“A sanitary plumbing system has been introduced to the Australian construction market that is not constrained by conventional height restrictions, venting and waste pipe lengths.” This comment comes from Hamilton Design who designed the hydraulic systems for the Flynn Apartments in Brisbane, Qld. It was first building in the world to use the new 160mm Akavent system, although a 110mm system has previously been used.

Philmac has introduced the Akavent HDPE pipework, designed to eliminate the need for relief venting in multi-storey sanitary plumbing systems. The downward flow of water in this system has been slowed, to stop it forming hydraulic plugs, and the discharge from the branch lines merges with the vertical flow stream without interrupting it. Akavent is intended for buildings of four storeys or above and provides a great deal more flexibility to architects and designers of multi-storey buildings. Testing shows that the system also has very good acoustic qualities. To minimise on-site fabrication, Akavent comes as a modular system ready to connect to branch drains via a rubber ring coupling. Limited on-site electrofusion welding is required.

A derelict power station at Casula in Sydney’s south-west has been redeveloped by Liverpool City Council into a culturally significant arts centre. The roof drainage required repairs for which Vinidex supplied a PVC pipe system that satisfied the hydraulic requirements while providing ease of installation of the lengthy drops of nearly 20m in the foyer.

More than 600m of Vinidex 100mm pipe and a range of bends, junctions and adaptors make up the solvent weld joint system. All downpipes were painted black to comply with the architect’s specifications of the internal finish of the building.