Elta’s Tunnel Vision for Future

Elta, the global manufacturer and supplier of fans and air movement products, has been appointed to design and supply fans for two major tunnel developments.

Contractor Balfour Beatty, working on behalf of the Highways Agency, has already taken delivery of its temporary ventilation for the Hindhead bypass, which will provide a dual carriageway link from London to Portsmouth. The 1.4 metre diameter contra rotating fans were designed and manufactured at Elta in Fareham and their purpose is to extract machinery fumes and dust to provide fresh air whilst the tunnel is under construction.

After taking into account ecological and environmental considerations, Elta’s technical expertise has ensured that the manufactured units are sympathetic to wildlife at the Hindhead National Trust site and ensuring nearby residential houses are unaffected by the continual running of the fans. The units have been constructed utilising heavy attenuators and by housing the fans inside acoustically lagged containers, noise pollution has been successfully kept to a minimum.

Work is also due to commence later this year at Elta on a £150,000 contract to supply ventilation for three underground tunnels housing high voltage electric cables in the City of London. The EDF Energy and National Grid tunnels require specialist ventilation to remove the heat produced by the electric cables along with being required for smoke clearance in the event of a fire.

Elta’s smoke ventilation ranges is specifically developed for general ventilation plus emergency smoke extract and the company has recently extended its EC-Certification for smoke related fan units with BSI, making it one of the largest certified standard product ranges available within Europe, as Allan Hurdle, managing director of Elta, Fareham explains;

“It’s an ideal project for Elta to become involved with as we have a wealth of knowledge and expertise in this required field. The fans needed for the tunnel sites in London need to remove hot smoke in the event of an emergency and must be constructed in such a way so that they do not ignite any gas that may be present.

Acoustic lagging is a specific feature of these applications as sound levels are important as the main vent shafts are in residential areas in London. As one of the leading suppliers in the industry our customers are assured of consistently high product quality by encompassing the very latest standards.”

Elta is part of the £85 million Elta Group, a family of businesses with operations in six countries on four continents which, together with a network of international distributors, provides quality fans and related air movement equipment to customers worldwide.