Saniflo improves facilities at the Southbank Roof Garden

Saniflo UK – part of the SFA Group and a leading designer and manufacturer of pumps, macerators and lifting stations – recently helped London landmark the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the iconic Southbank Centre improve its facilities to provide staff and visitors with a better experience of this special place.

The Queen Elizabeth Hall boasts a stunning wildflower roof garden and café overlooking the Thames. The wildflower garden is one of the best in Europe attracting bees and insects from all over London, as well as a haven for visitors to socialise, dine and even work when the weather is fine.

Earlier this year, the team running the venue agreed that the venue’s WCs were not ideally located as clients and staff alike had to descend a winding staircase back to the Royal Festival Hall in the main building of the Southbank Centre.

The Queen Elizabeth Hall contracted Richard Riley from building contractor Eleven London to construct a wooden toilet block with two separate WCs and hand basins. With no gravity drainage available in proximity of the new block, a pumping solution was the only solution to discharge the waste away to the nearest soil stack some 40m away.

The Saniflo technical team assessed the site and the potential run of pipework, and specified a Sanicubic Pro 2 lifting station with twin pumps and a wireless alarm, which Richard and his plumber installed.

This powerful unit uses alternate pumps when operating normally, but in the unlikely event of a pump failure can switch to single pump operation in order to provide continuity of operation at all times. A wireless alarm offers early warning of any issues. The unit is installed in a cupboard to the rear of the block and provides quiet, efficient operation.

Richard comments: “As an engineer I know the benefits of Saniflo pumps for areas with no immediate gravity drainage. Looking at the wide range of commercial pumps available I called the technical team at Saniflo to double check my calculations on a Sanicubic to ensure it was the right product for the job. I was most impressed when a site visit was offered to verify the pumping distances and flow rates to efficiently discharge waste from the two WCs and basins and we agreed that a Sanicubic Pro 2 lifting station with twin pumps and a wireless alarm would easily cope with the volume and would provide continuity of operation at all times.”

The Queen Elizabeth Hall team say installation of the roof garden toilet block was an excellent investment and that the visitor numbers and the time they spend at venue are up.