Geberit Pluvia, a siphonic roof drainage system was installed along with HDPE pipework at the Northern Beaches Hospital in Sydney in a complex project.

Currently under construction, the Northern Beaches Hospital, Sydney is Australia's biggest hospital project and scheduled to open in 2018. Working with Geberit's design team, AXIS Plumbing was able to manage and install this complex project successfully.

Designed by BVN Architects for developer and hospital operator Healthscope, the Northern Beaches Hospital features a 50-bed emergency department, 14 operating theatres, and a medical centre. With the hospital having many roofs of varying sizes, a siphonic roof drainage system meant fewer downpipes, outlets and floor penetrations, resulting in significant savings on material and labour costs.

ACOR Consultants, the hydraulic services engineering company undertook a training course run by Geberit at the beginning of the project. Martyne Preston, Hydraulic Services Engineer at ACOR Consultants explained that the course helped them get their head around the design of the challenging system. During the design process, ACOR Consultants sent schematic models of the roof structures to Geberit for clarification and advice about concepts.

The Geberit sales and technical support teams played a pivotal part in the design process, cooperating closely with ACOR engineers when they designed the siphonic system in 3D. Geberit checked calculations and suggested ways to save space and optimise the economic efficiency of the project. It was also important that the siphonic system would not clash with other services in the buildings. As the height in the car park was very limited, the engineers appreciated Geberit's input for clarification about sizes of components, the required clearances and what they could do with the pipework.

ACOR Consultants relied on the winning combination of Geberit’s quality technical support and the Pluvia siphonic system to accurately model the roof drainage system for this state-of-the-art building. The helpful assistance from the Geberit service team contributed to a smooth and productive process and an optimised design.

Confident about recommending Geberit to architects and plumbers in future projects, Martyne Preston says the key benefit of working with Geberit from a design point of view is the willing and friendly technical support, which makes a big difference in a complex project. She also acknowledged the advice of Lewis Kerrigan, Product Specialist and Plumbing Field Marketing Co-ordinator at Reece, which supplies Geberit products.

Not surprisingly, Geberit is ranked number 18 on the first-ever Forbes Global 2000 Top Regarded Companies list, which evaluates companies based on trustworthiness/ honesty, social conduct, employer policy and product/ service performance.