Complete pluggable residential installation for transformation projects

From group box to switchgear

With the transformation of office buildings into apartments, major cities in our country are rapidly trying to create affordable housing for students, starters and young families. Here, converting vacant offices offers great advantages. For example, with regard to construction time, costs and sustainability. After all, the building does not have to be demolished for its new purpose and building materials are saved, waste is reduced and the ecological footprint of the construction sector is reduced. But there are also challenges, for example when it comes to integrating all residential installations. A challenge that WAGO and ABB have energetically addressed with a new ABB center box with WAGO connectors. "Thanks to the new development, we can now offer a complete system for transformer construction, allowing the entire process from group box to switch to be pluggable."

"In transformation projects, suspended ceilings are commonly used to optimize and adapt spaces to their new residential function," says Marcel Visser, Prefab (Pluggable) Expert at WAGO. "This not only provides opportunities to neatly conceal installations such as electrical wiring and piping, but also creates aesthetic opportunities for adjusting lighting and improving acoustics. In addition, hollow (metal stud) walls play an essential role. They allow a flexible layout of spaces and offer an efficient way to create new interior walls without major structural changes."

Optimal conditions for pluggable installation

The suspended ceilings and hollow walls provide an optimal environment for pluggable installation, with installers benefiting from numerous advantages. As an example, Visser mentions a 70 to 80% faster installation and significant reductions in failure costs, allowing more installations to be made with fewer people.

Feeding, Distributing, Connecting and Connecting

"Within pluggable installation, we distinguish the four themes of Feeding, Distributing, Connecting and Connecting," he says. "Thanks to our cooperation with ABB, we can now provide a suitable pluggable solution for each theme." The theme Feeding includes the prefabricated group boxes, which form the hub of the modern home installation. "By making the group boxes pluggable, costly installation time is minimized, while standardized connections reduce errors. This not only results in more efficiency, but also in substantial cost savings. The WAGO WINSTA plug-and-play connectors are compatible with all well-known brands of prefabricated group boxes, including ABB, providing a perfect basis for the pluggable residential installation."

Flexible installation with standard solutions 

Distributing includes the new pluggable center boxes from Attema and ABB. "A total of eighteen standardized center boxes with WAGO connectors have been developed, with which any desired switching and connection situation can be created," Visser said. "This allows installers to keep an overview and install flexibly with standard solutions." The WAGO/ABB center boxes are maintenance-free and can be fitted perfectly into hollow walls and hollow ceilings. "In addition, the products - depending on the construction method - can be used well in wood frame construction, steel frame construction and modular construction projects."

The standardized approach also applies to the Connect theme, for which twelve standardized WAGO WINSTA connector cable types have been developed. "The last theme concerns Connecting, where almost every brand of switchgear can be equipped with WAGO WINSTA plug-and-play connectors. Including the ABB switchgear. This allows the complete process from power supply to connection to be performed plug-and-play."

Sustainable and circular

With the pluggable residential installation, WAGO is in line with current trends in construction. Also with regard to the topics of sustainability and circularity. Thus, any changes can be made easily, which significantly extends the life span of the installations, Visser concludes. "At the end of the building life or in the event of major changes, the pluggable components can also be easily disassembled and - after extensive testing - reused elsewhere."