Roman hypocaust acclaimed as top H&V product ever

The Roman hypocaust heating system has been voted by the UK H&V industry as the top product of all time in the Hall of Fame initiative associated with the recent H&V07 exhibition and featured in our December issue. Working with the CIBSE Heritage Group, Modern Building Services and H&V News the show’s organisers drew up a top-10 all-time-greats list of H&V technology. The strengths of each candidate were presented by a champion from the industry in the style of television’s ‘Great Britons’ series. The hypocaust was championed by Cedric Sloan, director of FETA, and won 22% of the vote. This heating system is said to have been devised by the Roman Sergius Orata in about 80 BC and was used in villas in colder countries, including Britain, as the Romans expanded their empire. It remained in use across much of Europe for over 400 years.