Pluggable light and power installations for Feringa Building Groningen

Published on 7 december 2022 25 October 2022Time to read: 3 minutes

Text: Lieke van zuilekom I Images: Isolectra
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Smart & Fast
A smart and earthquake-resistant building with state-of-the-art facilities. On the campus of the University of Groningen, construction is ongoing at the Feringa Building; the third new building for the Science & Engineering Faculty. The 64,000 m2 new building replaces the current Nijenborgh 4 building and will house some 1,400 students and 850 staff. In addition to offices and lecture rooms, a wide range of special laboratories will be constructed in the Feringa Building.

De Groot-Lammerink Installatiecombinatie B.V. is responsible for the mechanical and electrical installations in the Feringa Building. ‘Commissioned by the University of Groningen, we are providing the heating, cooling, ventilation, sprinkler system, fire alarm and evacuation system, intruder/camera security and laboratory connections in all six building sections’, says Engineer Jeroen Schreurs, who forms the Electrical Engineering Project Team together with Project Leader Huub Joosten, Draughtsman Bas Rusticus and Planner Rob Speelman. ‘We are also responsible for the electrical infrastructure, including main and sub-distributions, cable trays, emergency power generators and UPS installations, and are executing the complete lighting installation.’

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Approx. 17,000 lighting fixtures
Some 17,000 lighting fixtures will be installed throughout the property. ‘All lighting fixtures will be fitted with a DALI controller, in combination with Isolectra’s Wieland connecting cables and connectors’, says Schreurs. ‘Thanks to Wieland products, we are able to quickly and easily relay the lighting installation from office to office.’ Yannick Boertje, Key Account Manager Building Technology at Isolectra: ‘For this project our Wieland GST18-i5^® cords and connectors in pastel blue were chosen, which are plug-and-play between the power points and DALI lighting fixtures. Additionally, we supply large numbers of tomato-red connectors for the pluggable electrical connection of emergency lighting.’

Pluggable power installation
Following the lighting installations, Isolectra also supplied pluggable solutions for the power installation. ‘The wall socket outlets in the wall duct will be fitted with two Wieland connection cords’, says Schreurs. ‘One of 30 cm and one of 2 metres, which also allows us to connect this installation quickly and easily. By opting for pluggable electrical installation, the finishing work in construction is cleverly overcome. We are working significantly faster. It’s a godsend, given this project’s serious time constraint.’

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Challenging scale, size and turnaround time
‘It’s not the technology, but mainly the scale, size and short turnaround time that make this project challenging’, Boertje also stresses. ‘We were involved as early as 2019, brainstorming about the best pluggable electrical solutions for this project and currently we’re hard at work delivering.’ Schreurs: ‘We translated the design from consultant Arcadis into a technical and implementation design. Based on our drawings, Isolectra developed a plan for pluggable electrical installation in the corridors and offices. We have checked this plan and optimised it where necessary.’

All products are delivered per building section and per two floors by Technische Unie Groningen. ‘To assemble the wall socket outlets, De Groot-Lammerink Installatiecombinatie B.V. worked together with sheltered workshop Iederz in Groningen’, Schreurs says. ‘We provide the same assembly for the waterproof lighting fixtures and connectors of the light lines. A Wieland connection cord and connector are pre-mounted to both components.’ Meanwhile, the first pluggable light and power installations have been fitted and connected. Boertje: ‘Our first products were delivered last year. Although the corona pandemic disrupted the industry considerably, we managed to meet all delivery dates. Meanwhile, the project is 1/3 advanced and our deliveries are going very well. We are immensely proud of that.’ The lights are now on on the first floors. The entire new building is to be completed mid-2025.

See the project page on Feringa Building Groningen here.

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