Interview: Monty Ravenscroft – Hidealoo can lead a bathroom revolution

From a simple idea for a foldaway toilet, designer Monty Ravenscroft has begun developing a groundbreaking international business – Tim Wallace gets the full story.

When Monty Ravenscroft’s house was first featured on Grand Designs 20 years ago, he probably didn’t expect one of his space-saving solutions to end up being the focus for a lucrative business venture.

The versatile designer, engineer, actor, film maker and entrepreneur still lives in the same house in Peckham, and has been re-visited several times by the show’s host Kevin McCloud. The property was even featured on the recent 25^th anniversary edition where viewers were reminded of some of his other innovations, including a huge retractable skylight and a bath that slides under the bed when not in use.

But what really caught McCloud’s eye, and what Ravenscroft has subsequently taken to market, is a retractable toilet mechanism, branded as Hidealoo, which can fold away into a cabinet or recess to create a more flexible and multifunctional space.

“We’ve been selling the swivelling bracket for about 2 years and there were 4 years of development before that,” Ravenscroft explains. “We went through years of testing and compliance regulations to be certain it exceeds requirements and in the process got it fully patented.”

Originally developed for his late father who had mobility issues and needed palliative care at home, Ravenscroft now sees the product as having huge business potential.

“We want to lead a bathroom revolution,” he says. “About 80% of falls among the over-70s happen on the way to the loo at night. So in 5 to 10 years’ time I see Hidealoo as a completely standard product for the ageing population – and for boutique hotels where you have really compact rooms.

“It could become standard for student dwellings, and in bathrooms where you want to get the washing machine out of the kitchen. Everyone is being forced into smaller spaces and multi-generational living now which puts pressure on the loos, so why not have one in your bedroom? People also put them in utility rooms to free up the master bedroom en suite. They can then let the house as an Airbnb to cover mortgage problems.”

Hidealoo fits any standard wall-hung toilet pan and cistern – bought separately - and any off-the-shelf or bespoke cabinet more than 420mm (17.7in) deep and 1200mm (47.2in) wide. It connects to standard mains waste pipes and, with adaptors, to other waste pipe diameters around the world.

Any professional plumber can install a Hidealoo in just a few hours, Ravenscroft insists, and the product has sold into 18 countries and can be shipped anywhere in the world from the UK. The plumbing world has been “enthusiastic but wary”, he laughs. “They see the moving parts and think of the pipe work but it’s been through 250,000 cycling tests and pressured to 5psi, as well as all the other regulatory tests.

“Kevin McCloud gave us a lovely review and good airtime,” he adds. “I was amazed. He said that without people pioneering ideas like this there’s no development, and that we need to push the boundaries to improve the quality of life.”

A mid-market product, Hidealoo is priced at £1,650 ex VAT. “We’re selling directly through our website, but also to retailers like Victorian Plumbing,” Ravenscroft explains. “Ultimately, we don’t want to be a retailer because that’s a very different business. We want to be selling to the trade – the wholesalers. 

“Long term, we think we’d like to partner with a sanitaryware firm,” he adds. “They have the muscle and the networks. We may even do a branded version for them. It will be a way to rapidly expand because we’d leapfrog 30 years of development. We’re a creative design company, not a dealer network. We’re not a Duravit or an Ideal Standard but we can help them expand their market.

“Alternatively, we might partner with someone on a more local basis depending on how we eventually approach each potential market. Some countries will be far more ready to solve terrible housing space issues with more innovative solutions than others.”

Hidealoo was a big hit at last year’s KBB Birmingham and was also recently displayed at KBIS in Las Vegas where it drew a crowd of curious onlookers to the stand. UK business has been “exciting”, Ravenscroft says, but he stresses that the idea is still in a start-up phase: “It’s a long, slow process. People don’t buy this overnight,” he admits. “They’ll buy it the next time they buy a flat that needs renovating to make it more efficient.”

Setting realistic growth targets must therefore be tricky, but Ravenscroft believes he only has to tap into a tiny fraction of the overall bathroom market to have a thriving business: “People buy 34 million pans a year across Europe and the US,” he says. “We only need to target 0.01% of that. If we get to 1% it would be very exciting. That would be 340,000 units a year which would be extraordinary.”

In truth, Hidealoo can’t really claim to save space because the toilet pan needs to be in 2 positions – either retracted or deployed. But Ravenscroft argues that all that dead air above the toilet pan can be used for something else. “So you try to make every space earn its keep in different ways,” he explains. “It won’t suit everyone’s living style but it suited mine in London when I didn’t have any money.”

Since those early days, Ravenscroft has gone on to build his own design agency, Meia, with a staff of 10. The company has offices in London, Oxford and Southampton, where the product is manufactured.

“Much as I enjoy my side work with millionaires and billionaires, designing James Bond-style things, the Hidealoo is a chance to have an impact on people in a significant way,” Ravenscroft concludes. “We can eventually save them money and help them use space in a much more efficient manner. I want to do something that makes a difference to people’s lives.”