There was a severe issue with their drinking water passing through old iron pipes that were corroding and leaking. J.C. Keller, a director of the district’s water utility decided to search for a solution.

It’s Hollywood movie material – in a small workshop the dedicated Mr. Keller worked ardently and successfully developed the first large diameter plastic pressure pipes suitable for potable water! It was revolutionary, and soon a wide demand for these pipes overwhelmed the small government-owned utility.

In August, 1955, WAVIN was established – joining WAter and VINyl for its name! Today Wavin is highly connected with commercial operations located in over 25 countries.

Now let’s go back to 1963 and check out this historical video (above) that shows the early tenacity of Wavin – including an amazing water pipe that is 1100m long (that’s over 3,600 feet). The historic film shows construction workers at the Wavin factory assembly site, large teams of men are helping to carry and stack huge PVC pipes, unwieldy and hard to handle. A helicopter is even utilized at one point for moving pipe.

This technology and materials were far ahead of its time nearly 60 years ago, and it was just the start. Creativity was the shape of things to come. Wavin continues its inspired process today, building an unrivalled reputation for continuous innovation, intelligent problem-solving, dedicated technical support and the highest standards. Always. That’s how Wavin is recognized and respected as a world leader of plastic pipe systems and solutions.

Good hygiene, health and safety are of paramount importance to a hospital entrusted with the care of mothers and their children. And this is why the project leader for the new Queen Mathilde Mother and Child Centre in Belgium needed some guarantees that the piping solution they chose to have installed would be one that would be durable, sustainable and safe.  For them, safety meant – among other things – Legionella prevention.

Legionella in a nutshell

Legionellosis is a respiratory disease caused by Legionella bacteria. It can potentially cause a serious and sometimes fatal strain of pneumonia (lung disease), called Legionnaires’ disease. It can also cause a less serious infection (with flu-like symptoms), called Pontiac fever. The bacterium is found in freshwater environments like lakes, streams and rivers and grows best in warm standing water. It becomes dangerous when it grows and multiplies in a building’s water system. People become susceptible to Legionnaires’ disease when they inhale small droplets of bacteria-ridden water in the air.

Legionella control plan

Amongst a growing number of EU countries, the prevention of legionella is mandatory for public spaces in Flanders/Belgium. On February 9, 2007, the Flemish government passed a law called the Legionella Decision. The decree lists all the preventative measures that need to be followed for water supplies, cooling towers, air conditioning systems with humidity treatment, other water and specific measures for exhibitions. These measures have been stipulated, based on the BBT (in English translation, this stands for Best Available Techniques) Report on Legionella control in new sanitation systems.

Apart from these government regulations, hospitals are amongst the high-risk buildings because their patients are highly susceptible to infectious diseases. Apart from following standard regulations to prevent legionella, hospitals need to have a legionella prevention control plan in place – which includes a program in which taking and evaluating a water sample is fundamental. The water management and legionella prevention plan must be in sync with the BBT – as to what the minimum and maximum temperature of the water pipes must be, the pipe system design (preventing dead ends), and disinfection (based on temperature, etc.) protocol. In the case of building expansion and renovation projects, chemical disinfection processes must be used.

There is nothing better than a good tool

When Imtech, the installers for the Mother and Child Centre project, reviewed the report results that our JANA Labs tool generated and the level of detail that was provided on the product lifespan under very specific conditions, Wavin was chosen to provide the drinking water piping solution. The specific conditions that had to be met were twofold: first, the piping system should be able to withstand the temperatures and the chemical additives which would be used to disinfect the conduits, and second, they wanted a piping system with a long lifespan. And Wavin delivered. The 11,000 m2 Centre was fitted with the Wavin Tigris, Wavin PE and Wavin PP pipes and fittings.

Some Wavin words of wisdom

To anyone embarking on a piping project of this kind, we would recommend that they make sure that the pipe routing provides ample circulation to control water temperatures. And in the case of building expansion or renovation projects, chemical disinfection is often used and therefore our advice would be to think long-term and opt for a complete plastic pipe system. 
One final word of advice: make sure that you have definitive proof of the expected lifespan of the materials you use. The ease of maintenance and high quality of plastic pipe solutions are setting the standard in the hot & cold drinking water and heating market.

Indeed, our JANA Labs tool is unique and the information it provides allows us to do a better job in providing our customers with solutions that not only mitigate the problem of Legionella, but also allows us to determine product lifespan in the context of pressure and temperature. In other words, it’s a game changer.

To see this pipe lifespan calculation tool in action, contact your local Wavin office.

BIM is transforming the construction industry, as the number of projects being 3D modelled has increased exponentially and the need to save substantial costs by optimising designs at an early stage has become more of a priority. As industry innovators, Wavin has not only embraced BIM but has also developed custom BIM Revit content packages. With built-in intelligent assistance, these packages effectively eliminate any uncertainty in pipe design and makes specifying Wavin’s extensive range of above ground drainage products accurate, cost effective and efficient. And we did this because our priority is to support and assist MEP professionals, contractors and installers in their projects – from beginning to end.

Pre-design phase

The process of using BIM models collaboratively, from concept to installation and construction, is very lengthy. It begins with the architect preparing a schematic model and renderings, and then presenting them to the building owner (the client). Based on feedback from the client, tweaks will be made and then the model will be ready to move to the design phase of the project.

Design phase

During the design phase, the scheduling and estimating teams begin to get involved.  The person responsible for scheduling must make sure that the building can be built in the time allocated for the project. Concurrently, the person in charge of estimating needs to continuously track the cost of the project. For this to happen seamlessly and without any mishaps, the BIM models need to be set up correctly from the get-go. At this stage, collaboration is key. Each team must know what the other is doing – the architects, engineers, project managers, estimator, scheduler, and construction manager. And BIM is the best way to manage this process.

Wavin has taken all of this into account. With Wavin’s Revit content packages, MEPs or Revit piping modellers will be able to produce precise designs easily – and without the use of product catalogues or any product knowledge. Thanks to the software's intelligent assistance, an accurate installation model can be made very quickly and easily so any potential problems like clashes (i.e. check whether the pipes will clash with the structure or other pipe systems), will be precisely detected. These can be corrected more easily and efficiently in the design phase before they become real problems – saving time and significantly minimizing the chance of failure. The content package will only allow designs to be created which can be delivered from the available product portfolio, providing confidence that what is designed is available and can be installed.

Construction phase

Once the design is complete, construction is ready to commence. BIM has created a tight connection between design and construction that never existed before. The ease with which project estimation and scheduling can be updated (as the project progresses) is simply unprecedented. We no longer need to ask the architects, engineers, operations and construction managers to collaborate efficiently. Instead, we look to how we can use BIM to make the whole process faster and more efficient.

So now there are efficiencies not only in the design phase, but also in the installation phase. When a design is complete, you immediately have a correct and complete material order. Previously, the planner had to extract information from the drawings and create the order himself, thus generating additional work and increasing the chance for human error. Now, however, everything is already automatically in the system.

Contractors and installers will enjoy the ease of use of Wavin’s predefined pipe and fitting schedules, which makes extracting the full and exact bill of materials a matter of a few mouse clicks. Furthermore, they benefit from having correct installation drawings, which in turn maximizes the reduction of failure (and the costs associated with it) during the installation process. Additionally, knowing the exact pipe length will make prefabrication of pipe parts possible, which further reduces the installation costs. And finally, an exact installation model will make it possible to order parts in phases without ordering the wrong products, too many or insufficient products.

Wavin BIM Revit – from start to finish

Just see for yourself

If you want to learn more about Wavin’s BIM Revit packages, go here.

How to download Wavin’s BIM Revit packages

We launched our BIM Revit content packages in May 2016 in multiple countries. The Wavin BIM Revit files are country-specific. If you have any questions or if your country is not mentioned, please connect to your local Wavin company or contact person.