BUILDING PRODUCTS / Drainage and water supply systems
Rise and fall Tom Murray, Sales & Marketing Director at Polypipe Building Services, discusses the challenges of getting water in and out of tall buildings.
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he height of the risers in tall buildings present pressure challenges both in terms of getting water up the building and the pressure created by wastewater travelling down and out of the building. Tall buildings, both residential and commercial, are often high value and prestigious. They can, therefore, be highly designed, with as much emphasis on form as function. This, in turn, makes even greater demands on the efficient use of space and the flexibility of systems and infrastructure to be incorporated. But conventional approaches to water management can often compound these challenges. Metal systems, such as copper, stainless steel and cast iron, are heavy and need specialist skills and machinery to handle – such as cutting and lifting equipment – which requires training and supervision. Copper is also a high-cost material and, therefore, poses a considerable theft risk and storage headache. Modern piping materials and systems, such as PVC and HDPE for drainage and PPRCT and MLCP for water supply, use advanced jointing techniques like electrofusion and press-fitting which require minimal tooling. These materials are lightweight, easy to transport, handle and work with. They also lend themselves to prefabrication which, when it comes to high-rise construction, is a game changer.
Handling the pressure
It’s often assumed that ‘plastic’ pipe systems can’t deal with the pressure and consistent flow rate demanded by the hundreds of outlets in a tall building. But at the Trinity Island development in Manchester, a Renaker project managed by MWA Ecosystems, Polypipe Building Services provided a composite system based on our MecFlow Fusion product. Towers of up to 60 storeys were fitted with purpose-designed prefabricated risers and manifolds, which could take the pressure of supplying water to such a height, without the need for secondary pump stations. The prefabricated elements meant that installation was extremely time and labour efficient, and the high level of customisation meant that the system was highly space efficient. Lightweight, customised and prefabricated systems also have a very positive impact on the overall logistics of a project. Prefabricated modules can be delivered to site on a ‘just in time’ basis – floor by floor, phase by phase. The essential advantage of fitting a floor’s worth of drainage stacks with simple electrofusion couplings is complemented by the reduced need for onsite storage and the ability to deal with difficult access. Complete
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floors of prefabricated drainage assembly can be craned directly to the installation point – in one load. At the Alperton Bus Depot development in the London Borough of Brent, a project managed by I-MEX (M&E) on behalf of Telford homes, we installed 4000 Terrain FUZE Stax systems in three blocks up to 27 storeys high. Not only did this project have a tight schedule, the development is on the corner of a busy junction with limited space for deliveries and cranes. The fast installation time and scheduled delivery service we provided was vital. The benefits that modern drainage and water supply systems can provide high-rise projects are significant. A recent whitepaper published by Polypipe Building Services – ‘Prefabrication. The key to the transformation of construction’ 1 – features a detailed study which highlights the advantages of modern prefabricated systems versus installations using loose conventional materials. Compared to prefabricated HDPE systems, cast iron drainage has a 150% higher total installed cost and requires 136% more logistics days. Water is fundamental to the effectiveness of a building, both the way it comes in and how it’s taken away. The choice of system used to perform these vital functions is just as fundamental. www.polypipe.com
Alperton Bus Depot, Brent, London. 4000 Terrain FUZE Stax, prefabricated, installed and delivered floor by floor. Trinity Island, Manchester. Bespoke water supply manifold fabricated in MecFlow Fusion.
1. To download the new whitepaper, go to: www.polypipe.com/ advantage-page