Housebuilder October 2018

uild methods
Laying the foundations
H+H has installed some of its products at Pine Lodge, a small scheme in
Chester by Archway Homes.
H+H Celcon Foundation Blocks (325mm x 215mm) in Standard Grade and
3.6N strength were used to construct the foundations for the six new homes.
H+H Celcon Standard Grade Blocks (325mm x 215mm) in 300mm thickness
and 3.6N strength were deployed from DPC level up to roof height in each of
the new homes.
Requiring only a single leaf of blocks, a solid aircrete block can be laid onto
a strip of poured concrete to match the thickness of the wall, H+H explains.
“This method also requires no mortar at the perpendicular joints; instead
they can be butted against each other,” it adds.
Archway Homes’ senior site manager Barry Parkyn says he enjoyed working
with the products. “The H+H Celcon Foundation Blocks were really easy to
use: lightweight and well-packed.”
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building material, and outstanding thermal
performance,” continues Lane. “Manufacturing timber
frame homes that are more energy and thermally
efficient is becoming easier which is better for the
environment and ultimately, good for home owners’
pockets. We’re currently working on a large MoD
housing development, awarded by Lovell [part of UK
construction and regeneration group, Morgan Sindall
Group] providing timber frame kits for 450 homes
across two sites, handing over 13 plots per week.
Lovell is working to complete 917 homes by May 2020.
Our speed and efficiency on this project is being hailed
as an exemplar to the housebuilding industry.”
timber
Offsite manufacturing and modular housing may
account for a small percentage of the overall housing
market, but “the bulk of housing uses timber and we
are able to provide solutions for roofs using trusses
and floors with both i-beam and metal-web joists,”
says Ed Kirk, operations director at Donaldson Timber
76 housebuilder october 2018
Engineering. “We also have a dedicated glulam
department. Glulam is popular and versatile, being
used for some highly innovative apartment buildings.
Our team has the experience to manage the design and
supply of straightforward or complicated structures.”
prefabrication
Keystone, with its Smartroof offering, is also developing
and manufacturing prefabricated products that help
housebuilders free up skilled trades onsite to speed up
the build programme. “Smartroof is a factory fabricated
room in roof system and can be installed in one day.
It can help housebuilders overcome the issues of skills
shortages by reducing the need for specialist trades
onsite and facilitates faster build programmes as well as
offering improved quality of product and cost savings,”
says Adrian Forbes, group sales director at Keystone
Group. “New offsite options are delivering welcome
advantages for both the designer and the client.
“A good example of a labour intensive task for a
Imperial building
In the handmade bricks camp is Jason Hughes, md of Imperial Bricks.
Demand for handmade bricks has increased “over the past couple of
years”, he says. “The UK needs a mix of different builds to meet the need
for new housing. For niche and high-end developments and new-builds
in conservation areas handmade bricks are increasingly being specified.
Brick-matching is increasingly important, as pressure to build new homes is
leading to development on unusual sites. This means that new houses need
to blend in with their surroundings. Onsite tinting or weathering can also
achieve the right result.”
Some suppliers are unable to meet the demand for handmade bricks –
perhaps reflecting issues in the wider brick industry, Hughes claims. “We’ve
introduced several new bricks including a new Waterstruck range in metric
sizing, which measures up exactly with modern bricks and lintels.”
Handmade bricks are also requested as brick slips, an effective, economical
way of adding an authentic looking finish to block or timber construction,
Hughes says. “We’ve made all of our range available as brick slips.”
“New offsite options
are delivering welcome
advantages for both the
designer and the client”
Adrian Forbes, group sales director,
Keystone Group
skilled joiner on site, requiring multiple trades to
construct, would be [creating] a dormer. Compare
that process to a factory built dormer which benefits
from economies of scale and enhanced quality as it
is managed at every stage of production. The process
to insulate the dormer in a factory environment
for example is likely to result in a far superior finish
without the voids or gaps in insulation which often
occur on site, resulting in cold bridging issues.”
Closing the gap between designed and built
performance should feature heavily within the R&D
team of every building material producer, Forbes
counsels. “Ease of installation combined with quality
detailing is vital as the labour market tightens and
skills shortages mount. Our job is to innovate for
easier installation, reducing the number of tasks to
be completed onsite while at the same time raising
energy performance levels,” he concludes.
Nick Whittle, joint managing director of Target
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