How to build flexibility into tenants bathrooms

With an ageing population and only 7% of housing stock in England offering even the most basic accessibility features , there is a growing need for housing associations to offer flexible accommodation. An area that is the most challenging for those with mobility issues is the bathroom. Here Stuart Reynolds, Head of Product and Marketing at AKW, shows how housing associations can have the best of both worlds – contemporary, long-lasting bathrooms for day-to-day use and then, when needed cost-effective transitioning to accessible wet rooms.

Above: [left] Beautiful Bathroom with bath, [right] Beautiful Bathroom with accessible wet room

What housing association managers want for tenant bathrooms
AKW spent time asking housing association managers what their biggest needs were for tenant bathrooms:
•    Easy to keep clean and low in maintenance
•    Long-lasting and contemporary looking
•    As future-proof as possible

Having listened to this feedback, AKW has developed the Beautiful Bathrooms collection to meet these needs.

Easy to keep clean and low in maintenance
The pandemic has shown how difficult routine maintenance of tenant properties can be. In addition, mould has been highlighted in the AKW research as a significant bugbear for maintenance managers. With this in mind Beautiful Bathrooms by AKW includes:
•    Easy to clean, grout-free wallpanels in a range of finishes. They have long lasting antimicrobial properties and are on average 25% cheaper to install than tiles.
•    A full range of long-lasting and low maintenance baths, screens, showers and accessories that are easy to maintain.

Long-lasting and contemporary looking bathrooms
AKW’s Beautiful Bathroom collection will stand the test of time, as all of the products within the range have been chosen with longevity as well as style in mind. Many of the high-quality bathroom products come with ‘made for life’ guarantees and the collection has been developed to offer tasteful, highly reliable, cost-effective products, that will look beautiful in any home, no matter its size or budget. This well thought out collection enables the creation of contemporary, functional spaces that both Housing Associations and tenants can be proud of.

Creating future-proof bathrooms
As tenants age and their needs change, there is an increasing burden on housing associations to provide accessible, inclusive bathroom conversions.

AKW has developed the following solution:
•    AKWs Bathroom for Life - enables a wet room waste to be installed. The area can then be waterproofed using AKW’s safety flooring, before a bath is fitted. In the event of tenant-needs changing the bath can be removed and the space quickly transformed into a wet room.
•    The Bathroom for Life solution builds flexibility into housing stock for minimum additional expenditure.

AKW offers standard and adapted bathrooms
With the launch of Beautiful Bathrooms this month, housing associations can now get everything needed to create either a standard or an adapted bathroom from AKW.

Beautiful Bathrooms by AKW includes:
Beautiful baths, panels and screens - contemporary baths in the collection are all anti slip for ultimate safety. A variety of extruded PVC and acrylic bath side and end panels is also available, along with a new range of hinged and fixed bath shower screens.

Contemporary brassware, sanitaryware and showers - from contemporary to vintage, there is a brassware style to suit any taste. The newly designed AKW Livenza Plus sanitaryware range is modern and fresh. A selection of stylish AKW mixer and electric showers blend functionality and aesthetics for a beautiful finishing touch to any bathroom space.

Full range of accessories - bathroom furniture options and countertops are available, as well as a selection of tiles, beautiful wall panel finishes, wall and underfloor heating options, lighting, watertight flooring to suit any scheme and AKW’s contemporary Onyx accessories in white and black.

The end result is a versatile collection that has been designed specifically with housing associations in mind. It offers specifiers, installers and end users alike everything needed to create beautiful, contemporary yet durable bathrooms – all from AKW.

Click here to find out more about the Beautiful Bathrooms collection

For more information, please contact AKW on 01905 823298, Email: sales@akw-ltd.co.uk or visit the website