Bureside Boat House

Norfolk is possibly most famous for the man-made Broads; a National Park with over 125 miles of lock-free waterways set in beautiful countryside and studded with charming and picturesque towns and villages. Nestled to the North West is the pretty village of Horning where a number of the houses overlook the river. One such property is Bureside, which was once the house used by the manager of the adjacent waterworks. With that association long gone, the house was acquired for redevelopment by a local family with a passion for motorboats and sailing.

Once planning permission had been gained, the family appointed local builder, PD Drake, to construct a modern house and grounds designed to enhance their natural surroundings, along with a boat house and mooring at the bottom of the garden. Overlooking the River Bure the cedar clad boat house was positioned at the best angle to overlook the river. The two-storey building features boat storage beneath a living area. The pièce de résistance is a balcony positioned to take best advantage of the stunning views. Doubling up as occasional accommodation, the boat house features a living area complete with kitchen and bathroom.

Jordan Andrews, owner of JA Plant Hire, was subcontracted by the builder to undertake the drainage, groundworks and landscaping on the site. One of his first jobs was to establish the best way to take the waste from the boat house. The building sits approximately 4 m below and 65 m from the drainage level of the on-site sewage treatment plant. Discharging black and grey water waste would require a pump capable of lifting waste up and along soil pipes to meet the waste treatment plant.

Having previously installed two Sanifos underground lifting stations from Saniflo on two other local sites, Jordan called the local Saniflo representative to ensure that the same product could meet the demands of the job. A site visit confirmed that a Sanifos 110 would be the ideal size to lift the grey and black waste and discharge the waste via 40 mm pipework up to the treatment plant. Jordan is very impressed at the service from Saniflo and the Sanifos;

"I came across this unit after a recommendation from The English Shepherd Hut Co. Two of their customers had similar requirements and the hut manufacturer proposed the Sanifos as a solution which I subsequently installed. The beauty of this unit is its size and power. It has a high quality, powerful motor at its core enabling the lift and pumping length, but it is housed in a compact unit. This means I was able to dig a much smaller hole of just 1 m depth and not even 500 mm width to accommodate the unit - which saves times and cost on civils. Because of the damp surroundings a large hole would have been less stable but would also have cost significantly more in labour costs.

The Sanifos has been covered by a simple manhole cover which is flush with the ground so creates no obstruction. The outlet pipe is sited out of the way by the guttering of the boat house. Access to the unit for maintenance is still very good. The Sanifos has definitely filled a gap in the market for a small pump chamber with this capacity and performance. Delivery was also very quick. From site assessment to delivery was just 7 days."

Prior to discovering the Sanifos range from Saniflo Jordan would have used a bigger product to do the job. The Sanifos enables him to match the product to the job in hand.

"I will most certainly install further Sanifos units for projects of this type. I do a lot of sewage work and it's great to have a product that is better suited for the smaller jobs."

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Sanifos 110 Black water