The Bathroom Manufacturers Association (BMA) has called for greater compliance in the bathroom industry in response to the demand for more social housing.
The Government has plans to build 250,000 new homes by 2022. However, in the last report by the homeless charity Shelter, 1.2 million homes are needed per year and more than three million ‘social’ houses must be built in England over the next 20 years to solve the housing crisis.
“Social housing providers must look for compliance and water-efficiency best practice, if there is a dramatic increase in building,” said BMA chief executive Yvonne Orgill, in response to the calls for ‘millions of new homes’ to solve the housing crisis.
“If the building of new homes is to reach this scale, then it is imperative that all involved are committed to adhering to current legislation, ensuring that all bathroom products are compliant and installed correctly,” said Orgill.
The BMA is urging all companies, house builders, developers and specifiers, to work alongside the BMA to improve awareness of the importance of sourcing compliant ‘fit-for-purpose’ CE-marked products.
“Many manufacturers do undertake testing to ensure that their products comply with the law, but some fail to market this fact and others don’t bother to do any testing and sell products that, when installed, break the law,” explained Orgill.
“At the moment, there is little redress for those that flaunt the law and that is part of the problem. The UK market is flooded with products from shower enclosures, trays and screens and ceramic ware like toilets, bidets and basins, that don’t meet the required ‘fit-for-purpose’ safety and quality standards.”
The BMA is also encouraging the industry to take energy and water-saving issues. “We must also take more seriously the issue of saving water in the bathroom, if the number of bathrooms is going to increase. How much water we use in the home is becoming a burning issue, with 22% of all the water used in the home down to toilets and 25% from showers, bathrooms are increasingly under the spotlight,” she said.
“The Unified Water Label provides a clear and simple system to identify water-saving products. Choosing products from this database, which are then installed and used correctly, will deliver environmental and cost-saving benefits. While it is a voluntary scheme there are currently 12,500 products and 147 brands already using it.
“Greater support for the Water Label from the house-building sector will drive forward much needed change in the industry.”