Following their involvement with the ‘Best in Show’ garden at the Malvern Spring Gardening Show, Rainharvesting Systems Ltd are pleased to be part of Venner:Lucas’s award-winning design – the ‘Home of the Year’ in the Grand Designs’ Awards 2011. The two awards indicate just how much rainwater harvesting has been integrated into mainstream construction, and how it is part and parcel of modern developments.
Derek Hunt, MD of Rainharvesting Systems, reflects: “When the founders of Rainharvesting Systems started selling these systems 15 years ago, only ‘eco-warriors’ building their own homes were interested. Now large construction companies are frequent customers, and architects include rainwater harvesting in their designs as a matter of course. Buses are washed with harvested rainwater at Cardiff Bus depot, and factories are being built where rainwater will be used in industrial processes. Surprisingly, 50% of water used at home isn’t for drinking or cooking, and rainwater can meet many types of non-potable water needs.”
The award-winning garden scheme at Malvern Show irrigated vegetables whilst in the ‘Home of the Year’, rainwater flushes 4 toilets and waters the garden. All of Rainharvesting Systems’ schemes use a filter robust enough to withstand even a vehicular road above without needing a protective chamber, so they can be installed in all sorts of places. Absence of a chamber also means easier installation and long-term maintenance. The company’s selection of storage chambers includes one embedded using spoil from the development site rather than in concrete – again easier and cheaper installation is the result.
