Shower installation SE1

Electric showers

An electric shower heats cold mains water instantly using an internal heating element, making it entirely independent of the boiler. For the large number of London flats fitted with combi boilers, an electric shower is often the most practical second shower: the combi provides no stored hot water, so a mixer shower in a second bathroom would struggle when the boiler is already supplying the kitchen or another outlet. The electric shower resolves this by drawing only from the cold mains supply.

Installation requires a dedicated electrical circuit -- typically 40 amps for a 9.5 kW unit or 45 amps for a 10.8 kW unit. This circuit must be installed from the consumer unit by a Part P registered electrician, who will issue a completion certificate under Building Regulations. In London flats, the consumer unit is often located in a hallway or utility cupboard remote from the bathroom, which can mean a longer cable run and accordingly higher installation cost. Prestige Engineers provides a combined plumber and electrician visit for electric shower installations so the work is completed in a single appointment.

Pricing: electric shower swap £350 to £500 including electrician visit and Part P notification.

Mixer showers in London

A mixer shower combines hot and cold water at the valve and delivers the blended output through the shower head. For good performance, a minimum dynamic pressure of 0.5 bar is required at the valve. In London, pressure issues are common: combi boilers in tall buildings often cannot maintain adequate pressure to upper-floor bathrooms, particularly during peak demand. If a pressure test reveals insufficient dynamic pressure, the practical options are to switch to an electric shower or to have a separate shower pump installed on a gravity-fed system.

Thermostatic versions of mixer showers maintain the set temperature when other outlets in the property are opened or when WC cisterns refill. In London shared houses and family homes where multiple bathrooms are in simultaneous use, a thermostatic valve is the sensible choice. The cost difference over a non-thermostatic valve is modest and the benefit is significant.

Pricing: mixer shower installation £400 to £700.

Thermostatic showers

A thermostatic shower valve holds the outlet temperature at the set point regardless of fluctuations in the supply pressure or the incoming hot water temperature. This is the standard choice for family bathrooms across London -- it prevents scalding when a WC is flushed or a tap opened elsewhere in the property and delivers a consistent showering experience that non-thermostatic valves cannot match.

Exposed thermostatic bar valves are surface-mounted with visible pipework and are the most straightforward to install. Concealed thermostatic valves are built into the wall with only the control plate and volume controls visible -- they deliver a cleaner, more contemporary look but require a suitable void behind the wall for the valve body and add plastering work to the installation.

Pricing: thermostatic shower installation £600 to £1,000.

Shower enclosures

Walk-in enclosures with frameless or semi-frameless toughened glass panels are the most popular choice in London bathroom renovations. Frameless 8 mm safety glass panels are easier to maintain than framed alternatives -- there are no metal channels or runners to accumulate limescale and soap residue. With London mains water among the hardest in England, minimising grout lines and frame sections is a practical advantage as well as an aesthetic one.

Hinged and sliding door enclosures suit smaller bathrooms where a walk-in configuration cannot be achieved without encroaching on circulation space. The shower tray should be a low-profile slimline type -- standard 40 mm to 80 mm height -- which sits closer to the floor level and is easier to step into than the higher-profile acrylic trays of earlier generations.

Wet room conversions

A wet room eliminates the shower tray entirely, replacing it with a fully tanked and tiled floor at the same level as the rest of the bathroom, draining to a floor-level drain. The floor gradient to the drain (typically 1 in 80 to 1 in 100) is formed by a purpose-made floor former or a screeded bed. The floor and lower wall sections are tanked with a cementitious slurry or proprietary membrane system before tiling.

In London flats above other occupied dwellings, the tanking specification must be thorough. A leak from a poorly waterproofed wet room is not merely inconvenient -- it is a potential insurance claim, damage to the property below, and possible dispute with the freeholder or management company. Prestige Engineers applies a full tanking specification with membrane taken behind the floor drain flange and all wall-to-floor junctions sealed and primed before tiling.

Pricing: wet room conversion from £2,000 for a standard bathroom footprint.

Building regulations

Replacing a like-for-like shower unit does not require building control notification provided no structural work is involved. New electrical circuits in a bathroom zone require notification under Part P of the Building Regulations -- this is handled by the Part P registered electrician who will issue a completion certificate. Wet room installations that require cutting through floor joists to route waste drainage may require building control notification. Prestige Engineers manages all regulatory notifications as part of the installation.

Tile vs wall panels

Ceramic tile is the durable long-term choice for shower enclosures and is better suited to a steam environment than most wall panel systems. In London hard water areas, fully grouted tile walls accumulate limescale on grout lines but can be maintained with descaling products. PVC wall panels are faster to install, require no grout maintenance, and offer a practical solution for rental properties where low maintenance cost and rapid turnaround between tenancies are priorities. Wall panels cannot be used in wet rooms where the entire floor must be tiled to an anti-slip specification.