Bournville Village Trust is a charity and community-based housing organisation working in Birmingham and Shropshire whose mission is creating and sustaining communities where people can thrive. It has a stock of around 4,500 homes. The Trust was founded in 1900 by world famous chocolate-maker and social reformer George Cadbury with a gift of 313 homes.

Chris Feeney is the Gas Manager for Bournville Village Trust and has been working for the Trust for six years. He manages a team of engineers which looks after the 4,500 or so homes. In a year, Chris and his team oversee the planned and emergency boiler install programme for Bournville Property Care Services, which is BVT’s in-house contractor.

The Trust is in the process of moving all boilers to condensing boilers, which use a 32mm waste pipe to remove the condensate from the property. These pipes run through the walls to the outside on all the properties, which traditionally means it would require mortar or silicone to be used to point the hole where the pipe leaves the brickwork. It’s a time-consuming process, which can look terrible if it’s not done properly. Mortar and silicone also tend to weather quickly, letting in water, pests, insects and drafts and so call-backs can be common. “I always pick the team up on their finish, we want things to look fantastic for our residents,” he explains. “Pointing around pipes was one of the items I would notice and we were having issues with bricks being blown out then
they were drilled through. It’s messy and I wanted a solution that was quick, easy and looked good too – that is why I thought I
would try PipeSnug out.” Chris heard about PipeSnug through a friend and he had seen PipeSnug mentioned and used by other tradespeople on social media. They liked the fact that the product saves them time and requires no pointing, but still gives a professional, neat finish on the fabric of the building itself. “We gave PipeSnug a try and the results have been excellent,” continues Chris. “It saves having to mess around pointing the hole.
I particularly like its speed and cleanliness – especially as less
mess on site means less mess and disruption in properties. “Cost wise, it works out cheaper too, and whereas cement will go off in the back of the van, PipeSnug is there when we need it, ready to go. We use them inside and outside for condensate pipes and we are looking to use them on general plumbing jobs too. Now I get less call backs from our customers and I don’t have to pull the team up on the finish around pipes any more!”