Jason Cox, Sales Director – Building Services at Wilo UK, discusses why cold water booster sets are becoming crucial in the fight against insufficient water pressure in residential apartment blocks across the country.
The government’s plan to ‘get Britain building again’ is undeniably promising, yet housebuilders and developers have a major issue to overcome, which is that demand for water is already outweighing supply. It is expected to do so by five billion litres per day by 2050, which is more than a third of the 14 billion litres currently put into the public supply.
With the government targeting the construction of 1.5 million homes as well in the next five years, and talk of some of these homes potentially being high-rise blocks on brownfield sites, the problem is likely to worsen.
Already, over the past few years, a growing number of properties across the country are, almost overnight, seeing their taps reduced to a trickle, and that’s before more infrastructure and housing is added. This often comes in the form of pressure being reduced to Ofwat’s minimum stipulation of 0.7 bar to spread the supply.
It’s clear these pressures will likely be inadequate in certain types of buildings, particularly apartment blocks, meaning developers must be armed with a solution, and expect that water pressure could continue to dwindle. Sourcing a reliable booster set capable of overcoming the challenge posed by the anticipated construction of larger buildings could in fact be the answer.
Boosting pressure, sustainably
Beside finding an answer to our water pressure problems, housebuilders and developers, and those that they contract out to, are tasked with incorporating sustainable practices that will help to deliver long-term energy, carbon, and cost savings on projects.
For existing buildings with pressure boosters already installed, carrying out on-site energy reports prior to the specification stage is a popular method of demonstrating value and what gains can be made, helping relevant parties to understand the importance of installing the latest pressure boosting technology.
For example, a student residence in the southwest of England contacted Wilo for an on-site energy report. It was discovered that through efficient, straightforward improvements to the property’s existing booster set, the building owners could save over £6,000 and more than 46,000 kWh a year. Wilo also determined that the upgrade would pay for itself in little over three years, while producing carbon savings of over 10,000kg per year.
Selecting the right booster set
When it comes to specifying pressure booster sets, selecting one with a smaller, more efficient motor, such as an IE5, that can still deliver the necessary pressure to serve the property, will go a long way in providing vital carbon and energy savings.
Wilo’s SiBoost 2.0 Smart Helix VE is the manufacturer’s latest offering for applications like residential apartment blocks. The heavy-duty system operates efficiently and with ease, thanks in part to the LCD display that notifies end-users of any issues, such as insufficient pressure, before they worsen. What’s more, significant energy savings can be made through pressure-loss-optimised hydraulics as well as optimal load adjustment.
Adapting to changing water usage
Looking at the bigger picture, a growing number of housebuilders and developers are – excuse the irony – under pressure to boost water pressure. Without a solution, people in high-rise apartments are at significant risk of being left without adequate water pressure.
Beside the significant housebuilding that will impact on water pressures, housebuilders and developers are also facing up to the fact that some water companies have been purposely reducing the water mains pressure to protect pipes from bursting. This has been caused by plastic pipes, which were fitted in the late 1970s and early 1980s, failing decades earlier than they were designed for.
Hence, to overcome these challenges for developers, earlier this year, Wilo launched a new service aimed at delivering a three-to-five working day turnaround on selected booster sets. The service comprises a selection of the manufacturer’s latest offerings, which have been designed to deliver constant pressure at every extraction point throughout a building, including the heavy-duty SiBoost range.
Each booster set is assembled locally in the heart of Burton-on-Trent, meaning that for developers, there will be no delays in getting water pressures up to where they need to be.