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Learn how Saint-Gobain PAM’s Rodding Branch massively reduces installation times for basement pipe systems
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By combining 8 separate parts into one unit, Saint-Gobain PAM’s Rodding Branch massively reduces installation times for basement pipe systems, boosting productivity and reducing labour demands. Watch our time trial of the video to see just how much time you can save on your project!
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Sanifos Makes Glamping Possible
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Saniflo UK – a leading designer and manufacturer of pumps and macerators – continues to provide drainage solutions to unusual and remote places guaranteeing business continuity for some of the country’s prominent staycation attractions locations.
Galley Hill Farm situated on the edge of the rolling Lincolnshire Wolds, an ‘Area of Natural Beauty’, is a farm with a successful ‘Pick Your Own’ business and a caravan site with 10 pitches in a stunning woodland grove adjacent to the family farmhouse.
The busy caravan site encompasses a block with shower and WCs and has recently expanded from 5 to 10 pitches plus two sizeable glamping pods complete with bathroom, bedroom, kitchen and living room..
Waste from the house and the toilet block is discharged to a septic tank that was recently upgraded due to new regulations that came into effect in 2020. A separate chemical disposal point was also installed for the caravan site.
The proposed space on site for the glamping pods did not have sufficient gravity fall to reach the septic tank, which was 70m away, and thus required a pump to discharge the waste. A Sanifos 610 underground lifting station provided the perfect solution; with sufficient capacity to accommodate more units in future.
A clearing behind the farmhouse was prepared which included concrete bases for the pods, a large pit for siting the Sanifos and trench for the main connection pipe. A small shed was erected to house the electrics and alarm for the Sanifos. The pods were dropped into place and the waste connections installed from the borehole water supply, which has its own water filtration system.
The Sanifos 610 has a 612-litre tank and is offered with a choice of one or two pumps. Galley Hill Farm specified the twin pump model to ensure continuity of service. The pumps work alternately to ensure even wear of the motors, but in the event of one pump failing, the other will activate to ensure it keeps working. It is supplied with a smart control box which is an interactive, intelligent station monitoring system and integrates an alarm for early warning of any problems.
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Service Growth At Condair
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Humidity control specialist, Condair, has appointed Ryan Mooney, as a humidifier service engineer based out of London. Strengthening its engineering presence in the capital allows Condair to provide an even more efficient response time to its many customers in the region.
Ryan has many years’ experience in the building services and environmental control sectors having worked at companies including Aqua Compliance Services and Certifact.
Tony Tullett, Service Director at Condair, comments, “We are very happy to welcome Ryan to the Condair service team and are proud to be expanding our nationwide network of engineers to 18. Condair boasts the largest specialist humidifier service department in the UK by far and we are perfectly placed to deliver the manufacturer’s engineering expertise on-site, no matter where in the UK that humidifier is located.”
The Condair Group is the world’s leading specialist in humidity control and evaporative cooling, with energy efficient, hygienic and innovative technologies for commercial, industrial and heritage applications. Condair is represented in the UK by Condair Limited, which offers system design, manufacture, supply, installation, commissioning, maintenance and spares. You can find out more by visiting the company’s website at www.condair.co.uk
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Crittall On The Right Lines With Crossrail
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Crittall is making a major contribution to new and refurbished West London railway stations on the multi-billion pound Crossrail infrastructure project.
Working for Network Rail contractors Hochtief Construction UK and John Graham Construction, Crittall has been creating the fenestration for a series of AfA (access for all) link bridges over the railway lines between platforms and ticket offices. W20 glazed pivot windows coupled on a fixed light with a PPC steel cement board made up the majority of the frames required.
The existing stations undergoing refurbishment and modification are at Southall, West Drayton, and Hayes and Harlington. The work, carried out by Hochtief, also included new buildings, platform widening and extensions, lift shafts and staircases.
John Graham Construction was responsible for completely new stations at West Ealing and Acton Mainline. In all cases Crittall, working with the main contractors, organised the contracts so as to minimise disruption to the operation of the railway which has now been renamed the Elizabeth Line.
Just over half of the frames were fixed and glazed off site in Wiltshire and Rotherham then transported by the contractor to the site and craned into place during specific set times controlled by Network Rail.
The remaining windows for the contract had to be fixed and glazed on site at the stations during controlled ‘possession’ time slots at nights and weekends when the railway lines were closed of a period of time.
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Warren Cycles For Charity
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No sooner than he joins the business than Saniflo’s new Kinedo Business Development Manager, Warren Knowles, is persuaded to participate in the PHG Revolution 150 Charity Bike Ride. No easy feat, the two-day, 150-mile course runs from Harrogate to Darlington through the Yorkshire Dales and back again through the North Yorkshire Moors.
Supporting two environmental charities, Surfers Against Sewage and Woodland Trust, the ride raises money and also awareness of how every single person can help the war on plastic pollution and the carbon crisis both at home and at work. Like many charities, both suffered losses during the pandemic and this event was designed to help them recover.
So, on Friday 1st October, Warren donned his best bike shoes and Saniflo-sponsored shirt to tackle the course;
“To say it was a bit of a killer ride over the two days is an understatement. We had atrocious weather conditions for the duration of challenge. We covered 80 miles with 4,600m of climbs on day one and a further 75 miles on day 2 with a mere 3,000m of climbs.”
Happily, Warren finished the challenge with a big smile on his face.
“Not only was Saniflo the shirt sponsor, but also donated to the worthy cause, so there was no way I was going to get away without finishing! I actually really enjoyed the challenge and was delighted to help put these crucial charities back on the map.”
There is still time to donate. With gift aid, the total stands at just £500 shy of an incredible £50k.
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Armourcoat PPX® features in award-winning sanctuary show garden at Chelsea flower show
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The garden design, entitled “The Boodles Secret Garden”, is inspired by the well-loved children’s story by Frances Hodgson-Burnett, and is an interpretation of the journey to an enchanted, life-changing sanctuary.
Two walls were hand finished with Armourcoat PPX, a low maintenance, durable exterior limestone render that creates stunning honed and textured stone-like finishes.
Thomas Hoblyn commented “The garden has a very naturalistic feel about it and I used a lot of natural products like timber in its raw form and hand dressed stone and I really wanted to create a wall that had the same mood. Armourcoat PPX creates this lovely pitted effect so it
looks like it’s been there for a long time which is bang on for the ambience I was trying to create for the sanctuary garden. Armourcoat really does have that natural beautiful textured finish. It’s a perfect exterior product as it looks flawless and is designed to last. I would happily use Armourcoat again and again and again, I would use them for all my show gardens because it’s a great way to get a really good effect but it’s a real product that you can use outside. This is not a stage set, this is a real garden and this is what Armourcoat are really good at doing”.
The finished garden highlights the importance of finding an inner sanctuary to restore and enhance life after uncertainty and crisis; a space in which to heal and move forward, metaphorically and in the real space of our own gardens.
Tom Hoblyn is a British landscape designer, horticulturist, and gardener designer. An established figure at both Chelsea and RHS Hampton Court designs “The Boodles Secret Garden” is Tom’s seventh show garden for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
01732 460668
www.armourcoat.com
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Bradite helps WW1 silhouettes campaign
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‘Standing with Giants’ is a non-profit organisation that creates life size WWI soldier silhouettes that can be sited temporarily in open spaces.
The silhouettes, each six feet tall depicting a British Tommy with his rifle slung over his shoulder, are made from a plastic/aluminium composite material derived from recycled signage from building sites.
Bradite are proud to have donated their One Can primer/finish paint to the project, helping protect the many hundreds of figures now being made at Standing with Giants’ Oxfordshire workshop. The project also makes two-foot diameter poppy wreaths which have been painted in One Can.
“I was contacted last Autumn by the project which was already using One Can supplied through the Abingdon branch of builders merchants, Brewers,”
explained Bradite’s National Sales Manager James Burton. “We were asked if we could help and are happy to provide our product for the next phase of the project over the coming year, and of course, it was our privilege to help the community remember our fallen heroes.”
The silhouettes, 101 in total, first appeared at a nature reserve on a hillside overlooking the M40 motorway, before being invited by the Duke of Marlborough to site a couple of hundred together with poppy wreaths on a hillside on the grounds of Blenheim Palace.
These twin events created so much public interest that an incredible £66,000 was raised from visitors for the Poppy Appeal during a time when the Royal British Legion’s fundraising had been badly hit by the COVID pandemic.
“People’s reaction has been astonishing. We have had people crying, they found it so moving,” says the project founder, Dan Barton.
It was clear that the idea had caught the public’s imagination and future installations are now being planned. 2000 soldier silhouettes and 1500 poppy wreaths are being created and thoroughly weatherproofed thanks to Bradite One Can, an all-purpose, quick-drying, stain resistant paint.
It is hoped that these mobile tributes will also find their way to the Falkland Islands for the 30th anniversary of the military action.
For more information about Standing with Giants visit: www.standingwithgiants.co.uk
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CONDAIR IN TUNE WITH STEINWAY
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Steinway & Sons, synonymous with building the world’s best and finest pianos for over 160 years, recently refurbished its impressive London showroom in Marylebone. The company required its contractor to create the optimum environmental conditions to prevent the wood used to craft these precision instruments from warping. Condair’s resistive steam (RS) humidifiers were specified and then installed in three rooms in the building, including the basement where the workshop is situated. All the units are feeding steam into air handling units to maintain the vital humidity levels required.
Steinway’s UK managing director, Craig Terry, explains: “Incredibly rare and expensive wood is used in some of our models – but actually any type of wood is susceptible to changes in environmental conditions. Dryness is the enemy of pianos so humidity is really important. We need 40% to 50% humidity all the time to protect the wood, whether they’re in the showroom or the workshop. Condair’s units are ideal for the job.
“And because we rely so heavily on the reliability of the humidifiers, we also contracted with Condair to service the humidifiers at regular intervals. Would I recommend Condair? Oh yes, they’ve supplied great service.”
If these precision musical instruments, which are worth many thousands of pounds each, are exposed to dry air it can change the instrument’s dimensions very slightly. This would be detrimental to their performance and result in them requiring much more frequent tuning, eventually leading to permanent deterioration over time. Thankfully, Condair’s RS humidifiers provide the perfect protection.
The Condair RS humidifiers installed at Steinway are capable of creating up to 16kg/h of humidity but the range has models offering maximum outputs from 5 to 160kg/h. The humidifier delivers accurate control without the expense of plastic disposable boiling cylinders, simplifying maintenance and keeping downtime to a minimum. Scale that forms on the heating elements breaks off under normal operation and falls into the externally located scale collector tank. Scale removal is a simple process of draining the tank with the push of a button, allowing the unit to cool then disconnecting the tank and emptying it.
An advanced touchscreen control panel makes operation simple, while providing detailed diagnostic reporting. In addition, a USB connection allows performance data to be downloaded into Excel and the humidifier’s software to be easily updated.
Dave Marshall-George, UK Sales Director at Condair, added: “Humidity control for Steinway is of particular importance during winter in the UK. As soon as the weather turns cold, indoor humidity may drop below the required 40%RH. However, air conditioning systems will also dry the air, so the humidification system will have been in regular use. Basically, whenever there’s a requirement to precisely control the environmental conditions around the pianos, the humidifiers will automatically do exactly what’s needed of them.
“We really value our relationship with Steinway and appreciate their faith in both the capability of the Condair RS humidifiers and our service engineers, who keep them running in tip top condition.”
The Condair Group is the world’s leading specialist in humidification, dehumidification and evaporative cooling, with technologies for commercial, industrial and heritage applications. The company offers system design, manufacture, supply, installation, commissioning, maintenance and spares. You can find out more by visiting the company’s website at www.condair.co.uk.
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ECO-LOGIC ‘Brand Leader’ Interview Podcast 2 – Transcript to support learning
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‘How adding the ECO-LOGIC Trans-Sense range of ‘non-touch’ sensor products at an early stage in Washroom and Bathroom system designs can help to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in a variety of settings’
ECO-LOGIC ‘Brand Leader’ Interview Podcast – Transcript to support learning
Every effort has been made to flawlessly transcribe the interview to support learning but please consider the recorded audio of the interview as the actual source of information for learning purposes.
Hi this is Mick de Leiburne and welcome to this special edition of the BNE Product News ‘Brand Leader’ podcast for the Construction & Building Services industry, where we look at product innovations that meet the evolving specification needs for product specifiers. In this edition we look at the latest challenges for Washroom and Bathroom System specification in a variety of settings.
Well, the Covid-19 virus is rapidly bringing to the forefront, more than ever before, the urgent necessities for Architects, Interior Designers, Building Services Engineers and building owners to, where possible, specify products that can help to eliminate the spread of the virus and any other existing and future viruses and diseases in all building sectors.
So, for starters, Non-Touch would be good – to provide a high standard of health and safety, and then, what if you could also throw in Attractive Design, Simple to Install and Ultra Safe to use, add to that Easy Clean Surfaces, Anti Vandal/Ligature design for special projects such as hospitals, secure buildings, schools and other public use buildings, along with Substantial Water and Energy Saving and the icing on the cake: Smart Home and Central Computer Control.
Well, Coverway Ltd’s ECO-LOGIC electronic Trans-Sense ‘sensing product’ range offers all of these characteristics and benefits – to a whole variety of building projects.
And Dudley Moore, Design Consultant Engineer for the ECO-Logic range and a popular guest on this podcast, now joins us on the phone to tell us more:
Hi Dudley
Hello Mick
Well Dudley, Trans-Sense is clearly a highly specifiable product on many levels, but today let’s talk about the detail, very appropriately for these times, relating to the Health & Safety issue of what influences specification of Trans-Sense to mitigate the spread of bacteria and viruses. Can you first give us an Overview on how Trans-Sense meets the needs for this element of specification for the product type?
The Trans-Sense non touch sensor product range is the ideal product to be specified for the control of Sanitary ware for basins and sink Taps, WC’s, Urinals, Bath Fill to any level you want, Showering and other items such as for Non-Touch Door, Cupboard door and Drawer opening/closing for example and also operating other products.
If set in the non-Touch operating mode, the system provides a very high standard specification for Health and Safety.
For Health hygiene – the non-Touch sensing system eliminates cross-contamination, (other features include) ease of use, anti-vandal/ligature proof (if required) and providing a clean unobtrusive wall surface, due to the sensor being fitted behind the wall/panel surfaces.
Electrical Safety – the product range is powered and operated through 6V Ultra Low Voltage, this being 6v DC. This is provided either through just battery power or through a 240v -6v mains reduced power pack with battery backup to mains power failure, thereby still offering use of the sanitary ware under mains power failure conditions.
And now can we look at suitability of Trans-Sense for specific settings. Let’s start with Domestic Housing. How can the product help to protect ‘one household’ for example?
To stop cross-contamination in a domestic setting, the Trans-Sense non-touch product range is available for non-Touch operation of the Basin Taps, Kitchen and Utility sink taps, WC’s (full and Economy flushing) and Bath Fill with Touch sense control for the shower facilities.
And what about stopping cross-contamination in Commercial Buildings – where more than one household is using the building?
For office developments the Trans–Sense Non-Touch product is available for Basin Tap control (using our own tap outlet range or other manufacturers tap outlets), also for sinks, WC’s and Urinals in the building.
I would of thought that Trans-Sense ‘Non-Touch’ would also be perfect for Hotel project specification – where there is a high turnover of people from different households passing through?
For hotel projects and developments, complete En-Suite bathroom sanitary ware controls are available for the basin tap, shower, WC and Bath filling, also the Toilet Blocks and Changing Rooms: – for control of Banks of Basins, WC’s and Urinals and for the Kitchens for basins, sinks, pot boiling and other sanitary ware in the building.
How about Trans-Sense ‘Non-Touch’ for Education Establishments – Schools, Academy’s, University’s etc? Once again, a lot of different households mixing there on a daily basis when open for learning during term times and also some areas such as sports halls are made available for third party sports clubs, dance clubs for example?
For these projects Trans-Sense products are available for Toilet Blocks, for banks of Basins, Showers, WC’s and Urinals, and complete range of En-Suite bathroom controls for university student accommodation projects.
What are the challenges that Trans-Sense can meet for Healthcare Establishments – for example General Hospitals, Mental Health Care/Hospitals, Dentist, Doctor Surgery’s, Care Homes?
For these projects the Non-Touch Trans-Sense product range is substantial for Sanitary ware controls for Wards, En-suite Bathrooms, Consulting rooms, Toilet blocks etc, Kitchens for Taps and Sinks, Pot Boiling and many other areas.
A range of Trans-Sense sensing products are also available for Non-Touch Door, Cupboard and Draws for auto or demand Opening/Closing formats. This range is especially important for Hospitals, Surgery’s and Dentist specification type projects.
How about the unique requirements of Secure Building specifications such as
Prisons, Mental Healthcare Hospital and Immigration Centers – for example
The large Trans-Sense product range we have for this sector is especially important to the specifier and client. The sensors being fixed to the rear of the wall/panel surface provides the design consultants/engineers with a unique product, meeting all the specification demands that the client requires for these buildings, including an extremely high standard of specification for Health and Safety, including the non-Touch feature that helps to protect all users of the building by mitigating the spread of virus and bacteria driven diseases and protect the Patients and Inmates from Self Harm.
Well, Coverway’s ECO-LOGIC Trans-Sense ‘sensing product’ clearly offers a broad range of state-of the art specifications, including answering the many questions now being raised for specifying products in Domestic and Commercial buildings, Hospitals, Schools, Secure and many others – for new and refurbishment building design – to help eliminate the spread of the COVID-19 virus in this unprecedented pandemic, along with other existing and future viruses and diseases.
Thank you for joining us today Dudley
Thank you for inviting me and I look forward to hearing from the many Architects, Interior Designers, Building Service Engineers, Domestic Housing Developers who I know listen to this podcast. Please remember that it is important to talk to us as early as possible within the design process to incorporate the Trans Sense sensor into the construction design. Look forward to hearing from you all, goodbye.
Well, it’s been a pleasure speaking with you Dudley, thanks for coming on the podcast again and look forward to speaking to you again soon. Cheers.
For details on how specifiers listening to this podcast can contact Dudley Moore to discuss Trans-Sense in relation to a specific project that they are working on we have included relevant details on how to contact him in the description for this podcast.
You can also see and hear more about Coverway’s ECO-LOGIC product range by visiting their profile page in the BNE Construction & Building Services | Audio Visual virtual exhibition to access more podcast content…. just search for ECO-LOGIC and click on their logo.
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Recotherm ‘Brand Leader’ Interview Podcast 2 – Transcript to support learning
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‘How Swimming Pool Operators can help to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in their pool areas and provide an indoor pool environment that allows people to have a healthy and comfortable swim in the fresh air’
Recotherm ‘Brand Leader’ Interview Podcast – Transcript to support learning
Every effort has been made to flawlessly transcribe the interview to support learning but please consider the recorded audio of the interview as the actual source of information for learning purposes.
Hi, this Mick de Leiburne for BusinessNet Explorer and welcome to this ‘Special Edition’ BNE Product News ‘Brand Leader’ Project Viewpoint podcast.
So, going for a swim in the fresh air – that sounds really healthy, doesn’t it? A combination of exercise and fresh air sounds just perfect, in fact probably highly recommended in the current situation for those fit enough to do so, but you would quite rightly picture yourself being outdoors when doing it. So, what about when the weather gets cooler, how close can Indoor Pool operators get to re-creating this healthy, hopefully ‘COVID-19 free’ swimming environment, within a building for pool users? We thought we would ask industry thought leader Martin Killen, MD at Recotherm, and a popular guest on this podcast series, if and how this can be achieved?
Martin joins us on the phone…. Hi Martin, thanks for joining us for this ‘Special Edition’ BNE Product News ‘Brand Leader’ Project Viewpoint podcast….
Thank you for inviting me Mick.
Always a pleasure…
So firstly, what is the current guidance regarding ‘indoor swimming pool ventilation’ and what is your response when an Indoor Pool operator asks for your advice regarding ‘mitigating the spread of COVID-19’ in their pool areas?
What should I do about COVID-19?
I wish I had a pound for every time I’ve been asked that question in the last nine months!
My expertise lies in swimming pools, so any comments I make are specifically related to swimming pools. There is no specific information from the Government with regards to pools, but we can apply the Governments general guidance which has been produced, in conjunction with the CIBSE (Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers). You can look this up online, but the main points are: –
Wherever possible run the units on full fresh air. Run the ventilation systems for longer. When unoccupied run the systems at lower speed to keep the air moving instead of switching them off. Avoid re-circulation between rooms. Where the unit is serving a single space is less of a concern. The main objective is to avoid stagnation…
So how does this apply specifically in an indoor swimming pool environment?
Normally in a swimming pool we are serving a single area, so recirculation is acceptable. There are a lot of companies on the market that use mechanical dehumidifiers and only introduce a small amount of fresh air, indeed there are some that don’t introduce fresh air, at all. These companies will find it difficult to comply with the latest government recommendations without fundamentally redesigning their units. That is because the fresh air they have to introduce, because of COVID 19, will eliminate the need for a mechanical dehumidifier. Most of the units on the market that use mechanical dehumidification do not have any other form of heat recovery on the fresh air, so they become total loss systems discharging heat into the atmosphere.
I know you are a fresh air fan, in fact your brand is renowned to be one of the clear leaders in this technology for ventilating swimming pools. Can you tell us more about what Recotherm can offer the market as a ‘fresh air solution’ for ‘indoor swimming pool ventilation’?
At Recotherm we have always championed the use of full fresh air as the best way of dehumidifying the pool hall, so every unit we sell can bring in large amounts of fresh air. Indeed, wherever possible, we have designed our units to be able to run on full fresh air, even in the middle of winter when the ambient temperature is at its lowest.
Are there any downsides to switching to full fresh air?
There is a downside to switching to full fresh air. In the Winter the ambient air contains very little moisture so only a small amount, say 10-20%, is required to control the humidity. Under these circumstances the Recotherm units would normally reduce the amount of fresh air introduced, but if we are to stipulate that they must operate at a higher fresh air rate, then the internal humidity will drop. This will increase the evaporation from the pool and thus increase the running cost – but it also makes the wet occupants feel colder as the water on their bodies evaporates quicker.
It sounds like there is a need to strike a balance somehow – between safety and comfort?
I feel we need to be flexible. We need to increase the level of fresh air, but not to a point where we are deterring people from coming to the pool because they feel cold. It may well be that in 5 years’ time, when we have had time to analyse the data, we will find out that COVID cannot live in the swimming pool environment. But for the moment we need to err on the side of caution and increase the amount of fresh air to a level that is sustainable without affecting the daily running of the pool.
Well Martin thank you again for joining us on the BNE Product News podcast for the Construction & Building Services industry and sharing with us some of the thought leadership that drives the Recotherm brands ongoing ability to research and engineer solutions and develop products to help Pool Operators maintain an Indoor Swimming Pool environment that is just as ‘healthy’ as swimming ‘outdoors in the fresh air’. Fantastic work!
Thank you, Mick.
Cheers
For more information about the Recotherm range of products – please go to www.recotherm.co.uk
