Essex property is a real mix. Basildon and Harlow were built as new towns after the war, with large council estates that now include sheltered schemes. Southend, Clacton and Frinton have a lot of retirement flats and care homes. Chelmsford and Colchester keep growing, with new estates and blocks going up on the edges. And the Thames side of the county has ports and warehouses with their own welfare facilities.
Sheltered and post-war housing
The new towns and the older council estates around them hold a lot of housing for older and disabled tenants. Sheltered flats, extra care schemes and adapted bungalows often have TMVs on the bath or basin, sometimes fitted during an adaptation years ago and never looked at since.
For landlords, the hard part is usually knowing what's there. A survey that tags and logs every valve gives you a starting point, and from then on each visit updates the record. Our article on TMVs for social housing landlords: what you need to know sets out a sensible approach, and we can arrange access with your housing officers so tenants know when to expect us.
Care homes and retirement living on the coast
Seafront and near-coast towns from Southend up to the Tendring peninsula are home to many care homes and retirement developments. Residents may have dementia, reduced feeling in their hands and feet, or limited mobility, so assisted baths and en-suite showers need TMV3 valves and regular testing. HSE's guidance (HSIS6) sets 44°C as the upper limit for baths where people are at risk, and CQC inspectors will want to see that you're managing the risk. Records per valve, with dates and readings, are the simplest way to show it.
New-build flats and Building Regulations
Chelmsford, Colchester and the towns along the A12 and A127 have seen a lot of new homes. In new dwellings, Approved Document G limits the hot water to a bath to 48°C, and that's usually done with a TMV or tempering valve under the bath. Those valves don't maintain themselves. Landlords and managing agents who take over a new block often find nobody's touched them since handover.
Schools, healthcare and workplaces
Primary schools, nurseries and special schools across the county have TMVs in pupil washrooms and changing areas. Hospitals, hospices, GP surgeries and private clinics follow HTM 04-01, with TMV3 valves and D 08 style testing. On the industrial side, logistics sites around Thurrock and the ports have welfare showers that see heavy use and can be overlooked. If it has thermostatic valves, we can test it.
Hard water across most of the county
Essex & Suffolk Water supplies much of south and central Essex. Parts of the north and west are on Anglian Water or Affinity Water. Most of the county gets hard water either way, so check your supplier's postcode tool for your own address. In practice, that means scale on thermostatic elements, blocked strainers and valves that drift between visits. We clean and descale as standard and record what we find, so the service interval suits the water you've actually got.
Getting to you
We come out from Chiswick via the M25. The A12, A127, A13 and M11 take us on to most of the county, with the A120 for the north. We plan coastal trips so several sites get done together.
Towns we cover in Essex
- Chelmsford
- Colchester
- Southend-on-Sea
- Basildon
- Brentwood
- Billericay
- Wickford
- Rayleigh
- Canvey Island
- Grays
- Thurrock
- Harlow
- Epping
- Loughton
- Braintree
- Witham
- Maldon
- Clacton-on-Sea
- Frinton-on-Sea
- Harwich
- Saffron Walden
- Great Dunmow