Ten years since the start of UK production of REHAU’s RAUVITHERM pipe, the business is celebrating the market’s only UK-manufactured pre-insulated PE-Xa pipe to feed a growth in demand across renewable heat projects.
Ever since its launch, RAUVITHERM has proven popular due to its combination of flexibility and low heat losses – both particularly well-suited to district heating, biomass, biogas and heat pump applications.
The pipe is manufactured in REHAU’s Plant in Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales, predominantly for the UK market since 2012. Employees from the UK head office and local politicians recently visited the factory to celebrate the 10 years of producing it in the UK, as well as discussing its vast potential in the future of renewable heat.
Over the years, RAUVITHERM has been installed on a huge range of high-profile projects such as football club training grounds, National Trust and Grade 1 listed country manors, farm-based anaerobic digestion systems, schools, zoos and district heating networks for luxury lodge developments.
More recently REHAU has seen growth in the number of individual houses which have used RAUVITHERM to connect air source heat pumps that are located away from the property. According to REHAU, this could be for a variety of reasons – heat pumps need good air flow to work effectively, and noise can also be an issue in some cases, so situating them on the side of the property is not always feasible.
Steve Richmond, Head of Marketing and Technical at REHAU Building Solutions says: “We always knew RAUVITHERM was a great product with great potential, and it has gone from strength to strength over the years.
“It was great to get together with colleagues to recently celebrate this while saying thank you for the factory’s support over this period. For example, we know the availability of pre-insulated pipe will be key to covering all bases in the Government’s heat pump rollout and enabling the wider success of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.”
RAUVITHERM was initially launched in Germany in 2010, with REHAU then making the decision to invest in UK manufacturing in 2011, ahead of opening its first UK-based production line in 2012. The company held an event with customers, local politicians, government officials and key industry stakeholders in 2012 to celebrate the launch.
Steve adds: “Having a locally manufactured pre-insulated pipe gives both us and our customers an estimated 29% reduction in CO2 versus importing from Germany. This is still the only UK-made pre-insulated PE-Xa pipe and helped us become the market leader for polymer district heating pipe in the UK.
“Maintaining a resilient supply chain is critical to any business, so having local production where we prioritise certain pipe sizes during busy periods has really helped us grow as a company.”
For more information on RAUVITHERM, click here.
