sustainability
engineering knowledge and finished designs for all the structural timber components in a house design. “Accuracy of design should be further improved as BIM becomes more widely used. Using BIM will reduce the possibilities for error as clashes or omissions will become obvious and be resolved before the site work starts.” The standard of product installation is undeniably as important as the specification of the product itself. Andrew Orriss, head of business development at SIG Insulation, believes the stage has now been reached where manufacturers are developing products that are capable of meeting the highest efficiency performance levels. “However, with government legislation driving efficiency standards up at such a rapid rate, many contractors are finding they haven’t had chance to equip themselves with the requisite skills to correctly install these new, super-efficient products to the standard required.” Neil May raises another important consideration, the need to look ahead past the present idea of practical completion to take into account the building’s use and whether it is going to be healthy. “The whole notion of practical completion should be changed. There needs to be a ‘construction completion’ and then a ‘contract completion’, perhaps two years later. Without this we are setting ourselves up for an in-use performance gap further down the line.” Another crucial fact to be remembered is that the fabric of a building can only do so much. If the eventual owner of a new property does not know how
to, or does not want to, change the way they use energy, for example by turning up the thermostat in winter while leaving windows open, a gap between design and performance will be inescapable, says Orriss. “Housebuilders and those who have direct contact with owners, such as estate agents and property managers, therefore have a role to play in educating households as to the value of energy efficient living. Otherwise, the great things that housebuilders are achieving in designing and building efficient properties can quickly go to waste.”
sh CONTACTS
Cutland Consulting
www.cutlandconsulting.co.uk DuPont
www.tyvek.co.uk Metsä Wood
www.metsawood.co.uk Modern Masonry Alliance
www.modernmasonry.co.uk Natural Building Technologies
www.natural-building.co.uk NHBC Foundation
www.nhbcfoundation.org PRP
www.prparchitects.co.uk SIG 360
www.sig360.co.uk UKTFA
www.uktfa.com Zero Carbon Hub
www.zerocarbonhub.org
Read Roger Hunt’s blog:
www.huntwriter.com or follow him:
www.twitter.com/huntwriter
THIS IMAGE Natural Building Technologies’ (NBT’s) Pavawall system has been used to construct the UK’s first social housing community that is ‘carbon negative’, Sinclair Meadows in South Shields
INSET IMAGES Thin-joint masonry in use, courtesy of Modern Masonry Alliance
44| May 2013 showhouse
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124