IQA are currently installing some 350-400 switches per week working ahead of the Local Authority Kitchens, Bathrooms and Rewiring contracts.
The purpose of the switch, which will either be a 2 pole and 4 pole depending on the metering tariff, is to allow for the safe isolation of the customer's consumer unit and internal wiring.
This work is a vital part of most housing association's development programs and any tenants having this work done should make sure the meter area is cleared for our operative to work in. The average time for this work to be carried out is an hour in which time the electricity will be disconnected.
IQA fit mains isolator switches on behalf of Scottish Power in conjunction with various local housing authorities across the central belt in Scotland,.
Case Study- Housing Association Isolator switches
Recently IQA were contracted on behalf of Scottish Power to install in excess of 200 switches for a large Council in the Lanarkshire area. The Council had appointed a contractor to install new Kitchens and each property required an Isolator switch before the work could be carried out. Due to the nature of the project we were required to work within tight timescales. We were able to program the addresses straight away and began installing switches the following Monday.
For contracts of this nature our target is to get ahead of the Council program in order to minimise the number of switches that have to be fitted on the same day as the contractor. We achieve this by lettering and phoning tenants in advance. We have a dedicated office team who can organise specific appointments and will always work hard to meet any customer requirements such as phoning a tenant before arrival or contacting a neighbour for access. As a result, the majority of the switches were fitted ahead of program. There were a small numbers of properties that we were unable to access in advance. In these instances we ensured that the switch was installed on the morning of the day that the work was due to be carried out. We took advantage of good communication channels to ensure that we were able to react to any changes to the Council's Programme.
IQA use a web based electronic programming system which ensures that we can be responsive to client demands. One of the advantages of this system is that we can provide detailed reports and on this occasion we provided a weekly report that was directly linked to the Council's original programming spreadsheet, minimising the amount of administration required at the their end.
This particular contract was completed to the satisfaction of the council. We are currently working on number of similar projects for this council with the number of switches installed now in the thousands.
