Plastics provide ideal replacement for soil stacks in Birmingham tower blocks
When it was decided that the original cast-iron and carbon-steel soil stacks in a number of high-rise tower blocks in Birmingham could not be replaced with traditional alternatives, Polypipe Terrain suggested its plastic Terrain Acoustic dB12 drainage system as a suitable replacement. The blocks date from the 1960s, and many of the soil stacks were suffering badly from poor performance, with the bore of some of the 100 mm pipes reduced to just 25 to 30 mm by corrosion and internal build-up.
Adam Turk, sales and marketing director for Polypipe Terrain, explains, ‘Terrain Acoustic dB12 was able to satisfy all the project requirements for a cost-effective, acoustically insulated soil-pipe system that would provide an extended operating life and which would be easy to install on live applications.
‘We were also able to help reduce costs by the use of our prefabrication service. This allowed a number of bespoke stacks and fittings to be designed so that specific site issues could be overcome. These were then manufactured under our carefully controlled factory conditions and delivered to site preassembled and ready for installation.’
The company also provided its Terrain MuPVC waste systems for the project, along with training and installation guidance, which eased the task of installing the new systems whilst the tower blocks remained occupied.
