With the dual pressures of regulation and tight budgets, finding ways of reducing the ongoing cost of repair and maintenance is front of mind for most local authorities and housing associations. Grant Westfield’s waterproof bathroom wall panels offer an ideal solution.
In an effort to minimise expenditure in this area, social housing providers are now taking a much more planned and preventative approach to maintenance in their refurbishment and new-build programmes. A key part of this is the installation of high quality contemporary products that offer both durability and minimal maintenance.
Independent social housing provider, Weslo typifies this approach in its bathroom refurbishment programme. When Weslo’s Maintenance Manager, Rob Tait was looking for waterproof bathroom wall panels that were tough enough to last 15-20 years, his installer Andy Shearer, Managing Director of MCN Ltd, had no hesitation in recommending Grant Westfield‘s Multipanel, which comes with a 15-year guarantee.
“Our business model,” said Andy, “revolves around our ability to complete the fit in just one day. To achieve this, we rely on products that guarantee a great look and are quick to install. In these respects, Multipanel certainly fit the bill.”
Save on costs
Ease of installation, together with minimum disruption to tenants have also been the deciding factors for Dunedin Canmore in choosing Multipanel (pictured above and left). In addition to its programme of maintenance and upgrade work, it will spend more than £80m building 700 new homes by 2020, and it will also use Multipanel in these.
“I reckon using Multipanel saves us at least one day’s labour on each fit-out,” said John Hynde from Dunedin Canmore. “When you consider the volume of bathroom refurbishments we carry out, that’s quite a saving. It goes some way to explaining why we are not really focused on tiles.”
Inclusive living
For Simon Bonney, Disabled Adaptation Supervisor at Plymouth Community Homes, choosing products which suit the diversity of his tenants’ requirements is essential. Simon manages hundreds of bathroom adaptations each year, and his contractors have recently installed Multipanel in bathrooms where restricted mobility needs had to be factored in. “Our residents,” commented Simon, “are now able to maintain their living area more effectively due to the easy-to-clean wall panels, great for all our residents, but particularly so for those who have mobility issues which impacts their ability to clean tiles and grout.”
For more information visit: Multipanel.co.uk, email: info@multipanel.co.uk or call 0131 290 2862.
