400 New Bathroom Pods for Landmark London Development

Modular building specialist Terrapin has secured a major contract to supply almost 400 bathroom pods for a prestigious housing development in East London, close to the Olympic Park.

The £180m mixed-use Rathbone Market development in Canning Town is set to revitalise the once famous shopping and market area with new residential accommodation, retail and state-of-the-art community facilities. Terrapin’s high quality bespoke bathroom pods were specified by principal contractor John Sisk for the first phase of the scheme, which includes 271 apartments and is due for completion by summer 2012.

By opting for modular bathroom pods, the contractor has been able to minimise the need for skilled trades on site and time lost through co-ordinating them. The steel-framed pods are supplied complete with high specification sanitaryware, tiling and plumbing, ready for simple connection to the mains system. A further advantage is the reduction in the number of deliveries needed at the site, which cuts down on disruption to motorists in this busy area of London, as well as nearby residents and traders.

Managing Director of Terrapin says: “We are delighted to be supplying pods to this exciting landmark development, and this contract is testament to the quality of our manufacture, our production capabilities and the design flexibility we offer to clients. Our flexible approach means we will be producing up to 50 different design variations for the pods instead of the original seven planned, as the building was not originally designed to allow for pod installation and, as such, styles have had to be adapted.”

He adds: “Our bathroom pods are increasingly being specified by architects and developers who are looking to meet shorter build times, without compromising on style or quality.”

Terrapin has worked closely with John Sisk on the design and layout of the bathrooms, and to overcome technical challenges. Terrapin made adaptations to the design of the pod chassis to allow for connection to the plumbing and electrical connections, including an ‘access hatch’, which made installation much easier.

All of the pods are energy efficient, have a high level of thermal performance and meet the requirements of the Code for Sustainable Homes and Lifetime Homes. Designs include wheelchair accessible bathrooms, shower rooms and ‘Jack and Jill’ bathrooms and some have also been designed with windows or supplied without floors to complement the layout of the apartments.

Terrapin's design experts have worked with John Sisk to carry out value engineering to enable higher specification products to be used within the same budget. The result will be superb quality bathrooms with high quality sanitaryware, brassware and porcelain tiles, bringing a sense of style to the whole development, but still within budget.

“All of our products are bespoke and our innovative bathroom pod concept incorporates the very best MMC technologies. By manufacturing the pods in a quality controlled environment we can ensure that the construction meets the required Code for Sustainable Building standards, as well as achieving a top quality finish, reducing wastage and minimising environmental impact.”