SAVE LABOUR, SAVE TIME, SAVE SPACE

With the construction and commercial plumbing industry always looking for ways in which it can deliver projects more efficiently, both in terms of cost, labour and time, pre-fabricated drainage systems from Marley Plumbing & Drainage could be the answer.

As the construction industry adapts to the challenges encountered from the Covid-19 outbreak, it is faced with tightening client budgets, increased competition and social distancing restrictions on site. As such, ensuring a project is delivered as efficiently as possible has perhaps never been so important for plumbing contractors. Whether it be saving time, saving money or saving labour, specifying and installing innovative solutions that succeed in offering these savings is crucial.

It is perhaps here that offsite construction truly comes into its own. With components fabricated and pre-assembled in a controlled factory environment, projects can be delivered quicker and arguably with less chance of rework being required on site, in turn saving money. What’s more, offsite construction methods can also make it easier for main sites to adhere to social distancing guidelines, with fewer workers required on site to complete the assembly.
Fabricated HDPE or PVC drainage systems are one such example of offsite construction. Within high-rise developments, student accommodation, apartments, hotels and care homes, the soil and waste drainage systems can be hugely complex, requiring the appropriate skills to design and install. Ordinarily, once the main pipework had been delivered to site, it would first have to be measured and cut into individual sections depending on the system design, before then being installed. Understandably, the time, labour and skill required to carry out such installation work can be huge, potentially presenting plumbing contractors with a problem.

Prefabricated stacks, such as those offered by Marley Plumbing & Drainage, can change all of this, offering a more efficient means of delivering a complete system.

The first step in this process would be for the manufacturer to create the technical drawings for each individual stack element. As well as ensuring that every detail is both to specification and fully compliant with the current regulations, this also provides plumbing contractors with peace of mind that the drainage system will perform as expected once in-situ, reducing the chance of call-backs. The soil and waste stacks are then fabricated and welded together in a controlled factory environment to exact project specifications, providing additional assurances of the drainage system’s end-quality.

Another aspect of traditional soil and waste system installations that usually require additional time and dedicated labour is the need for each individual pipework elements to undergo pressure testing. Unlike traditional building practices, where pressure testing is carried out for the first time on site, prefabricated stacks undergo initial pressure tests within the factory environment. This allows for any issues to be detected at an early stage and rectified promptly before the stacks reach site. As well as helping to save time, reducing, the likelihood of costly rework being required further down the line, it also can provide contractors with added confidence in the product’s performance.

Finally, upon being delivered to site in line with the construction schedule, the installation can begin, where the prefabricated stacks can be simply lifted into position and connected together. The ease of installation carries a number of benefits, with perhaps the most obvious one being speed, enabling contractors to carry out a job quickly and efficiently. It also results in less workers being required on site to carry out the installation. In a society adjusting to the practicalities of living with Covid-19 this is invaluable, both considering the social distancing guidelines in place and also the potential for the size of a workforce to be affected.

Working efficiently, both in terms of cost, time and labour, has perhaps never been so crucial for plumbing contractors, especially as the industry looks to recover from the Covid-19 outbreak and adjust to this new way of working. Modern methods of construction and offsite solutions, such as Marley’s fabrication service have a key role to play, helping to deliver commercial plumbing projects both safely and quickly.

www.marleypd.co.uk