Safety and peace of mind assured for University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham is one of the country's largest universities, with over 30,000 students enrolled at its UK campus.

Having trained hundreds of athletes, many of whom have gone on to compete at an elite level, the university has a strong sporting tradition. Its state-of-the-art sports facilities are central to its offer and success.

Mark Bonsall, senior engineer at the university, explains:

"When people come to use our sports facilities they want to focus on their training and enjoy the experience. It's our job to keep them happy and give them what they need to achieve their goals. Great facilities are an important part of this. That extends to everything, from sports equipment to our changing rooms and showers.

"Our users simply want to know the showers will work well. That's of course important, but for us in the facilities team that's also backed-up by a focus on creating a healthy environment. Anywhere there is warm water and lots of people creates the potential for bacteria growth and infection. We work really hard behind the scenes to make sure that our facilities are free of harmful bacteria and staff and students are safe."

Keeping users safe

To ensure its showers are always safe to use, the University of Nottingham fitted a Rada digitally controlled system that supports its infection control regimes, helping to guard against harmful waterborne pathogens such as Legionella. The digital shower panel automates the duty flushing process, where water is run through the system to prevent stagnation and growth of bacteria. This means it's carried out automatically at the time and for the duration programmed.

Mark explains: "Automation is a huge help because we've got over 200 shower outlets that need to be flushed. Doing it this way instead of manually gives us assurance that each is cleaned properly and in good time."

With such huge demands on its facilities, the university also sought additional assurance that the products would achieve the high standards it was aiming for.

A comprehensive service

Mark said: "When it came to fitting the new shower panels, we asked Rada to both install and commission them because it knows its products best. This meant we could be confident that the showers would work the way our users want them to and keep them safe from day one."

Rada has a dedicated, directly employed service team that works nationwide. It's able to respond quickly to the needs of managers, helping them get water systems up and running and operating in the way they need them to.

A key component of Rada's commissioning service is the offer of an enhanced guarantee. This takes the standard two-year guarantee up to five years for free and includes all part and labour costs.

Mark adds: "This extended guarantee means added peace of mind for us. By offering a five year guarantee we know Rada is confident in the quality of its products and their ability to stand up to busy environments like our sports facilities."