Develotec upgrades more than 50 former Homebase stores

Last year, home, leisure and garden superstore chain The Range bought the Homebase brand and 52 of its stores. The Range called on NICEIC-certified Develotec, its direct electrical contractor, to overhaul the electrics in all 52 former Homebase stores, which were renamed The Range Garden Centre by Homebase.

A tight timeframe played a major part in this challenging project. Develotec, a multi-trade company which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary with NICEIC, had to plan its programme of works carefully and efficiently.

The Homebase stores, located throughout the UK, hadn’t been maintained and had numerous problems, including continuous lighting, limited historical information, and an unmonitored but high-spec Building Management System (BMS) without any access codes.

“I visited every store with my quality supervisor first, and carried out surveys to assess the situation,” says Luke Cannell, Director of Develotec, which is based in the Hampshire town of Havant.

“We then gathered all our teams in one place and discussed our findings,” he adds. “We used two of the stores as a trial. This allowed us to test and work out any problems and plan how we would do the job. The principles were pretty much the same in every store.”

The Range re-opened the former Homebase stores as The Range Garden Centre by Homebase at the rate of three a week. Before reopening, the stores were closed for three weeks and were repainted, new shelves installed, and the merchandise restocked.

Once the stores reopened, Develotec’s electricians then had to act swiftly. By working in pairs, they checked that each store was electrically compliant, which involved testing the fixed wires and ensuring the electrical installation was safe. The emergency lights had to be tested; if they failed, batteries and fittings had to be replaced. ‘Portable appliance testing’ (PAT) was then conducted to ensure that all electrical appliances were safe for use, and an electrical installation condition report (EICR) was produced.

“I had two pairs of electricians in each store,” says Cannell. “We couldn’t predict that they would be finished in a week, as every store had its own problems. As we were the only electrical contractor, the clock was ticking all the time, and it was down to us to get in and out as quickly as possible to save the client money.”

To add to the time pressures, the stores were fully operational and open to the public. This meant the electricians had to work through the night, staying in hotels near the sites, to cut down on travel time.

“Not only did our engineers have to have everything back up and running for the next day, but they also had the challenge of working out what was wrong with the electrics and then making the necessary adjustments,” Cannell says.

The most technically challenging element of the project was understanding the existing BMS. Develotec’s electricians were not familiar with the BMSs in these stores, so if they encountered problems, the quality supervisor had to assist, as he was the only electrician who had received the specific BMS training.

Cannell describes the BMS as a smart switching system which monitors remotely and maximises energy efficiency by automatically switching lights on and off. However, the BMS hadn’t been maintained. Without the access codes, the decision was made to remove the dated BMS from each store and install a simpler switching system for better energy efficiency.

The new switching systems are far simpler and are not remotely monitored by a sensor management system. The lighting is controlled via a timer, so that outside of trading hours, 50% of the lights switch off. Then, when the last person leaves the building, lights not required, including internal and exterior lights, turn off, saving energy and costs.

Cannell says that removing the BMS and installing the new switching arrangement took about a week in each store.

An intrusive survey was carried out first, then all the switching arrangements and their controls were removed. A new multi-core cable was installed around all the distribution boards and fed back to the existing BMS panel position.

“This aspect was labour-intensive and mentally challenging, as the BMS had a panel with around 60 switches on it, and there were about 500 lights,” Cannell says, “You had to work out which ones did what and how to combine them to get the best effect. The BMS panel had multiple control equipment, contactors and relays with hundreds of wires all going into one place, with no labelling or wiring diagrams in place; it was a nightmare!”

Other technical problems encountered in the stores included incorrect circuit breakers, which had to be upgraded to ensure compliance, and critically, some of the stores’ emergency lighting didn’t work. Also, 48 of the stores still had fluorescent lighting. The intention is for these stores to be upgraded with LED lighting next year.

In the meantime, Develotec will continue to maintain all 281 Range stores, providing 24-hour cover – The Range is their only client.

Cannell says they have all learnt a great deal from this ambitious project and now have a better understanding of how the BMS works.

“This job was technically difficult, coupled with the fact that not one store was uniform; every store was like starting a new project from scratch,” Cannell says. “But we did enjoy it, and it was one where, once completed, everyone felt we had done well.”