During the floods of October 2000 we had many requests for help on flood damaged equipment. One of these was from a major supermarket chain asking us to visit one of their stores in the Southern Counties to look at a switchboard which had been immersed in several feet of water.

Our brief was to supply a new panel to replace the damaged one, but also take into account the clients new common control strategy. No record drawings were available which meant that the existing panel had to be surveyed in depth to establish the existing equipment and method of control.

We were given a store opening date of 4 December which only gave us five weeks to produce and install the new panel. We were further informed that the new design strategy had not been finalised and working closely with the contractor, consultant and client’s engineer we came up with a scheme to fit the concept of this new strategy.

The new switchboard had the restriction that no equipment could be mounted below a flood level of 600mm.

Also the final equipment required could not be immediately ascertained as the store was using the opportunity to upgrade and make a number of changes. However due to the flexibility of our design we were able to accommodate this without causing delays.
We also needed the help of our suppliers who, understanding the importance of the situation, responded by ensuring that the equipment needed was made available when needed.

The panel was completed in good time (before the site was ready to accept it) and was delivered and installed, allowing enough time for the contractor to transfer the supplies and complete his work to schedule.