Stelrad explores some of the latest trends and the newest domestic heating options available to developers.
There’s something exciting going on in the world of radiators. Things are changing and radiators are becoming part of the décor in new homes and in refurbishment projects too. With new styles, new looks, the arrival of vertical radiators and more recently the advent of coloured radiators as well – making choosing radiators quite simply more fun.
In today’s market, there’s a radiator available for virtually any application, be it a new build home, a refurbishment project or a special bespoke application that requires something specific to meet the application in mind. The old approach to specifying radiators seems to be changing, perhaps because of the plethora of house refurbishment and house purchase programmes on TV. Never before have we been able to see inside so many other people’s homes, so easily – and not surprisingly, people see what they like, are influenced to mimic the designs they see and upgrade their own heating systems accordingly. For many, the standard panel radiator is not quite enough.
Many installers, architects and specifiers are anticipating this preference for non-standard radiators offering a wider choice to their customers, giving them the option to ‘up spec’ to designer or decorative radiators in their homes. For example, the love affair with the vertical radiator is well underway with many being a virtual extension of the towel warming radiators that most homes have in their bathrooms. But now, people want these vertical radiators in the kitchen, in the entrance hallway, in their main living rooms, in corridors and on landings – with their smaller horizontal footprint making them easy to slot into spaces where a traditional horizontal radiator simply won’t fit.
The joy of today’s radiators from Stelrad is that the installation instructions are the same for virtually all of them, so there is the ability to mix and match, with the less expensive standard panel radiators in say guest bedrooms that are not the key ones in the homeowner’s mind and premium panel, designer and decorative radiators elsewhere in the home.
Increasingly, radiators are being seen as part of the décor, worth investing a little more in, rather than simply a means of sharing heat around the home. In some cases, they are quite literally a focal point of a room – even more so now that coloured radiators are growing in popularity, allowing interior designers, architects and more design savvy homeowners to select radiators that match or contrast the other décor in a room. The subtle horizontal lines on the Compact with Style radiator range is an example – recently seen in a new build development where the radiator design matches the design of the doors throughout the homes – classy and stylish whilst being very subtle. Most of the Stelrad models are available in up to 36 different colours and the most popular coloured radiators are available from stock.
There are a number of coloured radiators available for delivery within three days of order, whilst bespoke options for non-standard colours can take a few weeks to be delivered but if you want bright yellow radiators – they’re worth waiting for.
You can now select the Compact Extra Protection range of radiators – a new rust resistant version of their best-selling radiator, offering extra protection where moisture is ever present in the atmosphere – bathrooms, showers and wet rooms for example. Also new to the market are the first range of the popular Low Surface Temperature radiator range – the LST i Plus Xtra Protection – for use in wetrooms or shower rooms where more vulnerable people might be washing or showering and need protection from high surface temperature radiators.
Radiators are still responsible for sharing the heat in more than 90% of domestic heating systems installed in the UK and a surprisingly high percentage of commercial properties as well, so the age of the radiator is still very much with us. It’s worth going the extra mile to ensure that radiators continue to be an aesthetic choice as well as a common sense one, with a wide range of designs, an easy to install philosophy and the widest range of sizes to ensure that there is a radiator for pretty much every application that can be imagined.
