MEM provided a complete package of electrical distribution equipment for the new hotel, close to Birmingham International Airport and the National Exhibition Centre. This included a Memform main switchboard, Memshield 2 sub-distribution board and a Mempower busbar distribution system.

Space was a major constraint in a number of areas, says N.G. Bailey's Contracts Engineer, Adrian Littlejohns. MEM manufactured a front-access switchboard with a facility to take over-sized feeder cables. It is equipped with a Memshield 2 1 250A main air circuit-breaker. Outgoing cables from top and bottom feed a Mempower busbar distribution system and an 18-way 400A Memshield 2 sub-distribution panelboard supplying core services.

Mempower 1 25A busbars running along the seven main corridors provide power to the special distribution boards through 63A cable tap-offs. Space was limited in the ceiling void, and when the installation was being designed the Mempower busbar was found to be the most compact system available for its rating, according to Mr Littlejohns.

Electrical supplies in the guest rooms are activated by a card key system. Normally, installation of this type of system is labour-intensive because the contactors that control the various electrical circuits have to be installed separately. However, MEM Regional Projects Manager, Martin Fox, and N.G. Bailey's Adrian Littlejohns worked together to develop a pre-assembled distribution board, complete with miniature circuit-breakers and contactors.
MEM supplied 58 of these boards, based on its Memshield 2 distribution boards. Each board serves up to four rooms. Installation of a board took, typically, 30 minutes and involved fixing the distribution board to the wall, connecting it to the busbar, and then connecting 13 cable cores from each room to numbered terminals on the panel.

Each room has three circuits supplying lighting, heating and general power, including a hair drier and television. The installation incorporates a temperature set-back facility on bedroom panel heaters so that the room temperature can be maintained at 16C when the guest is not in the room, rather than being switched off completely.

The new Holiday Inn Express - Birmingham NEC was built by Moss Construction and is run by Ingram Hotels Ltd. under a franchise agreement. The 179-room, four-storey hotel, which has conference facilities for up to 100 people, was opened on August 3, 1999.

"The new Holiday Inn Express is an illustration of MEM's ability to offer a complete package of electrical installation equipment and to work with the electrical contractor in developing unique solutions to his electrical installation needs" Says Mike Storey, Sales and Marketing Director of MEM Projects and Systems Engineering. "Because the equipment is manufactured by MEM, we are also able to provide a project manager to coordinate supplies from the various MEM factories, to ensure that they are available on site to meet the needs of the installation schedule."

Electrical installation work at the Holiday Inn Express - Birmingham NEC was carried out by the Birmingham branch of N.G. Bailey and the MEM equipment was supplied through the Aston branch of Newey & Eyre.