Armitage Shanks unveiled its latest product innovations – including a new clinical washbasin (pictured) and prototype for a TMV (thermostatic mixing valve) shower tower, at this year’s Healthcare Estates exhibition in Manchester.
The annual IHEEM conference, which took place in from 4-5 October, marked the first time these previews were displayed at a major industry event. The washroom manufacturer says the new clinical washbasin concept innovation harnesses its years of experience in improving infection control in healthcare environments. Created with the goal of eliminating cross-contamination from splashing, the washbasins feature a new waste assembly, which simplifies maintenance while following best practice guidance from the Department of Health’s HBN 00-10 Part C: Sanitary assemblies.
Armitage Shanks also showcased its new TMV shower tower prototype, designed to be fully compliant with UK hospital regulations, and ‘suitable for installation in all layout arrangements’. The company said: “In fact, the TMV shower tower prototype incorporates several features that make it ideally suited to hospitals and clinics – including insulated copper pipework with hot and cold recirculating loops, and a 1 metre grab rail, which helps to keep people safe from scalds while supporting those with limited mobility.
To stay informed of the pressures facing healthcare, Armitage Shanks continuously speaks with industry experts across the sector. Most recently, the business hosted a Water Safety Forum at its London Design and Specification Centre, which looked specifically at the updates to the British Standard 8580-2. Building from the findings, Non-Residential Marketing manager, Anil Madan, gave a keynote presentation at Healthcare Estates exploring the underlying issues the forum brought into focus. He said: “At Armitage Shanks, we are always looking for opportunities to progress the industry, something that is vital in the healthcare sector. New standards like BS 8580-2 give us the chance to assess how we approach water safety, and how we plan for the future, and the multidisciplinary team will be at the core of this.
“The standard heavily encourages a ‘no blame’ culture, and a ‘growth’ mindset, where – similarly to a black box in an aeroplane – we can take learnings from past mistakes and communicate between teams to learn as much as possible from them, which can then impact the effectiveness of the multidisciplinary team which the standard also emphasises.”