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Lightning protection systems

A lightning protection system does three things in sequence: it intercepts the strike at a predetermined point, it conducts the current to earth along a path you have chosen rather than one the building offers by accident, and it disperses that current into the ground without creating dangerous potential differences on the way. Our work follows the local Code of Practice as set out in SS 555.

Lightning Protection Systems
Risk assessment Design & installation Audit & inspection Rectification Surge protection
01

Lightning risk assessment

Before anything is specified, the structure is assessed against SS 555-2: its dimensions and location, construction and contents, the services entering it, the people inside it and the consequence of a strike. The outcome is a required protection level — and sometimes the finding that the existing system was designed to the wrong one. We produce the assessment as a standalone deliverable for consultants and developers, or as the first stage of a design-and-install package.

02

Design and installation

Full system design and installation to SS 555-3, covering the three elements of the external system and their integration with the building's structure.

Air termination
The parts that take the hit. Franklin rods, mesh (Faraday cage) networks and catenary systems, positioned using the rolling sphere, protective angle or mesh method depending on the shape of the building.
Down conductors
The route the current takes down to the ground. Copper and aluminium tape, bare or PVC-covered, concealed or surface-run, with test joints at points somebody can actually reach later.
Earth termination
Where the current disperses into the soil. Ring electrodes, driven rod systems, foundation earthing, and enhancement compounds where the ground doesn't conduct well enough on its own.
Bonding and separation
Keeping everything a person could touch at the same voltage during a strike. Metallic services, roof plant, handrails, façades and cladding all bonded in, with separation distances calculated rather than eyeballed.
03

Adequacy audit and periodic inspection

An existing system reviewed against current requirements — not against the standard it was built to. The audit covers:

● Review of existing drawings and records, and re-drawing where none exist.
● Physical inspection of air terminations, conductors, joints, clamps, bonds and fixings for corrosion, mechanical damage and disconnection.
● Continuity testing across the full path from air termination to earth electrode.
● Earth resistance measurement at every test point, compared against commissioning values where available.
● Assessment of separation distances and bonding of services added since installation.
● A written report with measured data, photographs of every defect, and a prioritised rectification schedule.

Buildings change after handover. New rooftop plant, replaced cladding, additional antennas and solar arrays all alter a lightning protection system's behaviour — and none of them arrive with a review of its effect.

04

Rectification and enhancement

Replacement of corroded or damaged conductors, re-making of failed joints and bonds, installation of additional down conductors and earth electrodes, and upgrade of a system to a higher protection level where the building's use has changed. Quoted against the audit findings line by line, so you can stage the work across budget years if you need to.

05

Surge protection

Surge protective devices are the second half of the job — the part that saves equipment rather than structure. They are specified to SS 555 as a coordinated scheme — Type 1 at the origin of the installation, Type 2 at distribution boards, Type 3 at sensitive equipment — with the energy coordination between stages calculated, not assumed from a product catalogue. We also review incoming telecommunication and data services, which are a far more common entry path for damaging transients than the power supply.

Not sure when your system was last measured?
We will test it, tell you what we find, and put the readings in writing.
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Earthing & bonding
Electrode systems and resistance testing measured against the commissioning baseline.
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Design and build, testing and commissioning, maintenance, upgrading and retrofit.