Ideal Standard hosts roundtable on future of bathroom design

Ideal Standard International, a leading provider of innovative and design-driven bathroom solutions, hosted a roundtable event attended by industry experts at its new bathroom design studio in Clerkenwell. The roundtable which took place on 25 May examined challenges affecting today’s bathroom design and explored ideas to help address them.

Chaired by leading bathroom designer Robin Levien, experts including Dr Ron Cutler, Director of Biomedical Science at Queen Mary, University of London, Jacob Tompkins, Managing Director, Waterwise, Tony Rheinberg, Marketing Manager, Armitage Shanks, Edward Goodwin and Richard Hartshorn, the designers behind the HygenIQ and Annette Main, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, discussed three main areas shaping bathroom design – hygiene, water saving and bathroom safety.

Dr Ron Cutler kicked off the discussion around hygiene by making the point that while urine is sterile when it leaves the body, it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria once it settles on a surface. He said: “Reducing the number of surfaces and using the right materials in bathrooms is key to reducing the possible spread of bacteria. Treating the problem however is preferential to treating the symptom and that’s where the design of sanitaryware can really help”. But he insists that hand-washing persists in being a real problem and that educating consumers needs to happen. “Compliance remains a challenge as a high percentage of people still don’t wash their hands after using the toilet. One of the key roles that bathroom manufacturers can play is to make the sanitaryware as appealing to users as possible so that they desire to wash their hands”.

Attendees of the roundtable discussion agreed that there is a need for widespread consumer education on sustainable use of water. Jacob Tompkins, Managing Director at Waterwise said: “Bathroom manufacturers like Ideal Standard have the power of changing people’s behavior by designing good water saving products which people will want to use in their homes. Nobody wants to compromise on comfort; therefore it is about eliminating water waste rather than use. This is where big bathroom manufacturers like Ideal Standard come into their own right.”

Industry experts also concurred that regulations around Part G don’t go far enough. Tony Rheinberg, Marketing Manager at Armitage Shanks said: “The Part G legislation primarily focuses on new homes but it’s just not wide reaching enough. As a result, only a very small number of houses are affected by the new legislation - in the UK around 210,000 houses are forecasted to be built in 2010. To make a real difference to the amount of water wasted in the UK on a daily basis, government incentives are needed to encourage households to change their old water guzzling WC’s. Old WC’s can still use anything from 7.5 litres to 11 litres of water per flush.”

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Date added: Jun 01, 2010

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