11 minute read
Kitchens, Bedrooms & Bathrooms
OFFSITE SOLUTIONS AWARDED £2.5M BATHROOM POD CONTRACT IN LIVERPOOL – ITS SECOND PROJECT FOR MODA LIVING
Offsite Solutions, the UK’s leading bathroom pod manufacturer, has been awarded its second contract for Moda Living – a £2.5m project to manufacture 478 steel-framed shower pods for The Lexington in Liverpool.
Advertisement
Designed by Falconer Chester Hall and now under construction by BCEGI, the 34-storey, New York-inspired Lexington will provide 325 high quality homes designed exclusively for build-to-rent, with apartments ranging from studios to three bedrooms.
Due for completion in 2021 and located on the waterfront, this iconic £90m scheme is set to transform the city skyline. It forms part of Liverpool Waters, a £5.6 billion project to regenerate the renowned Liverpool Docks which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Offsite Solutions has developed the stylish shower pods to Moda Living’s specification which includes contemporary grey porcelain tiling throughout, square wall-mounted wash hand basin, and deluxe-sized, thermostatically-controlled rainfall shower with separate hand-held shower. A cabinet recessed into the wall adds a sleek finish and clean lines to the shower rooms.
The pods are all floorless – a unique pod solution from Offsite Solutions engineered to avoid the need for a recess in the floor slab and minimise floor build-up for each storey whilst achieving continuous level floors throughout the apartments.
Derek Mullarkey, Construction Manager
at BCEGI said, “Bathroom pods give us the benefit of simplified logistics, reducing the number of subcontractors on site by around six trades. The consistent and superior quality of pods is a huge advantage. Quality is often the biggest issue with in-situ fit out on major apartments projects. This then causes issues at handover because of the different skillsets involved in bathroom construction. Offsite Solutions’ pods are very good quality and their organisation for site delivery has been exceptional – consistently on time and with excellent communications. Their approach has been thorough in every area.”
Residents of The Lexington will have access to stunning shared spaces including a 17th floor sky lounge, dedicated gym and workout space, roof-top gardens with outdoor dining kitchen and flexible workspaces.
The Lexington follows the successful completion of Moda Living’s Angel Gardens in Manchester, a 35-storey tower offering high quality apartments for rent next to Amazon’s new headquarters. Here Offsite Solutions manufactured over 700 steel-framed pods for shower rooms, family bathrooms and ensuites in a £3.8m contract. The first residents are now living in the building.
Offsite Solutions offers the UK’s largest range of bathroom pods to suit different building types and applications. Options include steel-framed pods with porcelaintiled finishes for high-end apartments, PRS, student residences and hotels; robust and low maintenance GRP composite pods for student accommodation, care homes, social housing and healthcare; hybrid pods for specialist projects, and award-winning demountable GRP pods for ease of installation in refurbishment schemes.
For further information, visit www.offsitesolutions.com, call 01278 780807 or email info@offsitesolutions.com.
Architect? Interior Designer? Trades?..... build your brand awareness by entering the UK Bathrooms Design Awards
In an ever changing, competitive environment designers, specifiers and fitters of bathroom spaces face the ongoing challenge to increase their brand awareness. The concept of ‘branding’ is critical for any business, even once the basic brand is understood and developed, the challenge continues to create and constantly build brand awareness. Being consistent with branding is key, getting your brand in front of potential customers is top priority.
“89% of Marketers say brand awareness is the most important goal” (Content Marketing Institute).
Having recently launched their Design Awards, UK Bathrooms, the leading online store for premium designer bathroom products, are inviting entries not just from homeowners but also from professionals. Architects, Interior Designers and Trades are being encouraged to submit their entries to win best architect/
developer-update.co.uk
interiors designer bathroom, best hotel/guest house/restaurant bathroom or best trades bathroom. Winners of each category will be awarded £500 worth of products from www.ukbathrooms.com but says Graeme Borchard MD “the opportunity is much bigger for professionals entering the UK Bathrooms Design Awards, it’s more about the brand exposure that we can help them achieve. Even if they don’t end up a winner, the project they submit may be showcased on the website, social media, blogs, newsletters and in press releases to related publications by ourselves and by our supported manufacturers.”
Graeme continued “we work closely with a large number of professionals supplying luxury bathroom products. We know how difficult the market place is and we also know that it is vital for these businesses to maximise their brand exposure to stand out in the crowd. By providing a tool to help them do this we hope that we are giving something back, whilst at the same time continuing to build our own brand.”
Entering the UK Bathrooms Design Awards is via an online entry form and full terms and conditions can be viewed on the website designawards.ukbathrooms.com. Alongside Graeme Borchard, MD of UK Bathrooms the expert panel of incredibly talented judges include Amy Moorea Wong ex Features Editor of Elle Decoration, Interior Design & Lifestyle Journalist and Writer, Darren Paxford National Sales Manager of VitrA UK Ltd and Sarah Evans Head of Channel Marketing at Hansgrohe UK.
Entering the UK Bathrooms Design Awards is via an online entry form and full terms and conditions can be viewed on the website designawards.ukbathrooms.com.
HILLHOUT RANGE, AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY FROM ZEST 4 LEISURE, TAKES JANUARY FURNITURE SHOW BY STORM
Timber furniture and decorative garden products specialist, Zest 4 Leisure reported extremely high levels of interest in the Hillhout range of timber garden products.
Zest, which is the sole distributor for Hillhout in the UK in 2020, showcased a range of the company’s painted fencing panels and planters on its stand at the January Furniture Show at the NEC in Birmingham.
Managing Director of Zest 4 Leisure, Steve Morgan said, “Hillhout is well-known throughout Europe for its high quality products and unique designs and has established itself as a trendsetter in the outdoor leisure market.
“We were delighted to showcase a range of its planters and slatted timber panels on our stand and the level of interest shown, particularly in the painted Milan Fencing Panels, was incredibly high. We believe this is due to the innovative designs and exceptional quality of products.”
Hillhout products offer the flexibility to optimise the space in any garden, big or small, and allows customers to enjoy their outdoor space.
From durable pinewood fences to pine plank screens to trellises, the Hillhout range is available in a variety of shapes, sizes as well as painted or non-painted. A perfect addition to any garden, consumers can choose between complete privacy or a more open garden. Hillhout also has a comprehensive range of trellis to complement the panels.
To see Zest 4 Leisure’s new hardwood furniture range, visit www.zest4leisure.co.uk
The IPG - Supporting Independents
The IPG is the fastest growing membership group in the plumbing, heating and bathroom sector.
In 2013, it was founded on the belief that independents should have a better voice in today’s competitive market, a value that is still upheld and fiercely advocated by the group – championing the great British independent, helping them to grow and compete.
Independent plumbing/heating stores and bathroom showrooms, like those represented by The IPG, have built up their expertise over many years and the group strongly believes that to see that specialist knowledge and friendly, local service disappear would be a travesty.
At its core, The IPG are determined to bring independent businesses together, and in turn, give their customers the opportunity to buy the best brands locally at great prices. Since its inception, the group has supported members in making their businesses a real success. In the last quarter of 2019, this culminated in the opening of flagship stores with three of its key members in Enfield, New Milton and Dudley. Each store was given a facelift, with new jointly branded store signs inside and out, improved store layout and the added benefit of digital screens for promotional messaging - the aim was to improve the customer shopping experience. The IPG recently revisited one of these stores (Plumb Inn, Enfield) to discover why they had decided to participate in this project and the impact it had on their business.
When asked how joining The IPG and becoming a flagship store helped with their future business objectives, their answer was simple, they believed that working with the membership group created a fresh perspective to push independents to do something different to drive footfall into their locations.
Ray Andes, Managing Director at Plumb Inn, said: “We are now not just a member, we have joined the IPG family and together we can only become stronger. We have a new look trade counter and showroom, a new look website and an opportunity to be involved in marketing initiatives that as an independent merchant we could not achieve on our own. The IPG’s support of the independent sector will be pivotal to the development and growth of our business and our team are all looking forward to an exciting future”
The launch was promoted locally by The IPG, there was an increase in bathroom showroom footfall during the launch which converted into sales to the trade counter. Plumb Inn were happy with the initial business outcomes. With the continued support of The IPG, Plumb Inn are confident this will continue in 2020 and beyond.
Support your local independent, you might be surprised to hear that alongside unrivalled service and unbiased honest advice your shopping basket at the end of your visit is likely to be cheaper!
Find your nearest IPG member store here: www.the-ipg.co.uk/stores
cleaning down production areas as the site increased its production lines, as it expanded its market ordering and product range. The site was also looking to substantially increase energy, fuel cost efficiency and reliability by removing the stored hot water.
“There were long periods of time with no requirements for hot water, then sudden high demand as production areas need deep cleaning. Running out of hot water would result in substandard cleaning, especially the removal of grease, and industrial cleaning products used to clean many of the surfaces. Another deciding factor for the site - Rinnai’s ability to resist Legionella breeding which is a risk with a “lukewarm” hot water system. With Rinnai continuous flow units water temperature for distribution is accurate to ±1˚C. The fact that there is no stratification as there is no storage, ensures a continuous, permanent even temperature. There is no requirement to heat a volume of water just to ensure the elimination of Legionella bacteria as the minimum temperature that a continuous flow unit achieves is in excess of advisory levels.
The modular nature of the Rinnai Systems also removes a single point of failure from the hot water system, ensuring hot water will always be available and not run out. The site used 3 x HDC1200i Natural Gas Water Heaters and also featured the Rinnai Limescale Protection Package.
The Rinnai HDC 1200i continuous flow hot water unit has the capacity to easily deliver in excess of 1560 litres of hot water in excess of 50 degrees C temperature per hour, with an overall gross efficiency of more than 95%. These levels of performance, with unbeatable efficiency levels, mean the Rinnai 1200i is more than capable of meeting and exceeding the hot water demands of all applications.
This precision engineered unit can also be combined as multiple units into one single, easy to handle module incorporating cascade frames and common flue. Both the HDC 1200 internal and external models turn in a market leading energy performance of 107% net efficiency and offer superlative ranges of modulation as the systems internal analytical system can modulate the burner modulation range from 54kw to 2.4kw. The Rinnai HDC 1200i is engineered for minimal energy wastage and maximum energy performance.
It is worth remembering that Part L of the Building Regulations 2013 has set minimum thermal efficiency levels of 90% for natural gas and 92% for LPG, consequently outlawing noncondensing gas fired water heaters for use in new build projects. of internal and external ultra-high efficiency condensing continuous flow water heaters, aligned not only to comply but surpass changes on the regulatory horizon.
Rinnai units and systems are now the number one choice for any size of site or large building or business with a heavy demand for constant hot water or where high peaks of demand occur at certain times. Any number of modules can be manifolded, so the water handling capacity is truly infinite and there is no risk of the ‘cascade’ of hot water ever running out.
The manifolded 1200i units can be delivered direct to site in one complete, easy to manage package and at a very competitive price. For the end user this guarantees considerable cost savings over other forms of hot water generation. The relatively compact footprint of all Rinnai units and systems means it can optimise plant room space and safeguard accessibility for maintenance and servicing.
There is huge potential for on-demand style water heaters such as the Rinnai HDC 1200i units to play their part in new build and in refurbishments projects alike, where in the latter there are still many old systems that need replacing. By replacing this older technology with new condensing appliances will help support the UK drive towards greener industry.
The Rinnai Infinity HDC 1200i water heater uses heat exchanger technology to allow the largest capacity flow rates, thereby guaranteeing all the hot water needed, when it is needed. As well as increasing capacity, the Rinnai Infinity water heater has lower greenhouse emissions because of the new reduced NOx burner technology and as there is no storage, this scores well with BREEAM.
The only time the site uses energy to heat water is when there is a demand, in other words, it is only burning gas when a tap is being run.
