- ELB Partners achieves 10th FORS Gold in a row
ELB Partners is using its rapid response capability to help the NHS by delivering innovative and vital lighting equipment into two of the Government’s new Nightingale Hospitals, set up in a matter of days to treat thousands of patients suffering with Coronavirus.
ELB has been at the front line of helping the NHS fight the virus by delivering robust over-bed lighting for COVID-19 patients at the newly-created Nightingale Hospitals at the Exhibition and Conference Centre in Bristol and the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham.
ELB, which earlier this year secured the FORS Gold (Fleet Operators Recognition Scheme) standard for a record six-breaking sixth year – the only London haulier to achieve this accolade – carried out the deliveries on behalf of its long-term client DesignPlan Lighting.
Based in Sutton, Surrey, the lighting business, which specialises in robust lighting for challenging environments including hospitals, schools and prisons, designed a new bed-mounted luminaire in a matter of days, as many of the Nightingale Hospitals are based in large exhibition venues with high cavernous roof spaces.
Writing on LinkedIn, Phil Muir, design and technology director at DesignPlan Lighting, said: “It’s amazing what a great team can do. Based on all our current resources and using all our experience we started designing a product for the NHS Nightingale Hospitals last Saturday. These installations, with no ceilings, have very specific requirements and we’ve pulled together to come up with a product that precisely meets the needs of NHS staff and patients – lighting for general nursing, examination lighting and night light.
“The product was prototyped and photometered on Monday, was tested and certified in our labs on Tuesday and in production on Wednesday. I’m very proud of everyone at DesignPlan – great effort!”
Peter Eason, managing director of ELB Partners, said: “We’ve worked with DesignPlan for over a year now so when we got the call a few days ago, we made ourselves available for this job. Everyone was on the job, including myself as I took product to both Bristol and Birmingham.
“This rapid turnaround by DesignPlan and ourselves in this country’s hour of need is a great way of demonstrating our support for those front-line workers in the NHS.”
Another one of ELB’s most established customers, Batt Cables, has delivered vital electrical cable into the 4,000-bed ExCel Hospital, which started accepting its first coronavirus patients this week.
ELB Partners is part of the award-winning Pallet-Track network, which has asked its 90-plus freight business members across the UK to join forces with the eight major national pallet networks that make up the Association of Pallet Networks (APN) to offer their services for the express distribution of critical emergency and food supplies.
Founder and managing director of Pallet-Track Nigel Parkes said: “The NHS is doing a fantastic job in difficult circumstances and if we can help expedite the supply of vital medicines and personal protection equipment, we, along with the other APN members, are here to help the national effort.
“All are doing what they can and are willing to do more as part of the effort to help the NHS defeat coronavirus while the rest of the UK stays safe at home – but we are more than ready to do more if required.”
Between them, the APN member businesses have 30,000 employees, more than 750 depots, and offer 100 per cent national coverage by postcode.
Collectively they delivered 26 million pallets of goods in 2019 and are one of the most efficient forms of freight distribution enabling overnight deliveries of consignments of any size from a single pallet upwards, anywhere in the UK.
