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Distribution Boards
The Globe Theatre is a faithful reconstruction of the open-air playhouse, first built in 1599, where Shakespeare worked and for which he wrote many of his greatest plays.
Each year the theatre season runs from April to October with productions of work by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as modern writers. Each year over 350,000 members of the audience experience the 'wooden O' sitting in a gallery or standing as a groundling in the yard, just as they would have done 400 years ago.
The reconstructed Theatre put on its first play in 1993 and as one would expect with a building with such huge footfall is in a constant state of maintenance. Also, due to it’s enormous popularity is constantly being upgraded.
Dotted throughout the building are a large number of power distribution fuse boards. These boards are typically located within a cupboard housing other services such as data and telephone. Each board is connected via cable trunking to the incoming supply and outgoing circuits as well as being surround by the other services. Due to the age and quality of the original distribution boards many of them need to be upgraded with new equipment.
The electrical maintenance of the Globe is managed by the electrical contractor GS Electrical (Kent) Ltd. They quickly discovered that the existing pattern of distribution board was no longer available but needed to upgrade to a more robust type. To install replacement distribution boards of a different size would mean disturbing other vital services as well as removal of existing cable containment, possibly resulting in rewiring or extending existing circuits.
David Hucklebridge of GS Electrical turned to Blakley Electrics for help. David’s association with Blakley goes back many years and he was well aware of Blakley’s ability to design and manufacture bespoke items. After a site visit by a Blakley design engineer, suitable replacement distribution boards were designed and supplied. The boards, a modern upgraded version of the existing distribution boards are the same size as the ones being removed, thereby ensuring that existing circuitry could be used with the minimum of disturbance. The boards are equipped with either a 18 way or 12 way Schneider pan assembly and 125A 4 pole switch disconnector built into custom metalwork.
Whilst most of the distribution boards are mounted in cupboards with other services, the boards that are backstage are mounted in an open environment, see adjacent photograph.
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