Prefabricated construction and pluggable installation. The egg of Columbus

Pluggable installation is gaining ground. Especially in non-residential construction and recently also in prefabricated housing construction, the easily applicable installations have become indispensable. Hotels, supermarkets and hospitals are being installed in a pluggable manner from the distributor to the last socket. The advantages at a glance.

As early as the 1980s, the German company Wieland brought the first system for pluggable installation to the market. Wieland transferred the technology to its Dutch importer Isolectra, which is now known as the supplier with the most experience in pluggable installations in the Netherlands.

Simpler and faster

Initially, pluggable installations were used primarily in commercial construction. The installations were the egg of Columbus, especially against the background of developments at the time. "Well-trained installers became scarcer," explains Richard Vrolijk, Business Development Manager at Isolectra. "But to connect a pluggable installation you need to be trained, not highly skilled. In addition, the pace of construction was accelerating. More and more buildings were being prefabricated to the max and completed on site in the shortest possible time. Here, too, pluggable installations scored highly."

Also for residential construction

The developments did not go unnoticed in the housing construction industry, where large numbers of houses have to be realized in a very short time. What could Isolectra do for this industry? Vrolijk: "Many homes were already largely prefabricated at that time, but our materials were not yet suitable for all construction methods, including precast concrete construction. We worked on that together with our manufacturer Wieland."

Save time

The new developments benefited the quality of the installations. "Prefabrication in conditioned rooms guaranteed the highest quality. The precast concrete manufacturer and installer did have to carefully exchange designs and cutouts with each other, but that time is more than made up on the construction site."

Certified

Isolectra's system has now grown into a mature system. Cables are pre-connected with connectors in the factory; distribution blocks are fitted with input and output connectors. This provides the user with ready-made components that only need to be clicked together on the construction site to form an installation. The high quality of the system has now been certified.

Safe and durable

When it comes to sustainability, the pluggable installations also provide improvements. The reduced number of traffic movements reduces CO2 emissions and the smaller number of people on the construction site increases safety. 

Future

Going even further is Isolectra's Streda concept, which combines power and data (for the Internet) in a single pluggable cable. This simplifies the infrastructure and makes it easier to handle. The cables can be incorporated directly into the precast concrete elements. Streda is available with recessed boxes, cassettes, socket outlets and switches. The cassettes can be easily and quickly installed and, if required, exchanged for other variants. The advantages: time savings, error reduction and flexibility.

"Streda represents an important step forward," believes Bert Jongsma of VBI. "The electrical installation of ground-level homes is no longer based on a 1950s design. Now that power and data are cleverly combined and connection points with intelligence are applied, the installation is ready for the user requirements of the coming decades."