Navigating the future of Retrofit

A new exhibition at The Building Centre in London is helping specifiers navigate the barriers and opportunities of the retrofit centre, with Saniflo as a Principal Partner. 

‘Retrofit 2025 – What’s Stopping Us’ is a static exhibition at London’s The Building Centre, featuring a full programme of in-person and online events until September 2025. Retrofit 2025 aims to show that tools and solutions to transform existing buildings already exist and to encourage architects, specifiers, construction professionals, the housing sector, Government and local authorities to take the necessary next steps.  

Saniflo has announced a six-month collaboration with the Building Centre as a Principal Partner for the exhibition. Along with sister brand Kinedo, Saniflo has not only placed products in the static display ‘house without walls’, but also contributed case studies detailing how their products have enabled change of use conversions in the housing and educational sector.  

Pods adjacent to the static display highlight how a former office building was transformed into apartments in Peterborough, using Kinedo shower cubicles in the bathrooms, while a former bank was converted into a world-class dental training school with the help of a number of Saniflo pumps and macerators.   

A Kinedo Kinemagic Design all-in-one shower cubicle is featured in the ‘house without walls’ along with a Sanicompact WC, which is a space-saving, cisternless WC with integrated macerator. The shower cubicle is swift to install and, thanks to its unique design and assembly, requires no tile or grout to create a watertight environment. Consisting of internal glass panels that sit over the upstands of the shower tray, glass external panels and door, the shower is supplied as a single package complete with shower, valve and handheld shower. No follow-on trades are required, so the unit is ready to use from the moment it’s installed, saving on both specification and installation time. The Sanicompact is ideal for small bathrooms that cannot discharge waste via gravity. The integrated macerator means that no cistern is required and it can also discharge waste from a basin.  

Amanda Mills, Marketing Manager at Saniflo, has overseen the collaboration. She said: “This is a sector that lends itself very well to our products and one we have worked in for a long time. There is definitely more emphasis today on retaining and converting buildings for new uses. Our pump range, in particular, enables developers to discharge waste when traditional gravity drainage infrastructure can’t or is too expensive. Saniflo’s range extends from pumps for single bathrooms or kitchens, through to pumps for whole buildings, or multiple small buildings. Retrofit 2025 offers us a great opportunity to reach a bigger audience to share our products and knowledge. We’re looking forward to attending as many in-person events as possible and to using the facilities at the Building Centre for our own customers.” 

Founded in 1931, the Building Centre was the first establishment of its kind. Some 90 years later the Centre is run by the Built Environment Trust, an independent charitable organisation dedicated to inspiring and supporting knowledge and practice in the world of building. The Building Centre showcases the best in materials and manufacturing alongside the work of leading architects and designers to inform and inspire conversations about issues, challenges and successes in the built environment. 

www.buildingcentre.co.uk