Underfloor heating is child’s play in new nursery
A Giacomini underfloor heating system in this new children’s centre in County Durham delivers safe and effective heating.
Experience with an underfloor heating system installed over 10 years ago led to the head teacher asking for it in a new children’s centre in County Durham. The new centre at Wingate caters for children from just a few weeks old up to five years, and 520 m2 of floor area is heated by a Giacomini underfloor system. The installation comprises 2240 m of 18 mm PEX tubing laid in concrete screed floors. Low-temperature hot water is distributed by modular, pre-assembled manifolds, with all components made and installed by Giacomini, which won the contract by tender. The design of this new centre incorporated important elements of an existing building and expanded this in a light and airy development housing a nursery, child unit and an early-years training and research base. Mrs Paddy Beels, the head teacher, explains, ‘Underfloor heating was something that I knew worked well. An original installation in the existing building in 1992 had proved its worth in many ways. There are no intrusions on space or the risk of children hurting themselves on hot radiators and the temperature is consistently comfortable in every area of the building. Importantly, the warmth is concentrated at the level children spend much of their time, especially the very young ones — playing on the floor. With the development and extension of the centre, the new underfloor system is providing a comfortable environment for both the children and the staff.’ The extension of this children’s centre was undertaken to a tightly scheduled building programme, and Giacomini installed the heating with minimum impact on other construction activities. Lewis Richardson of contractor Gus Robinson Developments says, ‘I was impressed with the speed that Giacomini installed the underfloor heating. All the sub-floor tubing and components were completed in just one day, and the surrounding works carried on with barely an interruption. The labour-saving nature of the system outweighs any difference in component costs and provides a measurable cost saving against more traditional heating systems.’
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