Berkshire is a county of six unitary councils and one very busy motorway. From Slough and Windsor in the east, through Maidenhead, Bracknell and Reading, out to Newbury in the west, the towns are strung along the M4 corridor. That makes it one of the easiest places outside London for us to reach, and one with a wide range of buildings.
Business parks, offices and trading estates
Reading, Slough and Bracknell have large business parks and corporate offices, and the Slough Trading Estate adds factories, food sites and warehouses. TMVs in these buildings sit under washroom basins, in accessible WCs and in staff showers. They're rarely high risk, which is exactly why they get forgotten. A valve under a basin on a quiet floor can sit for months with barely any flow, then fail to respond when someone finally uses it.
For facilities teams, the useful thing is getting these valves onto a schedule that sits alongside the rest of the water hygiene work, with a register the next contractor or auditor can follow. TMV asset registers: what auditors want to see explains what that should look like.
Hotels near Heathrow and Windsor
East Berkshire has a lot of hotels serving Heathrow, Windsor and the business parks. Guest bathrooms usually have thermostatic showers or bath valves, and the hotel may also have TMVs on accessible rooms, spa areas and staff changing. These run all year with high turnover, so we work with housekeeping to take empty rooms first.
One thing to check: a thermostatic shower or tap shouldn't also be fed through a separate TMV. HTM 04-01 Part B advises against putting the two in series, and while it's written for healthcare, the reasoning applies anywhere. Two thermostatic devices fighting each other can give unstable temperatures.
Healthcare and care homes
The county's hospitals, community health sites, hospices and private hospitals work to HTM 04-01: TMV3 valves, commissioning records and in-service tests set by the Water Safety Group. Care homes and supported living services are spread across all six council areas, many in extended family houses in Wokingham, Windsor and the villages around Newbury. Residents' baths and showers there are the priority, and assisted baths should never exceed 44°C where vulnerable people are at risk, as HSE's HSIS6 makes clear.
Schools
Berkshire has state schools, a university in Reading and several well-known independent and boarding schools. Boarding houses, sports changing rooms and nursery washrooms are where the TMVs tend to be. We arrange visits around term dates and the school day.
Water in Berkshire
Thames Water supplies much of Berkshire, and parts of the east of the county are on South East Water. Most of the county has hard water, partly thanks to the chalk of the Berkshire Downs. Thames Water and South East Water both have postcode checkers if you want the detail for your site.
For your valves, that means steady scale build-up. We look at strainers and check valves at every visit, descale where needed, and use the results to judge whether a valve's interval should be shortened.
Getting to you
We're on the M4 almost as soon as we leave the office, so Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead are an easy run, and Reading and Newbury aren't much further. The A329(M) takes us to Bracknell and Wokingham, and the A404(M) up towards Maidenhead and Marlow. Business parks usually have parking. For town centre sites, let us know about access when you book.
Towns we cover in Berkshire
- Reading
- Slough
- Windsor
- Maidenhead
- Bracknell
- Wokingham
- Newbury
- Thatcham
- Ascot
- Sunningdale
- Sandhurst
- Crowthorne
- Eton
- Datchet
- Twyford
- Woodley
- Theale
- Hungerford
- Earley
- Langley