Quick and simple to install, Flight Modular Wall panels developed by Mira Showers – UK leaders in showering technology – have helped contractors shave a year off a five year programme of refurbishment at a 250 home estate while boosting tenant satisfaction.
“The tenants love the wallboards because they are so much easier to keep clean and looking smart than tiles,” comments George Harvey, contract administrator for the Flagship Group, which operates and maintains the houses on behalf of the owners, Brookgate. “There’s never any mould growth and the grouting always looks nice and tidy.”
The estate in Hadleigh, Suffolk, is a PFI project providing homes for MoD personnel at the nearby RAF base that offers seven types of accommodation in three to five bedroom houses, all of which were all due to receive new kitchens and bathrooms over five years as part of the agreed contract.
Designed for showering, bathing and hand basin areas, the Flight Modular Wall panels are a range of tiled, waterproof wall panels that achieve high quality professional installations with greater ease and speed of fixing than traditional tiling, a point appreciated by Tom Humphries, project manager for Cocksedge Building Contractors.
“Time is a big concern on a job like this so this product is ideal because we can do in one day what would have taken us three,” he says, explaining that otherwise they would have had to rip out the existing tiles, make good the walls, put on new tiles and then return to grout them.
“We would never have been able to cut a year out of the programme if we’d opted for tiling,” he comments. “We found that the panels are very quick and simple to cut and fit using diamond disc blades – so much so that we used them as bath panels to get a really colour co-ordinated appearance.”
Once in place, the wall panels are a realistic alternative to tiles when compared to current wooden substrate or plastic alternatives that removes the need for grouting and or any visible silicone sealant when used with upstand shower trays or baths. A leak proof corner profile ensures complete integrity where the panels butt together.
Manufactured from acrylic-capped ABS for high impact resistance, Flight Wall products incorporate Biocote antimicrobial technology that keeps the panels looking like new by keeping mould at bay and eliminating the risk of grout discolouration or grout porosity.
A ‘fit and forget’ product, Mira Flight Wall combine low maintenance with a stylish appearance and so is idea for applications from social housing to hotels and student accommodation.
The 2.01m high shower panels come in a choice of three notional widths – 760, 800 and 1200mm. Actual panel dimensions are: 735, 775 and 1175mm – tolerances being provided for by the complementary 25mm corner profile, which is inclusive to the panel’s package. The bath splashback is 500mm high, while that for basins is 250 x 600mm.