CAROMA DORF

Government, businesses and the wider community are actively pursuing solutions and initiatives to address sustainability challenges including climate change and water usage. Caroma Dorf is committed to developing market-leading water saving technologies to meet market needs for more water efficient product solutions. A key area of focus for the Caroma Dorf business is the design, development and commercialisation of a range of retrofit-specific water-saving product solutions. These solutions not only help reduce water consumption with their design features, they also facilitate the replacement of inefficient fixtures in commercial and residential premises.

Caroma Flex Retrofit Solution

Caroma’s Flex Retrofit solution is the only product of its kind in the Australian market and it is already recognised for its innovation. The Caroma Flex is an advanced and cost-effective way of accelerating the retrofit of commercial premises, while reducing water consumption.

With many commercial buildings built in the 1970s and now needing refurbishment, Flex provides a retrofit solution previously only possible through a full bathroom renovation. These buildings often have inefficient fixtures and by providing an innovative, retrofit solution, Caroma Dorf is assisting commercial premises to lower their water usage.

Winner of the GreenPlumbers Innovative Product of the Year Award, the Caroma Flex is designed to cover the footprint of many older wall hung toilet pans found in aging commercial bathrooms across Australia. Flex features a unique bracket with adjustable inlet and outlet connections to suit a range of existing set outs, which makes old inefficient pans easier to retrofit.  This installation flexibility reduces the need to relocate plumbing and demolish walls, helping lower installation costs and making previously cost prohibitive retrofits possible. It also minimises the need to re-tile or re-paint over old pan footprints.

The Flex pan has been specially developed to be coupled with the new Caroma Invisi™ Series II concealed in-wall cistern, which is another breakthrough innovation, for a complete water-saving retrofit solution.

Caroma Retrofit Cistern

The Caroma Sovereign Retro Suite is an innovative product that simplifies the retrofitting of older style toilet suites. The suite features the unique Retro cistern with a large footprint designed to cover most of the old single-flush cisterns. This water-efficient Smartflush® option can often be installed without the need for re-tiling or re-paint. This 4-star water-saving solution results in minimal disruption and cost.

Retrofit Program Partnerships

The Caroma Dorf Eco Logical Solutions team works proactively with government bodies and the plumbing industry to encourage retrofit programs which deliver both product and installation solutions to help businesses and communities to more easily upgrade their premises.

Residential Programs

With millions of single flush toilet suites still in use across Australia, Caroma Dorf continues to provide market-leading, water-saving solutions for government-led toilet replacement programs. These programs have been developed in consultation with the plumbing industry. By providing consumers with a packaged product and installation solution, these programs are making it easy for householders to reduce their water consumption. These initiatives include:

  • Launching the ACT Government ToiletSmart Program in mid-2008. This program is now in its second phase with more than 3,900 single flush and inefficient dual flush toilets already replaced with Smartflush® toilet suites. Caroma Dorf worked closely with the ACT Government to develop this program, which to date has already led to significant water savings and significantly reduced the amount of water flowing to the sewerage treatment plant within the Territory
  • Partnering with local councils, Caroma Dorf also played a key role in the development of toilet retrofit programs currently underway in regional areas of New South Wales including Palerang, Leeton, Bathurst and Yass
  • Playing an instrumental role in implementing residential toilet retrofit programs in Toowoomba (QLD), Dalby (QLD) and Port Macquarie (NSW) in 2008; and
  • Continuing to work closely with local councils, water authorities and government departments around Australia to promote the benefits of toilet retrofitting as a cost effective and sustainable solution to saving water.

Commercial Retrofit Initiatives

With a significant amount of water used in bathrooms, commercial retrofit solutions are a viable option for companies seeking to save water and cut their operating and maintenance expenses by changing to more efficient fixtures and fittings. The Caroma Dorf Eco Logical team continues to work with government and businesses to develop retrofit programs designed to make bathrooms in commercial premises more water efficient.

In February 2009, the ACT Government launched a Commercial Bathroom Retrofit Program to assist businesses in reducing their water consumption.  Caroma Dorf is pleased to be part of this proactive initiative, offering a product range designed to meet the needs of most commercial buildings.  The program provides eligible businesses with access to funding of up to $20,000 per property to replace inefficient bathroom fixtures with more water efficient product solutions.

NEW ECO LOGICAL TOOLS

Launch of Commercial Water

Saving Calculator

Caroma Dorf launched a sophisticated new Commercial Water Saving Calculator created in conjunction with The Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney.  The calculator supports the Caroma Dorf Eco Logical Solutions platform and is an easy-to-use tool that allows businesses to review their water usage and make informed decisions about their retrofit programs. The calculator further reinforces Caroma Dorf’s commitment to delivering innovative environmental solutions to help industry to reduce water consumption.

The calculator highlights water savings that can be made from installing more efficient bathroom products in commercial buildings. For specific retrofit projects, a tailored savings assessment can be generated and for new premises the calculator can be used to pre-determine future water usage based on the efficiency of the fixtures selected.

Sustainability Website

Caroma Dorf has launched a new website to support its sustainability initiatives.  www.ecologicalsolutions.com reinforces Caroma Dorf’s position as a viable partner for sustainability and commitment to a sustainable future through the development of environmentally-friendly bathroom products and the provision of packaged retrofit solutions.   

The new website highlights the products, services and tools that Caroma Dorf offers to support businesses wanting to reduce water consumption. The site is an information hub for commercial and residential retrofitting. It is also a platform to keep the market informed on the latest water-saving technologies and retrofit initiatives from Caroma Dorf.

The Caroma Invisi™ Series II toilet suite collection has been awarded the highly acclaimed 2009 Australian International Design Award for the Housing and Building Category in recognition of its innovative design at the Australian International Design Awards.

The awards, which are a division of Standards Australia, represent Australia’s only national product design awards program, which recognises local product design and innovation excellence.

The Invisi™ Series II range is a unique in-wall toilet system recognised for its water saving technology and ease of installation for commercial and domestic applications.

The 2009 Design Award for the Invisi™ Series II adds to Caroma’s earlier Design Awards for the Smartflush® toilet suite system, which innovatively delivers maximum water savings while optimising flushing performance, and the H2Zero™ Cube urinal, a sustainable, high performance waterless urinal. 

Caroma Dorf’s Research and Design Manager Dr Steve Cummings said: “We are proud the Invisi™ Series II has been acknowledged with a Design Award amongst so many high quality designs across such varied product categories.”

“The Invisi™ Series II has been developed using world class technology that breaks new ground in the housing and building sectors,” he said.

“A more comprehensive range of toilet suites is offered by the Invisi™ Series II collection, which are suitable for both residential and commercial applications. This allows the sophisticated look of concealed cistern toilet suites to be integrated into any bathroom.”

The versatile Invisi™ Series II toilet suites are suitable for in-wall, under counter, induct and in-ceiling applications, and are the first wall-hung toilet suites that fit within a standard 90mm wall cavity with 450mm centres.

Suite servicing can be completed through the wall-mounted button plate to access the cistern and plumbing, as required.

The Invisi™ Series II also incorporates Caroma’s reliable and proven Smartflush® water-saving technology and carries a 4 star Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) rating.

The collection meets all relevant Australian Standards and is guaranteed against leaking in wall when installed by a certified plumber, in accordance with the installation instructions.