Hundreds of en-suite shower pods have been installed during the construction of a student accommodation building in the East Midlands using the soil and waste system manufactured by Marley Plumbing and Drainage, and in particular, the company’s recently redesigned eight-way collar boss.
‘The Summit’ in Leicester is a 22 storey tower block, and an adjoining four-storey podium structure, being constructed by main contractor, Tolent Construction Ltd. as a design & build scheme on behalf of developer Megaclose (Leicester) Ltd, to serve the city’s student community.
H Malone and Sons Ltd., meanwhile, is the mechanical services specialist tasked with installing all the ventilation systems, the hot and cold water services and making the waste connections. Based on its past experience of utilising Marley Plumbing and Drainage’s systems on other projects, the Newcastle based company invited the manufacturer to put forward solutions for addressing the special requirements of the Leicester contract.
Marley’s Technical Manager, Neil Carter, explains: “The space available in the main service riser behind the bathroom pods is very tight and we therefore provided the contractor with detailed drawings indicating how the connections could be made; as well as helping them with the design and material schedule. After the pods had been craned into position, the toilet and other waste pipes are left protruding into the riser and required connecting to the stacks. The revamped Marley collar boss was ideal for this situation because it offers such flexibility.”
The Project Manager for H Malone and Sons Ltd., Mr Dave Gourley, adds: “We have a good relationship with Marley and have come to rely on its technical advice.
"Particularly in situations such as this one for the student accommodation building in Leicester, where you are tying up to pods, we wanted Marley involved from an early stage to be able to advise and steer the design process. You must have the stacks in the right place, and ensure the risers are big enough, as well as knowing which fittings can and can’t be used. We are currently half way up the 22 floors and everything is going smoothly.”
The innovative eight-way soil manifold offers the flexibility of four top and side entries, allowing for multiple inlet connections. At just 70mm above the floor slab, the eight-way collar boss is compact and unobtrusive, sitting neatly at finished floor level, whilst the efficient design prevents cross-flow by allowing multiple low level bath or shower waste pipes to be connected to the stack above floor level.
A major advantage to the project was the fact that the eight-way collar boss is extremely simple to install, with no time-consuming alterations required.
The universal orientation and hole-saw locator on the boss enables maximum flexibility and further simplifies installation. Plus the unique SCBL41 option benefits from a 530mm spigot tail, making it even quicker to install as the tail fits directly through the slab to connect to a push-fit socket below the ceiling. Finally, for added reassurances of quality, all parts are pressure tested to ensure maximum joint security.
In addition to the eight-way boss, H Malone is making use of a variety of solvent weld and push-fit connections to allow for flexibility of movement.
