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20October 2017

Abacus helps create spa wellness experience at Thermae Bath Spa

A natural spa in the heart of the city of Bath, Thermae Bath Spa, has recently created a wellness suite that offers a range of state-of-the-art spa facilities which include Roman and Georgian steam rooms, experience showers and a celestial relaxation room. Abacus was commissioned by DaleSauna to manufacture key components of the spa from its Elements range of products.

Shortlisted in the Best of Design category at the Good Spa Guide Awards 2017, the Thermae Bath Spa has a new wellness suite which references both the architectural and social history of Bath while showcasing the most recent technology available in spa design. Elements offers the ability to create bespoke features. Based on waterproof structural expanded polystyrene (EPS), the product enables great design capability along with being completely waterproof in high moisture environments, such as steam rooms.

Within the Roman-inspired steam room, the traditional style seating, which included integral lighting, was supplied by Abacus from its Elements range before being clad in limestone. Similarly, in the Georgian steam room, Elements was used to form throne seats together with arched wall pieces to accommodate faux arch window sections. These items were variously finished in Corian, porcelain tiles and a hand-applied cement based coating. To accommodate these, the substrate had to be considerably stronger and smoother than is standard for porcelain or glass tiling so Abacus worked closely with DaleSauna to achieve the desired result. 

To help create the dream-like environment of the celestial relaxation room, Abacus supplied five Elements relaxation loungers, complete with electric heat mats, ready to receive glass mosaic tiles. 

Elements products were also employed within the experience shower area to create architectural columns. Although non load-bearing, the columns had to be self-supporting and robust enough to withstand any accidental trauma from users so Abacus worked closely with DaleSauna to design a central cavity within each column to accept a steel bar. In addition, the column circumferences had to be perfectly-sized so the applied porcelain and glass mosaics would be seamless. Any manufacturing errors in the column's finished size would result in tiles having to be cut to fit, thus ruining the finish. 

The experience showers were also supplied by Abacus. These included four Abacus Temptation built-in overhead shower heads, two sets of six Emotion body jets and three chromotherapy Temptation shower heads that provide a combination of water and colour therapy. 

Lynn Russell-Hanson, interior designer at DaleSauna, comments: "All the Elements products were bespoke to this project and generated by Abacus using DaleSauna CAD drawings. This was a collaborative process and we looked to the expertise of the Abacus team to guide us. Their patience and expertise were particularly valuable in achieving the necessary surfaces for the finishes we wished to apply." 

For more information and brochures, contact 0345 850 50 40 or abacus-bathrooms.co.uk 

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With compliments: 

Alison Relf
Taylor Alden Ltd
Unit 2, Temple Place
247 The Broadway
London
SW19 1SD
Tel: 020 8543 3866
Email:alison@tayloralden.co.uk