Innovative drainage and water supply kits play their part in Enterprise Regeneration Project.

As with most student accommodation projects, at Silverthorne there is a high degree of standardisation. The large number of rooms and the standardised layout meant that there would be much repetition. The build was therefore well-suited to a design approach which used modular construction. Prefabricating a set of kits to cover the water supply and drainage installation would be highly time efficient.

Prefabrication for minimal on-site connections.

M&E Contractor, Grove Mechanical assessed the project and sketched out a series of drainage and water supply assemblies that would cover all the accommodation types within the development. The Polypipe Advantage Off-site Prefabrication Service has built up a great deal of expertise in developing solutions for this kind of project and the Advantage Design Team were able to create kits of 18 parts for the hot water system and 6 parts for the central heating. These systems also had to fit with the prefabricated bathroom pods designed and manufactured by main contractor H G Construction.

The water supply kits were manufactured in Aylesford, Kent using socket and butt-welding jointing techniques – before being shipped to the site where the Grove installation team would fit them using electrofusion couplings. The system design minimised the number of couplings required.

A great fit for a fast-paced development with a tightly managed budget.

Jason Duncan, Regional Sales Director at Polypipe Building Services commented:

“Silverthorne was a fast-paced development with a tightly managed budget. There was a lot of repetition between the accommodation units, which were highly modular and used prefabricated bathroom pods. It therefore made sense to also use a prefabricated approach for the drainage and water supply systems as this would help in achieving a fast, reliable and cost-effective installation.

“In short, we designed an approach to fit the timeframe, and designed systems to fit with the pods."

MecFlow Fusion and Terrain FUZE – perfect products for the job.

“Our MecFlow Fusion and Terrain FUZE systems were ideal products for this project. Both lend themselves to prefabrication, and with the input of our Advantage team we were able to deign a solution that suited the scope of the project and the timeframe.

“The MecFlow Fusion water supply system is extremely robust which means that it can be used to manufacture fairly complex prefabricated elements off-site which can then be safely transported to site and installed with minimal jointing.

Factory precision delivers affordability, reliability and sustainability.

“Our prefabrication specialists use socket and butt-welding techniques which are both cost effective and very reliable. These techniques can be used on-site, but the precision and control we can achieve in our factory - together with our testing and quality control processes ensure that the components are very reliable.

“Using this kind of innovative approach to manufacture and installation, while working with innovative products like Fusion and FUZE, provides multiple benefits. Not only is the process fast, it also makes the optimum use of skilled labour which can then be deployed across the project as efficiently as possible. In fact, pre-fabrication also helps with project planning as logistics, deliveries, storage can all be streamlined. Delivery miles are reduced and on-site fabrication waste is virtually eliminated. It’s a highly sustainable approach. This project has a goal of being a net carbon site and we’re certainly helping the team achieve that.”