IN Brief:
- ACO Building Drainage has introduced its Drainage System Assessment service in the UK.
- ACO data indicates widespread installation issues and recurring floor cracking at inspected sites.
- The service targets factories planning layout changes, equipment upgrades, or hygiene-driven improvements.
ACO Building Drainage has launched its Drainage System Assessment (DSA) service in the UK, positioning it as a structured review of drainage, flooring interfaces, and related infrastructure intended to help food and beverage manufacturers identify hygiene vulnerabilities in processing environments.
ACO said its broader assessment activity has identified recurring issues across food manufacturing sites, including incorrectly installed drainage systems, floor cracking around drainage points, and drainage components that can create hygiene and operational risk if poorly specified or maintained. The company said more than half of food facilities in its dataset had drainage systems installed incorrectly, up to 80% of assessments revealed hidden hygiene risks, and every inspected site showed floor cracks that can compromise safety and compliance.
The UK rollout follows deployments in European markets including Germany and the Czech Republic, where ACO said its teams commonly uncover blocked gullies, cracked resin floors around drainage points, missing foul air traps, and the use of unsuitable drainage products for hygienic environments.
Mario Finelli, head of key projects at ACO Building Drainage, said the service provides “a three-step process of data collection, analysis and corrective action planning,” culminating in a detailed report and on-site presentation.
ACO’s DSA service description indicates it gathers facility-specific information ahead of and during site work, including plant layout, equipment specifications, floor structures, and operational inputs, before analysing performance against site requirements and producing a corrective action plan with prioritised recommendations and timelines. ACO also describes the assessment as non-invasive and designed to integrate into a site’s HACCP planning, with outputs intended to support decisions on remedial works, upgrades, and maintenance planning.
The service is aimed at sites undergoing change, including refurbishment, line-change projects, and broader layout modifications that can expose drainage and flooring weaknesses or introduce new risk points. While drainage and flooring are typically treated as background infrastructure, failures in floor-to-drain interfaces, damaged resin, and poorly selected components can create areas where water, soil, and residues accumulate, increasing cleaning burden and raising the likelihood of hygiene non-conformances during internal and customer audits.
ACO said the DSA is intended to provide manufacturers with an external, structured evaluation that covers drainage integration and the surrounding environment, including flooring and wall junctions, alongside observations of cleaning practices around critical drainage points.
