Colwall Care Home Herefordshire

In most cases, multi-layer piping also offers total project cost savings compared with metal systems and the real benefits at Colwall Care Home became evident following a comprehensive cost analysis undertaken by Geberit's project specialists on behalf of HVAC and building services contractor Hargan UK Ltd.

In total, 2,000m of Geberit FlowFit pipework was installed for hot and cold water supply at Colwall Care Home.

Comparing Geberit FlowFit to copper press-fit pipework, the huge 37% reduction in total project cost is almost entirely due to the ease of installation when working with this type of press-fit multi-layer piping system.

Although generally multi-layer pipes and fittings are more expensive to purchase than copper, the difference is more than made up in labour cost savings. This is largely because 16mm and 20mm pipes (which represented 89% of the total system) can be bent to shape by hand, instead of installing elbows and additional fastening points - which means a cost saving for the customer and leaving the contractor free to move onto their next job quicker.

The cost analysis also showed significant savings when comparing Geberit's FlowFit system to other multi-layer piping systems, particularly due to tooling advancements and a significant reduction in pipe diameters across the flow-optimised system.

Geberit FlowFit fittings come in eight dimensions (of which six were used at Colwall Care Home) and only two pressing jaws are required for the entire range, rather than having to change for each pipe dimension. This saves significant time for installers, as well as needing to undertake less process work when preparing the product.

In addition, the flow-optimised design of Geberit FlowFit - which is the only plastic multi-layer system to include swept geometry in bends - results in minimised pressure losses, closer to that of metal pipework. This means that the water flows through the piping system and to the point of use with less pressure loss, meaning that piping system can be planned and installed with much smaller dimensions.

The total install cost is 37% lower with Geberit FlowFit compared to copper or standard multi-layer.