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In preparation for their 2nd Annual Open Body Building event, a major overhaul of the changing and shower area of Dundee City Council's Ardler Complex was an obvious enhancement needed for ensuring a continued listing in the UK body-building calendar. The transformation included the recently launched Duŝo shower column from Horne, and set the scene for its standardisation across Dundee City Council facilities.
The new installation is absolutely brilliant! The showers look really smart and they're in-keeping with the rest of the facility Scott Rodgers, Centre Manager
First opened in 1975, the Ardler complex, which features two squash courts, a games hall with spectator gallery, dance studio, cardiovascular fitness and weights room, had had a number of upgrades over its operational lifespan, yet its shower facilities were original from first installation, and very clearly showing their age.
The grouped shower installation comprised exposed pipework runs, mechanical timed flow controls and fixed shower heads mounted, oddly, at child height: an adult male would need to crouch to shower and, simultaneously, try to avoid making contact with the user opposite!
The female area was not much better, although vanity partitions separated each shower and a plastic curtain provided privacy.
The wall tiles suffered from missing or yellowing grouting whilst the cracked and grimy floor tiles sloped toward a central open gulley to take shower water and suds away.
The centre's design, dating from the mid 1970's, also did not cater in any way for disabled users. In these days of enlightenment, it was clearly necessary to address the centre's accessibility issues to meet the requirements of the recent Disability Discrimination Act (now the Disability & Equality Act).
Central council provided the bulk of the funds for the upgrade, which was supplemented by the fundraising work of Ardler's local management committee, which has charitable status. With the funds secured, the Ardler's redesign was assigned to Architectural Technician Craig Nicholson; his brief was to create a facility that would make a strong statement and serve as the Council's flagship community venue.
As existing loyal supporters of Horne, Dundee City Council was a key target for showing the new shower design that would become the Duŝo (pronounced Doosho, it means shower in the constructed language of Esperanto).
Prior to full production of the new design, an animated product tour, commissioned from talented illustrator and animator, Adam Brewster, brought the Duŝo to life; highlighting its modern aesthetic and also its practical and environmental features.
Within a week of sending the Duŝo animation to Richard Allen, Senior Building Services Engineer at the Council, Craig Nicholson made contact for more information and to see a sample. Craig, was really taken with the looks and functionality of the Duŝo and felt it could be very appropriate for the design statement they were hoping to make at Ardler.
The next step was to show a sample to the Ardler's local management group. There was immediately great excitement and strong buy-in to its modern attractive looks and functionality - in particular its one minute duration per actuation. Scott Rodgers, the Centre Manager, enthused "I like its narrow shape and swan neck, it's really nice!"
With the Duŝo duly signed off, the project got underway in early January 2014.
The refurbished facility comprised a open wet room for gents with solid wet-wall paneling, rubber flooring and two covered channels for drainage.
The Duŝo is simply mounted upon the wet-wall panels and in a 6 / 4 staggered arrangement on opposing walls to allow maximum showering space at busy times.
The ladies shower space is similar in size but the showers are mounted down one wall only and each is separated by wet-wall cubicles for privacy.
Entrance to the changing and shower areas have also been widened for wheelchair users.
Each Duŝo is supplied with pre-blended warm water from an upstream Horne 15 thermostatic mixing valve and the supply pipework is via an elbow connection directly above the shower head. For aesthetic reasons, Craig was keen to minimise exposed pipework and the elbow and chrome collar was a logical configuration.
Although a number of Duŝo shower heads could be supplied from a single larger TMV (for example, a Horne 20 can deliver enough flow for 6 shower heads to run simultaneously) the Ardler team preferred to minimise mixed water deadlegs and use more, smaller valves to help Legionella control. The upside to this being that a requirement for reactive maintenance might put only a single shower out of action, plus a range of water temperatures (up to the 41°C recommended maximum) could be offered by setting each valve slightly lower and thus accommodate user's preferences. The downside of this arrangement means that more time must be assigned for planned maintenance of the (10, rather than 2) thermostatic mixing valves in each area.
Undertaken by Dundee Council's own Direct Works department, the refurbishment, from strip out to completion, took slightly over two months and progressed without hitch.
Reopening to the public in early March 2014, the upgraded Ardler has been in almost constant use. Comment so far from users has been extremely positive and the management are looking forward to hosting the 2nd annual Open bodybuilding competition on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6th April.
For Craig Nicholson, the Ardler upgrade had achieved his objective - to become the Council's flagship facility and the blue-print for similar refurbishments across the city; the Duŝo is now in residence at Baldragon Academy, Dundee High School and Harris Academy.
