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 | | OLD MEETS NEW IN OPEN AIR MUSEUM |  | | REHAU | | 31/07/2008 | | | Old certainly met new with a recent installation of REHAU underfloor heating at The Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, West Midlands.
RBFH Ltd, a REHAU authorised partner, has installed the REHAU heating system in The Cradley Heath Workers Institute, a 430m2 building which was dismantled from its original home in 2004 and has been rebuilt brick by brick at the award winning open air museum.
The Institute, or ‘Stute’ as it was known throughout its history, was originally built in 1912 and had been central to the lives of many in Cradley Heath’s working community until the decision was taken four years ago to knock it down to make way for a new bypass.
The Museum stepped in to save the historic and much loved building and secured a £1.5m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help move it five miles down the road and rebuild it as it had stood in the 1930s.
The building and its associated utility block had no heating when they were constructed but current health and safety regulations require some form of heat for the museum’s visitors. Underfloor heating was therefore felt to be the best option since it could be installed under the floor screed with the character of the building remaining intact and could provide low level, energy efficient, background warmth.
RBFH carried out the installation for M&E contractors L Darby & Son working on behalf of the museum itself. The REHAU system, which uses 20mm PE-Xa universal pipework fixed in a double meander pattern on RAUFIX rails, was selected because of its quality and durability.
The Institute will open to the public later this year and will be the second largest building at the museum. It will house a new exhibition and display telling the story of women and the trade union movement in the West Midlands as well as giving an insight into the region’s labour history. |  |
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