Eggleston Steel, one of
Derby’s oldest companies, has invested in some of the very latest energy
efficiency technology as part of an ongoing investment of almost £2.5 million.
The company has recently completed the installation of energy
generating solar panels on the roof of its premises. At the same time, it has fitted
energy saving LED lighting across its administration block and two factories.
Integrated building solutions contractor J Tomlinson has
just completed installation of the two projects, which are designed to make the
company more energy efficient and save on energy costs.
Eggleston Steel managing director Richard Hewitt said: “We have
quite a high energy usage and decided that now was the time to become more
environmentally friendly. The installation of the solar panels and the LED
lighting by J Tomlinson aims to ease our impact on the environment. At the same
time, it should reduce our energy bills considerably.”
The company replaced 90 light units with LED fittings and
has installed 288 solar panels in a £156,000 investment at its site at
Centurion Way Business Park, Alfreton Road, Derby. The project involved
removing existing fluorescent lighting, which has high energy consumption, in the
two-storey office, and high bay lighting to the two warehouses, creating a
brighter environment, as well as adding PV (photovoltaic) panels to the roof.
Project managed and fitted by Beeston-based J Tomlinson, the
measures should save the firm around £500,000 in electricity bills over the
next 20 years, as well as achieving a carbon saving of about 40 tonnes over the
same period. The alterations to the lighting alone are expected to halve energy
bills and carbon production. At the same time, the solar panels will produce an
additional income stream for the next 20 years via receipt of a feed-in-tariff for
the electricity generated.
David Adams, chairman of J Tomlinson, said: “As an
established East Midlands company, J Tomlinson felt privileged to work with
another long-standing firm from the area and to support them in their
investment in 21st Century energy efficient technologies.
“An increasing number of companies and organisations are
recognising the environmental and cost-saving benefits of installing items like
LED lighting and solar panels, and we were delighted to have been appointed by
Eggleston Steel to carry out this work, which should benefit the firm significantly
in the future.
“The new LED fittings are so much more efficient with their
energy consumption and, as a result of the way they produce the light, it meant
our team was able to reduce energy costs further by installing fewer fittings
than were removed. To aid the energy savings even more, we installed LED
fittings that have daylight dimming and presence detection. This means that
should areas of the warehouse become well lit by natural light or have not been
in use for 30 minutes, they will dim themselves down or turn off accordingly.”
Eggleston Steel, which was founded in 1809, starting life as
part of Joseph E Hunt’s Ironmongers. The latest measures are part of a package
of investments and follow last year’s £620,000 investment in the most advanced
laser profiling machine in the UK. The total of £850,000 included two new
bandsaw machines and were ordered with the guidance of Lloyds Asset
Finance and
the Regional Growth Fund, which chipped in with £120,000. The firm expects to
shortly add another laser machine to its range by the end of August. It also
plans to extend its factory within the next ten months in a further significant
investment.
This has contributed
to Eggleston Steel creating 12 new jobs over the past year, bringing its
workforce to 54 staff.
The company, which
stocks, processes and supplies a wide range of mild steels and non-ferrous
metals, operates mainly within a 45-mile radius of Derby, supplying a range of
customers from engineers and fabricators to DIYers. The energy
efficiency measures were a key part of planning the future for the company and
should help the firm to achieve ISO 14001 for its environmental credentials,
said Richard Hewitt.
“Our warehouse is open 22 of 24 hours a day and the lights
are on almost continually, apart from in the summer months. We realised there
were efficiencies to be made, as well as reductions to our carbon footprint,”
said Richard. “The team at J Tomlinson project managed the whole scheme, were
helpful and knowledgeable, and I would certainly recommend them to other
companies that are looking to do something similar.”
The project is the latest installation of its kind carried
out by energy efficiency experts at J Tomlinson, which is based at Beeston,
near Nottingham. The privately owned company founded in the 1950s has
considerable expertise in the field of PV panels, having fitted more than
40,000 panels over the past four years on a range of buildings including
schools, offices, social housing, sheltered housing and private homes.
Recently J Tomlinson was named in Deloitte’s Businesses Leading Britain 2014 report,
which provides insights into the UK’s 1,000 fastest-growing businesses with annual
revenues between £30 million and £1 billion.
The firm has a substantial heritage and wealth of experience
in delivering integrated building solutions tailored to both public and private
sector clients.
Pictured left
to right, David Adams, J Tomlinson, executive chairman, and Richard Hewitt, managing
director of Eggleston Steel.
