Primary School Toilet Refurbishment at Elm Academy

Elm Academy Primary School Toilet Refurbishment Case Study

The Washrooms at Elm Academy had served the school well, but after many years, they needed Refurbishing. Commercial Washrooms Design Services was engaged to renovate four Washrooms in the building, including two Girls' Toilets and two Boys' Toilet rooms. 

After an initial site visit, we arrived to begin this project and routinely removed all the old, existing facilities. From this empty shell, we installed new suspended ceilings that carried a PIR lighting system. This system used low-energy LED lighting paired with infrared sensors. This means the lights are activated only when someone is in the room, preventing lights from being left on unnecessarily.

Underfoot, we laid Altro Walkway flooring. This is an anti-slip safety vinyl fitted to the floor and lapped up the wall for the first few inches. This creates a tray-like finish, making the rooms easy to clean and preventing water from ever getting underneath the vinyl from the edges of the rooms.

Wall cladding was then fitted using large-format Altro Whiterock panels. These panels sit over the lapped-up edge, creating a complete wash-down finish for the room. They have antibacterial properties and a strong fire safety rating.

The Installation

We were ready to install the toilets, with the rooms now taking shape. We started with Half-Height IPS Duct Sets. These create a small service void behind the toilets so that we can conceal all the main water and waste pipework and the toilet cisterns. These Duct sets are clad in a highly durable, waterproof panel system made from Solid Grade Laminate (SGL). Rak Origin Back to Wall Toilets were fitted with Play Time - SGL Small Children’s Lower Height Toilet Cubicles, designed for early years settings.

The toilet cubicles were installed using Stainless Steel Hardware, ensuring robust finishes on the feet, hinges, and locks for supreme longevity. 

Post-formed laminated Vanity Tops made from high-pressure laminate (HPL) were installed with inset wash basins. This was custom-built with an SGL underframe and finished with Delabie Temposoft 2 Deck Mounted Non-Concussive Push Taps. These taps only emit water for a set period before closing off automatically, preventing misuse and the risk of users accidentally leaving taps running. 

Final Touches

All taps were fitted with Thermostatic Mixer Valves (TMV3) to each hot outlet, a safety measure that ensures that each hot feed is blended with a cold feed of water before the tap. This ensures that the hot feed is more of a warm feed and removes the risk of scalding. 

Elm Academy is an older building, so some of the existing pipework needed to be concealed, which we did with Structural Stud Framing and Solid-Grade Laminate Paneling. 

These works were scheduled to take place over the summer holidays to ensure uninterrupted school operations. They were completed on time and budget as a full turn-key service.