vibration components have been fitted, and technology allowing better sound insulation has been incorporated into the design. These improvements mean a more user and environmentally friendly hollowcore production machine, that meets health and safety requirements.
As a company with a strong engineering heritage, Spiroll will continue to innovate, both in improving our current range of precast production machinery, and also when designing bespoke solutions for customers with specific needs.
Tags: Hollowcore Machine, Hollowcore Production Machinery, Precast Engineering, Precast Machinery, Universal Extruder
Posted in News
March 23, 2013
With the tough economic climate over the past few years, the precast concrete industry has felt the effects of recession like so many others. This is evidenced by a number of plant closures, notably within Tarmac Building Products, one of the key players in the precast industry. Following a three month consultation period, hundreds of staff lost their jobs at sites around the country.
One such site was at Lound in Nottinghamshire, closed in April 2011. Previously producing hollowcore on seven 167 metre long beds using slipformers, prior to closure there had been preliminary talks with Spiroll for conversion to production using the extrusion process. A study by Tarmac found that there were a number of benefits in switching to Spiroll extruders. Primarily these were in reduction of cement content, maintenance and wastage, but also in meeting new design codes (EC2) that came into force in April 2010. In short, these benefits meant that by changing casting technology from slipforming to Spiroll extruders, savings of £221,000 per annum could be achieved.1
When the old Tarmac site was taken over by Charcon Construction Solutions, a subsidiary of Aggregate Industries, in spring 2012, it seemed the obvious choice to utilise the evidence gathered in the aforementioned study, and the decision was made to get a Spiroll hollowcore production system up and running.
Spiroll designed everything to fit around the existing Skako batching plant and crane concrete distribution system on site. This included custom modification of the machines to work with the existing casting beds, and an increase in the production speed of the extruder to 1.5 metres per minute. The stressing abutments were also modified to allow for the changeover from wire to strand. This flexibility in design and engineering is a hallmark of Spiroll’s precast production solutions.
Charcon are now running two refurbished 250mm extruders and the new Universal Extruder setup with two power units, two 150mm cassettes and two 200mm cassettes. In addition to the benefits already identified over slipforming, a number of initial targets were set. These were that the machine should run with less than 350kg/m3 cement content; use spare parts at a cost of less than 60p per m2 of product; and that the scrap rate attributed to production machinery should be less than 3%.
12 months on from commissioning, the Spiroll setup at Lound is consistently turning out a high volume of top quality product, and has met all of the above targets with ease. General Manager Shaun Brown has said; “All of the team at Charcon and more importantly our expanding client base are delighted with the Spiroll machinery and the end product that is delivered to our clients’ sites. We are incrementally increasing hollow core production, currently at 22,000m2 per month, and the Spiroll machinery is proving to be reliable, economic and functional in meeting this output uplift.”
- Tarmac Capex Report, Mit Raven 2010.
Tags: Charcon CS, Extruder vs. Slipformer, Hollowcore Extruder, Hollowcore Machinery
Posted in News
February 25, 2013
Spiroll are exhibiting at the annual UK Conrete Show on 27th and 28th February. Hosted at the NEC, Birmingham, it is Europe’s largest specialist concrete industry show.
This year will see the show increasing in size by 80% from 2012 to over 12,000m2. With over 200 exhibitors expected, the exhibition is sure to draw a large number of visitors, and play host to all the key players in the UK concrete industry.
If you are a producer of precast prestressed concrete products then please come and meet us! The Spiroll stand will include examples of the products we can supply; such as world famous CCL jacks, pumps and stressing grips, and the ever popular Rapidcut pneumatic cutter for prestress wire and strand. From prestressing to lifting and safety solutions, Spiroll can certainly help.
Spiroll also offer total precast solutions and we welcome enquiries regarding our precast machinery. The Spiroll hollowcore machinery range includes the ever reliable universal extruder; bed cleaner; as well as multi-angle, crosscut and yard saws.
Spiroll also has the expertise to design and engineer bespoke stressing and cutting solutions to meet individual precast manufacturers’ needs.
You can Spiroll at stand D70. See you there!
Tags: Hollowcore Machinery, Precast Concrete Machinery, Prestressing Equipment, UK Concrete Show
Posted in Events
February 1, 2013
Following initial contact in 2008, the relationship between Spiroll and Vikon has gone from strength to strength. With Spiroll’s vast experience in hollowcore production and Vikon at the forefront of promoting modern precast technologies in Russia, the partnership showed great promise from day one.
The most recent beneficiary of this shared expertise is ZKPD-70, a construction company based in Nizhniy Novgorod, situated between Moscow and Kazan. ZKPD-70 recruited the services of Vikon following the acquisition of a contract to build 5,000 apartments in the city using precast frame technology and hollowcore slabs.
Vikon provided ZKPD-70 with the precast design of the buildings; and then detailed a package of production equipment necessary to manufacture the individual elements. This included prestressed beam and reinforced column moulds, a stair mould and universal casting beds for wall panels. With installation supervised by Vikon, a complete Spiroll hollowcore production setup was installed, including:
- 3 x 90 metre casting beds
- Hydraulic detensioning system and stressing abutments
- 220mm Universal Extruder
- Crosscut Saw
- Wetcut Saw
- Bed Cleaner
- Concrete distribution skips
The machinery was commissioned over a 3 day period by a team from Spiroll with great results and achieving a high quality product from the outset. On the final day of the commissioning visit, Spiroll’s team were invited to attend a ceremony involving the placing of the first precast column on site. The local mayor and senior employees of Vikon and ZKPD-70 were also in attendance. The hospitality, particularly the now infamous “Russian Table”, went down a storm!
The delivery on this project, from the initial precast frame design through to the fixing of individual elements on site, shows the level of service and support than can be expected in future turnkey projects involving Spiroll and Vikon, whether in Russia or CIS countries. This success will be built upon in new projects already underway with SKC Beton in Kazakhstan, Fedorchenko in Ukraine and USK in Russia. The common values of efficiency, quality and shared desire to bring modern precast technology to markets around the world will certainly stand the partnership in good stead for the foreseeable future.
Tags: Extruder, Hollowcore, Precast, Precast Frame Technology
Posted in News
January 31, 2013
Considering starting up a precast concrete production plant? Wondering about the benefits of precast concrete technology? An existing precast manufacturer looking to add hollowcore to your range of products? Looking for help or advice with your prestressing operation?
If any of the above applies to you or your company then make sure you come along and see us at either of the exhibitions we are attending over the next month so we can discuss your needs further.
First up is bC India 2013 in Mumbai on 5th – 8th February. After launching in 2011, bC India is expected to draw even more interest this time around, providing a platform for networking, investment and exchange of ideas in the construction industry.
This second edition of the show takes place at the MMRDA Grounds in the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. The space allocated for the exhibition in 2013 has increased to 150,000m2, up from 88,000 m2 in 2011, to accommodate the growing demand.
Spiroll will be exhibiting alongside their Indian partners Apollo Infratech, and aiming to build upon the hard work already put into establishing Spiroll hollowcore machinery in the Indian market. Most recently this saw Spiroll MD Stephen Carr signing an MOU with Apollo and the Government of Gujarat to build mass affordable housing. You will be able to find us at H1-B12 – H1-B18. For more information on the show, visit http://www.bcindia.com.
Next up is the UK Concrete Show on February 27th and 28th at the NEC, Birmingham. With over 200 exhibitors expected this year, and an increase in available space from 6000m2 to almost 12,000m2, Europe’s largest specialist concrete industry show keeps going from strength to strength.
As well as total solutions for hollowcore factory start-ups Spiroll will be exhibiting a complete range of prestressing equipment and services specifically for the UK market. Exclusive products including the pneumatic Rapidcut for cutting prestressed wire and rebar, CCL grips and stressing equipment will all be on show. If you want to know anything about precast machinery or prestressing come and have a chat – we specialise in bespoke solutions tailored to meet your needs!
You will be able to find Spiroll at stand D70, and for more information on the show please visit http://www.concreteshow.co.uk/.
If we miss you at either of these shows, please keep posted as we are sure to be exhibiting at others later in the year, not forgetting the big one – Bauma 2013 in Germany.
Tags: Exhibition, Hollowcore, Prestressing, Spiroll Precast Services
Posted in Events