POP UP POWER: Helping Civil Engineers Power Built-Up Areas

The quality of the built environment around us has a significant impact on our lives and wellbeing, as POP UP POWER explains here…

Developments to our infrastructure are crucial not only to the economy but also socially – enhancing the quality of life and wellbeing for the people who live here. Innovation is a key driver for such developments and advancing technology plays a big role in making urban places safer and more inspiring. Civil engineers continuously source the construction landscape for products to use which benefit their civil projects. Good design plays a vital role in creating a better place and enriching the local community.

Pop Up Power Supplies® supply a range of innovative and practical retractable service units that supply a stable, effective power source for outdoor events and urban spaces. Their clever and innovative design allows the units to be lowered back into the ground when not in use and therefore minimise their impact on local surroundings.

Our surrounding infrastructure is experiencing continued development and expansion, where civil engineers, architects, contractors work together to create more efficient buildings, transport systems, industrial structures and urban spaces, to cope with society’s growing demands.

Town centres

Town centres are being re-developed by councils in an attempt to drive local shoppers back to the traditional high street to benefit independent retailers and businesses. Here, market days, craft and food festivals, charity fundraisers and more events are held in an attempt to engage communities and encourage more shoppers to visit.

Part of such town centre regeneration projects include specifying an outdoor electricity supply to power such events. Pop Up Power Supplies® supply a range of retractable service units which provide a safe power supply to town centres nationwide. Locations such as Covent Garden (London), Stamford (Lincolnshire) and Gravesham (Kent) all benefit from innovative pop up power units which provide a reliable power supply whilst being sensitive to local surroundings.

Case studies in detail

The PUPS01 pop up power units installed at Covent Garden are situated in the cobbled piazza area, which holds various stalls and events every week. When the power units are needed, they are raised out of the ground and provide a combination of 16A and 32A electric sockets, in single and three phase, with RCBO protection. When the events finish and the piazza clears of stalls, the power units are simply lowered back into the ground where they have no impact on the historic aesthetics of the area.

In-Ground Units (also known as Flip Lid Units) installed at Stamford town centre solved a problem for the Council Planners, as they required an outdoor power source to replace all of the unsightly power cables used to power the market stalls. These often restricted access for shoppers and posed various trip and electrocution hazards.

The flip lid units provide an efficient power source for the market stalls and operate with the lids firmly locked down, preventing any public access. The covers of the IGUs are recessed so paving can be installed in the top, making them adaptable to the surrounding environment. They are also tested unfilled to FACTA Class B loadings.

‘Appreciate the functionality’

George Parker, director of Pop Up Power Supplies®, comments: “Our range of pop up power units are used extensively within the UK built environment, including town centres, retail parks, heritage sites, sports stadiums, universities, parks and other outdoor spaces.

“Civil engineers, architects, contractors and urban designers appreciate the functionality of the power units together with the fact that they are sensitive to their local environment as they can be lowered into the ground when not in use. We have worked with many councils throughout the UK providing innovative power solutions for their town centres and other outdoor spaces.”

Pop Up Power work closely with some of the UK’s leading contractors, architects and civil engineers, creating bespoke outdoor power solutions for their civil projects. Its range of outdoor power supply units enable built environments to become safer, more aesthetically pleasing and more efficient, helping to pave the way for a more sustainable future.

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