Member Article

£1.5 million London National Grid installation for North Yorkshire’s Ellis begins

Malton-based Ellis, a cable cleat manufacturer, has begun work on a £1.5 million contract to supply the National Grid’s London Power Tunnels project.

The Centaur cable saddles, which are being used to secure high voltage (HV) cables throughout 32km of tunnels under London, were specified in a record order for the Yorkshire-based manufacturer.

Richard Shaw, managing director of Ellis, said: “While it’s always great to secure a new specification, especially such a large one, it’s even more rewarding seeing the product installed and being used for the purpose for which it was designed.”

“We invested well over £100,000 in designing, developing, testing and bringing Centaur products to market,” added Richard.

“At the time this was the largest amount we’d ever invested in one new product, but we did so with confidence that it had the potential to solve a major safety issue and fill a gap in a growing market sector – a confidence that was quickly proven to be well-placed.”

In the case of the London Power Tunnels, Ellis secured the specification from SÏÂdkabel – the German manufacturers of the cables being installed in the National Grid tunnels – as a result of a design inspiration that saw them deliver a perfect product that overcame a serious safety issue surrounding the restraint of HV cables up to 400kV with a diameter range of 100 to 160mm.

Before launch, Ellis put its new heavy-duty extruded aluminium product through the most rigorous of testing procedures.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .