Boiler casings could save £millions in social housing

The latest findings from a long term assessment of social housing refurbishment costs, conducted by Encasement, indicate that more than £¼ million could be saved in heating and boiler system refurbishment contracts by using pre-formed boiler casings to conceal pipework rather than fabricating them on site. Martin Taylor, our Managing Director, explained: “We began assessing the comparative costs of installing pre-formed boiler pipe casings against site made options almost five years ago by working with various contractors on live projects. Even back in 2009, the initial data suggested that the average costs for a contractor to box in gas and central heating pipework was £45 when labour and decoration are considered. This compares to a figure of just £20 when using our pre-formed casing. “Since then, labour rates and material costs have both increased, yet the typical cost of our pre-formed casings has remained comparatively stable, which has effectively increased the differential and the potential savings. As a number of local authorities have refurbishment programmes covering more than 10,000 homes, a saving of around £25 in each property means that budgets could be easily reduced by well over £¼ million just by using pre-formed boiler pipe casings.” Maintenance impacts on cost Another finding from the study has identified that the cost of removing site made prefabricated boiler casings during routine inspection and maintenance can be unexpectedly high. While our pre-formed boiler casings can be removed and replaced in seconds, most site made casings needed to be destroyed or broken apart during removal. We also found numerous examples where a joiner was required to remove site made boxing in advance of the maintenance being carried out by a service engineer. They then needed to revisit the site after the maintenance work was complete to refit the casing or construct a new one. The perfect finish All casings are pre-finished with a durable white laminate or melamine finish, depending on the casing type selected, so there is no need for additional painting on site, which saves further time and money, as well as improving the overall finish and consistency throughout the refurbishment project or programme. You can explore our full range of boiler pipework casing products.

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