Taking Engineering to New Heights

Look around the skyline of the City of London and you’ll find that many of the most iconic buildings in view have FG Wilson generator sets inside, installed by Bells Power Solutions.  Known for delivering technical turnkey generator solutions for some of the UK’s most prestigious buildings, Bells recently surpassed themselves, installing six FG Wilson 2,250 kVA, 11 kV generator sets at Level 57 of 22 Bishopsgate, around 260 metres above the street below.  These are believed to be the highest installed generator sets in the northern hemisphere.

Bells Power Solutions, who have been a dealer of FG Wilson for 30 years, are contracted to T Clarke / Multiplex group, who are constructing 22 Bishopsgate, now the tallest building in the City of London with the highest useable floor space in northern Europe. The building, described as a “vertical city” in the city of London, is a state of the art 62 storey skyscraper, standing 288 metres tall and offering 1.275 million square feet of premium space for business and leisure.

Since 2014, Bells Power Solutions and FG Wilson have been working together closely with the building’s designers and constructors to ensure the generator sets could be successfully integrated into the building’s design, taking account of their weight, noise, vibration and fuel systems, as well as fully meeting the building’s power needs.  FG Wilson P2250-1E emission-optimised generator sets, powered by Perkins 4016-61TRG2 engines, were selected for the project to ensure reliable power with lowest possible emissions. The radiator package for the generator sets was specially designed to ensure the lowest coupled airflow requirement for cooling as louvre space was limited.  The generator sets synchronised together can deliver 13.5MVA of power at 11 kV, enough to power a small town.

A project of this kind is challenging enough when the generator sets are at ground level or in a basement but at a height of 260 metres, installing the generator sets becomes a huge project all on its own.  Getting the components in place meant lifting more than a hundred lifts for items of all shapes, sizes and weights and took place over a six week period during July and August 2019.  Components were lowered through the outlet attenuator penetration in the Level 58 / 59 slab onto the Level 57 generator room floor.  With the on-site cranes, Bells Power were able to lift the generator sets in complete sections, with up to 16,000 kilograms hoisted in each lift. 

A project of this kind is challenging enough when the generator sets are at ground level or in a basement but at a height of 260 metres, installing the generator sets becomes a huge project all on its own.  Getting the components in place meant lifting more than a hundred lifts for items of all shapes, sizes and weights and took place over a six week period during July and August 2019.  Components were lowered through the outlet attenuator penetration in the Level 58 / 59 slab onto the Level 57 generator room floor.  With the on-site cranes, Bells Power were able to lift the generator sets in complete sections, with up to 16,000 kilograms hoisted in each lift.

James Murphy, Managing Director of Bells Power Solutions commented “The last five years of planning and work is leading up to the turning on the generator sets on-site.  It is fitting that when everyone else will be turning on their Christmas lights, at 22 Bishopsgate, we’ll be powering up the equivalent of a power station for a small town.  Everything about 22 Bishopsgate is impressive: the design, the floor space, the height of the structure and its location. We at Bells Power Solutions are very pleased to play a part in the construction of this building.”

For more information on Bells Power Solutions, visit http://bellspowersolutions.co.uk/ and FG Wilson www.fgwilson.com/