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Heating All A-round

Off-site or modular construction whilst offering several advantages over traditional construction such as repeatability and all-weather working, does sometimes throw up its’ own challenges and hurdles. None more so than Rotunda, that specialises in the construction of Round Houses and living/working spaces.

Being a circular, open plan unit, Rotunda round houses like to make the best use of light and space and as such have vaulted ceilings and an abundance of windows with low ledges. As well as residential, Rotunda units can be designed as educational spaces, exercise and therapy or light and airy offices. With curved walls and low windows, the issue of heating the spaces created became bit of a problem.

Joanna Hayes, Project Manager at Rotunda explained further:

“We absolutely didn’t want panel type radiators as they would spoil the clean, curved lines the rooms create and look out of place in a contemporary structure. We automatically thought of electric underfloor heating, but as this has to be installed under our wooden floor structure, it just wouldn’t deliver the heat required. In addition, as the units are transported in sections and assembled on site, the UFH matting couldn’t bridge across sections and so several separate systems would be needed.

DiscreteHeat were able to design and supply a complete heating system for the 18meter Ø module, that could easily be connected to the traditional electric heater points via a switched fuse spur.

We are delighted with the overall finished look of the ThermaSkirt – it blends in well and was simple to curve to the shape of the room. Just as importantly it warms the room quickly and evenly from cold – something our client was very keen on, as this particular unit is used as a yoga therapy room. As such, it’s not heated all day, so it was important it could get up to temperature and off again quickly, to avoid under heating or over heating and wasting energy"

Martin Wadsworth

As survivor of BBC’s Dragons’ Den, Martin has built over 100 properties in the North West. He has over 12 patents in his name for industrial products, including 6 in plumbing in heating.

1st May, 2018