News & Blog

Green Deal launches for real on 28th January next year, when the first consumer finance plans can go live, to kick-start the mammoth task of making 25 million existing homes more energy efficient by 2050. I have concerns, that, unless consumers know about the Green Deal and what itﾒs trying to do, then take-up could be much slower than anticipated. Itﾒs classic marketing, if people donﾒt know about something how can they buy it?

Speed was of the essence. The first phase of the Silk Meadows development included 11 homes set along a newly constructed street. The street snaked through this Crest Nicholson development of two, three and four bedroom houses on the outskirts of Taunton. The urgency was because this phase of the 67-home development contained the three show homes needed to market the development.

Leading aircrete manufacturer H + H has supplied Celcon Blocks to its local Parish Council in Borough Green for a community hall rebuild, after it was destroyed in an arson attack.

The checklist for a new build is growing. Under the weight of increasingly stringent regulations, the industry is conducting scrupulous assessments of every material used, every measurement taken, every decision made. And yet no-one seems to require a minimum lifespan for a building.

The H+H Thin-Joint system is a modern method of construction that offers a whole range of benefits including simplicity of installation and design flexibility. As Owen Ongley puts it: "Thin-joint can really increase the quality of the build, especially for airtightness, if you have the right guys on it who know what theyﾒre doing."

"We've used H+H aircrete blocks and Thin Joint system for the last 10 years,  sticking with it because it's such a good system for speed and ease of construction with minimal waste", says Steve Williams, a director of housebuilder Williams Homes.

In my previous post I explored selling versus order taking and the different behaviours and skills that branch based merchant salespeople may need to have, or develop.

H+H?s Thin Joint system has been used in a fabric-first approach to the design and construction of a low energy apartment block on a constrained site in Brighton.

Good salespeople do more than simply ﾑsellﾒ. Someone who listens to what a customer wants and then advises them on the best product solution is far more effective.

H+H's Ra Build method of aircrete construction has recently been specified for the 2000th time at a Linden Homes development in Northfields, Colchester, demonstrating the popularity of the system. Originally the build method was to be timber frame, however, the specification changed to aircrete due to the cost saving available.

H+H's Celcon Plus Blocks using Thin Joint Celfix Mortar were specified for their impressive thermal properties on both the separating and internal walls for Ty Llidiard - Litchard House, the new Child & Adolescent mental health unit at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Brigend, Wales, built by BAM Construction for Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board.

A new acoustic Robust Detail,  E-WM-23, is now available for registration which delivers very significant benefits for both existing and potential  users of both H+H?s Celcon Blocks and Thin Joint system.  Robust Detail E-WM-23 is a high performance cavity separating wall construction that will allow developers and clients to simplify the procurement and build process whilst addressing challenges posed by the Code for Sustainable Homes, together with Part L - Thermal Regulation and Part E - Acoustic Regulation.

The issue of linear thermal bridging is hugely significant.  As U-values get even lower heat loss from junctions can now account for as much as 40% of the heat lost through the fabric.

This concept of consequential improvements seems to me to be fundamentally sound, but now is just the wrong time to try and introduce it.

Statistics from the NHBC, which guarantees approximately 80% of all new homes, indicate in England last year, an average of 12.25% of its homes were built using timber frame. It follows that nearly 90% were built with other means, including masonry, and aircrete in particular.

In a bid to ensure that the universal characteristics of aircrete are fully and impartially explained, the Aircrete Products Association has just launched a new website at www.aircrete.co.uk.

In 2009 H+H joined the repatriation initiative, one of the first manufacturers to do so. Since then the number of pallets collected has increased dramatically:

April saw the official announcement of a ﾓdouble dipﾔ recession, and the DCLG tells us that housing starts in England in the first quarter were 15% down on last year.  So why are the housebuilders sounding so cheerful and what do their pronouncements mean for the materials producers and sellers?

The recent upheaval surrounding the Governmentﾒs Feed in Tariff for small scale renewable energy generation has added uncertainty into this marketplace. Is it now as appealing for housing associations to install potentially expensive technology, such as solar PV, on new builds, as it was just one year ago? Perhaps not, and testament to this are the number of micro generation schemes either shelved or put up for review recently by HAﾒs.

H+H joined forces with, Stewart Milne, Crest Nicholson and Barratt Developments and the BRE to complete 17 cost-effective low carbon homes in England and Scotland for the AIMC4* development  scheme. This project has been made possible by a ?3.2million investment by the Technology Strategy Board, which has also been matched by the AIMC4 Consortium.

It was originally billed as ﾓconsequential improvementsﾔ, part of the consultation document on revisions to Part L.  Then someone labelled it The Conservatory Tax, discussed it with the national media and suddenly itﾒs a very public embarrassment for the Government, with the Prime Minister hastily distancing himself from the whole idea.

Sustainable businesses will have the opportunity to provide information and data that will shape how the Green Construction Board (GCB) will deliver its plans for a low carbon built environment.

H+H?s Standard Grade 440 x 215 x 100mm and 140mm thick 3.6N aircrete blocks have been installed at the Newbury Parkway Shopping Centre, providing a robust shell in a mix of solid, single skin and cavity walls. Situated in Berkshire and designed by BDP architects, the retail park forms part of a new town centre for the local community. H+H blocks were used due to aircrete?s inherent qualities as a material.

With the announcement in March of the New Buy initiative, the Government clearly signalled some active support for the housebuilding sector.   Personally, I think New Buy is an excellent initiative (and one I have been advocating for the last three years) as it targets resources precisely where they are needed ﾖ at the new housing market.  Let us not forget that the home building supply chain is a significant contributor to the UK economy ﾖ we estimate that each additional house start per annum generates 2.4 jobs.

The number of new houses completed in recent years has been, and remains, lamentable.  With a steadily rising population and huge pressure on existing housing there is no lack of demand, the key to reigniting the housing sector is finding how to release this demand.

H+H was once of the first manufacturers to join the pallet repatriation initiative, launched at Ecobuild 2011.  We have just received the analysis of numbers and are delighted to see that the number of pallets recovered during 2011 was over 400% up on 2010.

The current government is driving a huge expansion of green technology and environmental initiatives in the construction sector.  Politically it cannot fail to achieve results and the Green Construction Board is one of the mechanisms by which it proposes to both encourage progress and monitor developments.The Board itself consists of thirteen industry representatives supported by nine government appointees.  The idea is for practitioners to interpret the government objectives and suggest ways that they can be met profitably by the building industry.

321 building industry professionals completed our online poll investigating the reasons for specification choices in the design of internal partition walls.   Respondents represented a good mix of large and small companies, involved in both new build and refurbishment projects.

The priority of economic policy in the UK for decades has been a focus on keeping the inflation rate under control.   The most recent inflation figures (February 2012) point to a falling rate, although still well above the Bank of England target of 2%.

There are a number of industry experts suggesting what growth (or otherwise) can be predicted in the housebuilding sector for 2012.

There is a surprisingly broad range of views on the subject, but the consensus seems to be that private housebuilding (in sharp contrast to most other sectors within construction) is set for a better year.

Housebuilder Cawrey Homes specified H+H Celcon Blocks rather than competing products for their new build development of energy efficient homes in Ratby.  All thirty six of these homes meet level four of the Code for Sustainable Homes. Cawrey Homes focused on a ?fabric first? approach, therefore relying upon H+H Celcon Blocks to build as airtight and thermally efficient building envelope as possible.