Cripplegate House is a 1960s tower block in Worcester owned by the Platform Housing Group. It is one of three affordable housing blocks providing 48 flats across 12 floors, where leaking connections on the existing cast iron soil vent pipes were causing significant problems. The Platform repair team were attending weekly to carry out repairs. Excess damp had caused mould to form on access panels within toilets and bathrooms belonging to residents.
Fewer connections means less risk of leaks
Neil Forrest, Projects Manager for subcontractors Starrant Building Services who were responsible for the drainage stack replacement on this project, had worked with Polypipe Building Services on similar projects within local authority tower blocks.
As the first installation of Terrain FUZE Stax, he was confident in using the Terrain FUZE system and found the instalaltion a simple process. he approached Polypipe Building Services to conduct a survey of the drainage system which would reduce the risk of connection leaks and could contain all the connections for each flat wuthin their own section.
Neil said: "Polypipe Building Services took the problem away and made a design recommendation for how their Terrain FUZE Stax range coulf allow for every connection to be on the same level as where the flats sits.
"As most of the leaks had been caused by failing connections, Polypipe Building Services also recommended using a pre-moulded joint to minimise the risk of future failure. This made it easier for the Platform repair team to deal with going forward and gave confidence to the customer with a product that is as low maintenance as possible."
The drainage stacks within this building had been a problem for some time which meant our Platform repair team were making lots of visits to carry out repairs to ensure residents were comfortable in their homes.
Avoiding the worst case scenario
The biggest concern for Platform in carrying out this essential remedial work was the prospect that they would have to move all the residents out of the building, an almost impossible task due to many of them having different vulnerabilities.
Steve Summerfield adds: "Before we went ahead with any work, we conducted a full consultation meeting with residents and their main concern was how much the work would impact their daily lives and how intrusive it would be.
"Having spoken to Polypipe Building Services we were able to talk them through the process and let them know how many hours would be in their flat and how long they wouldn't be able to use their facilities. Their worst nightmare was to have disruption for weeks on end, but when we explained the work would take only around four days per property and any mess and dust could be contained within their toilet or bathroom, they were very understanding."
Quality products give confidence
With the Terrain FUZE Stax product in stock the installation team from Starrant were able to have all 24 Terrain FUZE Stax sent to site in one delivery, saving them significant time.
Following the completion of the live stack replacement, feedback from residents was universally positive, while Platform were delighted with the Terrain FUZE system and the work done by the Starrant installation team.
It's been a really good experience and it gives us confidence in the Terrain products and the Polypipe Building Services team. We'll be using Terrain in the other two buildings as we carry out the stack replacement in those.
Platform takes sustainability seriously so we look for quality products and components which will last and can be recycled. Reliability is also really important as repairs tend to generate customer dissatisfaction.
Terrain FUZE HDPE Stax
Terrain FUZE Stax is a popular addition to the Terrain FUZE HDPE drainage system. This range of 2-part fabricated stack configurations is designed to make installing the most common mid to high-rise applications simpler, faster and less wasteful. Terrain FUZE Stax has transformed the process of drainage stack installtion.