England is short of 4m homes

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Housebuilding needs to increase in the UK. It is predicted that a total of 340,000 homes need to be delivered each year in order to tackle spiralling house prices and the critical shortage of affordable homes. This target has constantly been missed – with figures showing that only 184,000 homes were completed in England in 2016/17. This is more than in recent years, but still below the 2007/08 pre-recession peak of 200,000.

A report by Joe Bradbury, Editor

 

Recent figures published by the National Housing Federation (who represents housing associations in England, social landlords to 5 million people) and Crisis (the national charity for homeless people) reveals the true scale of the housing crisis in England.

The groundbreaking research, conducted by Heriot-Watt University, to be published in full this summer, shows that England’s total housing need backlog has reached four million homes. A new housing settlement is needed to address this shortage, providing a home for everyone who currently needs one, including homeless people, private tenants spending huge amounts on rent, children unable to leave the family home, and even couples delaying having children because they are stuck in unsuitable housing.

To both meet this backlog and provide for future demand, the country needs to build 340,000 homes per year until 2031. This is significantly higher than current estimates (including the Government’s target of 300,000 homes annually), which have never before taken into account the true scale of housing need created by both homelessness and high house prices.

However, simply building a total of 340,000 homes each year will not meet this need – they will need to be the right type of homes. 145,000 of these new homes must be affordable homes, compared to previous estimates of the annual affordable housing need of around 78,000. This means that around two-fifths of all new homes built every year must be affordable homes – in 2016/17, only around 23% of the total built were affordable homes.

How do we fix this?

A substantial part of the problem is that housebuilders in possession of large sites often only release a small amount of homes at a time, as building at a slower pace allows them to maximise the value of their assets. As a result local authorities are now looking at reclaiming and managing the construction of new homes. Councils have largely been removed from housebuilding since the conservative government came into power in 1979, where private construction rose, but not by enough to compensate for the fall in public sector building.

So what have local authorities been doing all this time? Council advisers argue that they been exploring ways of getting back into housebuilding after decades of being removed. Both Labour and Liberal Democrats have historically argued in support of the state to once again commission and build new homes. Nevertheless, conservatives insist on austerity and warn that they need to be cautious about the state getting involved in housebuilding – stating that the country must live within its means.

It is clear that if the state reclaims house building then cost effective methods of building will have to be utilised. Offsite construction provides the solution. Through the use of offsite construction, the government will be able to deliver houses at a lower cost and a rapid pace. Offsite construction has been around for decades; however, it is only now that its benefits are truly being recognised. It has been stated that a main factor holding up housebuilding in the short term, is a lack of materials. The surge in demand in late 2013 and early 2014 led to a decrease in availability of traditional materials such as bricks. This paved the way for prefabricated materials like timber and steel to be used in housebuilding.

There is an urgent need for a mass volume of houses to be constructed in a limited time scale and whether the state takes on housebuilding, or if it is left to private house builders, the benefits of offsite construction could be crucial to meeting targets that have repeatedly been missed. Offsite construction provides housebuilders with programme certainty and quality though simplification of site operations and reduced weather dependencies due to the controlled factory-based assembly process. Houses delivered through offsite construction offer enhanced specification standards and build quality which reduces occupancy costs related to energy use, defects and repairs. There is significant evidence that suggests that the use of offsite construction has been successful when applied to meet the needs of significant housing developments at scale with consequential opportunities for standardisation of design details – particularly to meet the need of government led programmes.

Reducing waste

According to ‘The Waste and Resources Action Programme’, offsite construction can generate up to 90% less waste than traditional onsite building methods. This is largely because a factory is a much more controlled environment than a traditional building site – with far fewer variables.

Offsite construction is far less energy intensive than traditional housebuilding methods. The carbon footprint left by the many construction vehicles and machinery on the site of a traditional construction project alone is considerably larger than that of modular construction. Put simply, fewer vehicles involved and less time spent on site results in less greenhouse gases being released into our environment.

In summary

The positive effects of offsite construction on the housebuilding industry cannot be overstated, and with the UK Environment Agency and other government bodies putting increasing pressure on construction companies to reduce pollution and conform to environmental regulations, it is clear to see that change is imminent – embrace the future, build homes offsite.

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We need to modernise our tired commercial buildings

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by Joe Bradbury, Editor

 

The built environment is filled with ageing commercial buildings. They serve as a platform for most of the country’s major industries and provide the general public with areas in which to work, shop, socialise and relax. Needless to say, commercial buildings play a crucial role in 21st century Britain. However, despite investment in this booming sector being ever on the rise, commercial buildings are amongst some of the poorest performing buildings in terms of energy efficiency. Buildingspecifier’s Joe Bradbury discusses the importance of retrofitting these buildings to ensure minimum impact and maximum return.

 

According to the Committee on Climate Change, the commercial sector is accountable for approximately 26% of all greenhouse gas emissions from buildings in the UK. The world’s population is currently consuming the equivalent of 1.6 planets resources a year. The Global Footprint Network estimates that if we continue to consume at current rates we’ll blow the global carbon budget and lock in more than 2C of global warming in approximately 17 years.

 

As a result of this, the EU is currently reviewing its EU 2030 energy efficiency targets, with buildings in general highlighted as having great potential to reduce global emissions if efforts are made to make them more energy efficient.

 

Making ageing buildings fit for the future

 

There are so many things that commercial building owners and specifiers can do to become a little more eco-friendly, but in broad terms there is a 3-step process that should be followed in order to do so:

 

  1. significant investment in skills and capacity to enhance building management and deliver energy efficient refurbishment
  2. installation of low carbon generation capacity
  3. the design, manufacturing and fabrication of energy efficiency products and services

 

Heating and lighting are two areas in particular where changes need to be made. Let’s look at those two areas in a little more detail:

 

Let’s talk light…

 

A cityscape at night is aesthetically a beautiful thing to behold; anybody who has seen the glowing lights of Vegas in the vast blackness of desert night, or London skyline reflecting on the surface of the Thames, will concur. Unfortunately, it is also an incredibly inefficient and irresponsible use of energy and a waste of precious resources. Overnight lighting is just one of many bad habits held by the commercial sector today. It is also one of the easiest to fix.

 

In 2013, France made it a legal requirement for shops and offices throughout the country to turn off their lights overnight in a bid to fight light pollution. This is expected to save 250,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum – roughly enough energy to power 750,000 French households for a year, according to the French Environment Ministry. So, if you want to reduce the carbon footprint of your building, put that light out!

 

Another easy but effective change that can be implemented immediately is to upgrade to LED lighting. It requires very little upfront investment, and delivers immediate returns.

 

Typically the energy savings made from switching from a conventional source to LED is 50-60%. They also require changing much less frequently, meaning that savings will also be made in terms of maintenance. This benefit is two-fold, affording the maintenance team the time to be more proactive in energy initiatives rather than changing lamps.

 

A recent California Energy Commission study also estimates that savings will be two times higher by the year 2020 by switching to LED than they are at present, when the technology becomes even more efficient.

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Hot and cold

 

The costs of heating and cooling a building are always on the rise. Often, addressing energy efficiency without a multi-system approach can be futile, with no tangible savings being made. Again, as with lighting, it is largely a behavioural change that will most benefit the commercial building sector in meeting efficiency targets going forward. For instance, a mere broadening of the range of temperatures inside your building, scheduling heating and lighting to vary according to peak occupancy times, can make drastic reductions to carbon footprint and energy bills.

 

Buildings are accountable for over 30% of final energy consumption in the world. 15% of this energy is used in the heating and cooling of interior spaces. Therefore it is imperative that you look at your heating and cooling systems if you want to make improvements.

 

Currently, the heating of buildings is largely based on fossil fuel burning technologies and cooling is dominated by incredibly carbon-intensive electrical systems. Studies suggest that by implementing low or zero-carbon heating and cooling methods in buildings – such as solar thermal, heat pumps, combined heat and power (CHP), and thermal energy storage – we have the potential to lower CO2 emissions by approximately 2 gigatonnes and save 710 million tonnes oil equivalent of energy over the next 34 years.

 

For many existing buildings, a change in the heating a cooling system and the building envelope accordingly can prove to be high in initial outlay and very disruptive. Some retrofits need a complete overhaul of their existing heating and cooling systems, insulation, windows etc. Sadly, the higher initial costs involved and the subsequent longer wait for financial return results in many buildings choosing to plod on using existing inefficient heating systems. This often hampers other energy efficiency efforts that have been made, making the strive for energy efficiency an earnest but ineffective endeavour.

 

Although it can be expensive, do not overlook the multitude of sustainable heating and cooling options on the market today. It is only through a multifaceted approach that the commercial building sector can truly make a tangible impact on its carbon footprint.

 

To summarise

An efficient building is a productive building. By being considerate in how we generate and use energy, we can help reverse manmade climate change whilst simultaneously receiving a series of lucrative fringe benefits as an industry. We can also set an example for future generations to follow – ensuring that professionals within the built environment always have a healthy, vibrant environment in which to build for many years to come.

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The future of retrofitting is offsite

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When people think of offsite construction they often think of new-build. However, offsite technology can also be utilised within the refurbishment of an existing building, bringing with it all of the benefits (such as faster delivery times and less on-site disruption) that has become synonymous with the practice. Joe Bradbury of Building Specifier investigates.

 

The industry today

 

The UK construction industry is worth nearly £100 billion to the UK economy each year. But tighter restrictions, increasing build costs and a lack of skilled labour are threatening the sector’s future growth.

 

But where there are challenges, opportunities can also be found, and the sector has seen several innovative solutions come to the fore in recent years. This is particularly true when it comes to prefabrication and offsite construction products that can be retrofitted into existing buildings in dire need of updating.

 

Offsite solutions are being deployed across a wide range of new and refurbishment projects, from hotels and leisure to education and research facilities. And with the backing of the Government, their usage is only set to increase further.

 

But why are offsite solutions becoming more popular, and why is the Government keen to back them? In short, they deliver quality at scale, and help projects of all sizes complete on time and to budget. Currently the demand being placed on the construction industry continues to rise, but the number of projects completing on time and to budget continues to fall. This is not just due to tighter regulations and labour shortages, but other factors like the weather and delays in the supply of materials.

 

Factor in housing shortages, an aging population, an increase in speciality housing needs, a lack of suitable student accommodation and an uptick in the number of build to let homes, and it’s clear to see why prefabricated solutions are being more widely used.

 

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Why offsite?

 

Offsite solutions are becoming more popular as they can be designed, manufactured and pre-assembled offsite, and then simply dropped into place for ease and speed in new build projects but still provide the high quality expected. Specialist manufacturers design and build tailored products, to perfectly meet client specifications and these are simply delivered whole ready for installation and fitments or re-assembled onsite quickly and easily for the purposes of refurbishment. Installation does not require skilled labour, significantly reducing time and costs.

 

Take bathrooms and showers as an example; these can be the most complex part of a refurbishment project due to the need for wet trades and a range of skilled labour, from designers to plumbers, electricians and tilers. Examples such as pre-fab pod solutions however, can be completely bespoke and designed to fit into any space – whether a Grade II listed manor house, an office block, a refurbishment or a new-build.

 

Sectional pods are ideal for limited spaces, and bespoke designs can be completed from concept to delivery much quicker than manual builds, where a whole host of factors can slow down the build, from the late delivery of materials to several contractors having to work together, in confined spaces and reliant on other trades’ staged completions.

 

Greater control

 

In terms of the construction process, modular building and offsite construction techniques provide specifiers with programme certainty and quality though simplification of site operations, whilst also reducing weather dependencies due to the controlled factory-based assembly process. The ancillary benefit of this is that buildings retrofitted with offsite technologies offer enhanced specification standards and build-quality which reduces occupancy costs related to energy use, defects and repairs.

 

Constructed offsite, under controlled plant conditions, using the same materials and designing to the same codes and standards as conventionally built facilities, projects can be completed in about half the time. The finished modules are transported and put together on site.

 

As a nation we need affordable, well designed and energy efficient buildings to meet a bustling demand and tackle issues such as fuel poverty and climate change. Sustainable building methods and renewable energy are pivotal in delivering a sustainable solution and can be retrofitted into any building, if we put our minds to it.

 

It makes environmental sense

 

Specifiers are now rightly expected to make buildings sustainable and energy efficient as part of the greater effort to reduce CO2 emissions, energy consumption and waste as a nation. As such, environmental considerations will naturally transform how our buildings are constructed and subsequently refurbished, what materials are used and which methods are employed.

 

Offsite construction is far less energy intensive than traditional construction methods. The carbon footprint left by the many construction vehicles and machinery on the site of a traditional construction project alone is considerably larger than that of modular construction. Put simply, fewer vehicles involved and less time spent on site results in less greenhouse gases being released into our environment.

 

The transition to a low-carbon economy presents our industry with great opportunities for growth. Environmental considerations will transform how our buildings are constructed, what materials are used and the methods employed. We are now on the cusp of the predicted ‘sea-change’ and that the time is right for the construction industry to embrace innovative offsite techniques to develop better buildings at a rapid rate to enhance lives, minimise the environmental impact and reduce energy costs for occupants for many years to come.

 

Government backed

 

The Government have been very vocal about offsite in recent years, championing the benefits it offers. They have repeatedly stated that they will support ‘building long term collaborations’ with the industry, ‘exploiting digital technologies such as the adoption of offsite construction techniques’.

 

In addition, they would ‘adopt a presumption in favour of offsite construction by 2019 across suitable capital programmes’. This stands as further evidence of the rising popularity of offsite modular construction.

 

As more and more projects are completed, construction management will recognise that modular design can be commercially viable alternative to traditional builds.

 

Sleek designs and high specifications mean they can be used from high-end projects such as hotels, right down to student accommodation, and still deliver a solid ROI.

 

In fact, the high specification, unrivalled quality, offsite checks and lower maintenance can extend the longevity of the bathroom environment way beyond those offered by traditional refurbishment practices which often require on-going maintenance.

 

In summary

 

The construction industry as a whole (including the refurbishment and retrofit sector) has a job on its hands. Take housing as just one example; if the construction industry stands any chance of delivering 1 million new homes by 2020 and do something real about the 11,000+ homes across the UK that have been empty for 10 years or more, it can only do so by evolving to keep up with a changing world. Despite all of the noise, offsite construction accounts for less than 10% of total construction output at present. This is frustrating, but it also means there is still tremendous scope for further expansion across the various sectors that comprise construction. Let’s do our part too and embrace offsite.

 

Joe Bradbury, Editor

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Retrofitting empty homes can save lives

Due to the shortage of affordable homes, the government has stated that we need to build around 250,000 additional houses each year to meet increasing demand. However, with the latest data suggesting that there are over 200,000 homes which have been empty for over six months in Britain, do we really need such a bold and ambitious target? Or could we instead integrate the number of new homes needed into a plan that includes refurbishment of empty properties to make housing the population an achievable goal? Joe Bradbury of Building Specifier discusses:

 

A property becomes ‘long term’ empty when it’s been unoccupied for 6 months or more. In London alone, for example, there approximately 20,000 homes sitting idle for over six months in – that is almost £12.4 billion worth of empty property, in a city facing an extreme housing shortage.

Shocking research by the Liberal Democrats recently found that more than 11,000 homes across the UK have been empty for 10 years or more. The figures, from 276 local councils, show there are more than 216,000 homes across Britain that have been empty for six months or more.

Why retrofit?

‘Retrofitting’ refers to the refurbishment of domestic and non-domestic buildings to reduce energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions. It refers to projects that make major changes across the entire building to significantly reduce energy usage that require design by specialists.

Work on empty homes can achieve positive outcomes with regards to:

 

  • Housing Supply
  • Community Regeneration/Town Centre Renewal
  • Sustaining Rural Communities
  • Restoring Confidence in local property markets
  • Discouraging Anti-Social Behaviour (due to fire/vandalism/fly tipping of empty properties)
  • Climate Change and Sustainability

 

The Empty Homes Agency in England has estimated that the cost of refurbishing an empty home is between £6,000 – £25,000. In comparison, the average cost of a new build home in the UK is in excess of £100,000. And of course when you are bringing an empty home back into use the infrastructure and local services will already be in place.

The good, the bad and the ugly

 

As afore mentioned there are roughly 20,000 homes that have been sitting idle in the capital for over six months – that is almost £12.4 billion worth of empty property. This is simply not acceptable in a city facing an extreme housing shortage. Thankfully, this figure does appear to be reducing year on year, so it’s clear that we are going in the right direction. Manchester has seen the number of empty homes plummet by more than 84%, from 10,059 long-term vacant dwellings in 2005 to 1,599 ten years later.

However, at the other end of the spectrum, Bradford, which has the worst problem outside London, has seen a rise of 7% in the past decade (total of 4,154 empty homes) with an estimated value of more than £400 million worth of property sitting empty.

West Yorkshire, which includes Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield, has the highest number (12,292) of long-term empty properties of all the English metropolitan districts – an estimated £1.4 billion worth of potential homes that could be occupied.

Ending the housing shortage

 

Collins Dictionary defines a housing shortage as “a deficiency or lack in the number of houses needed to accommodate the population of an area.” It’s easy to see then why we feel like there is a housing shortage; in 2014, there were 1.9m families on Council Housing waiting lists in England and Scotland alone. While there is clearly a need to build new homes, ignoring the potential in the empty or tired properties within our stock is a costly and damaging mistake. Building new homes occupies more land and is so expensive in terms of material costs.

So, when attempting to meet the target of delivering 250,000 new homes by 2020 as outlined by the government, a holistic solution is needed – one that also integrates the refurbishment and redistribution of empty properties into the market in order to shorten waiting lists, decrease pressure on local authorities and ultimately give the people of Britain a place they can call home.

Alleviating fuel poverty

 

UK homes are some of the most expensive to heat in Europe because of poor maintenance and insulation. The UK has the highest levels of fuel poverty of a dozen comparable EU nations, as well as one of the worst proportions of homes in a poor state of repair.

ONS figures show that over the winter of 2016-17 there were 31,800 excess winter deaths among the over 65s from cold-related illness such as heart attacks and strokes (compared to 20,800 the previous year). One third of all the excess winter deaths reported were caused by respiratory diseases. Whilst it’s true that not all winter deaths are due to fuel poverty, over 10m British families live in a home with a leaking roof, damp walls or rotting windows. The links between cardiovascular diseases and cold, damp homes cannot be ignored.

It is a national disgrace that thousands of people are dying unnecessarily every year – lives that could be saved if a little TLC was applied to their property.

In summary

 

Houses will inevitably become empty over time. The families within them may outgrow them or move on when the house is no longer suited to their needs. It is important that when this happens, the reason for the move is addressed. If it is because of inadequacies within the property itself, then these issues must be rectified immediately in order to minimise the time the property lies dormant – because an empty property is dead expense for housing associations and another nail in the coffin of achieving the housing target.

It may be an overly simplistic view, but I am of the opinion that a house should never be empty in a society where people do not have a place to call home. Homelessness has reached its highest peak and waiting lists for social housing are growing. We need to recognise the full potential that refurbishment and retrofit has to offer quickly if we are to tackle the housing crisis effectively. Let’s give it a greater focus.

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You find the funniest things on construction sites!

43 fossilised dinosaur eggs were recently discovered by construction workers during roadworks in Heyuan city in China. What else lies undiscovered just beneath your steel toecap boots? Joe Bradbury of buildingspecifier explores:

Heyuan is affectionately called “the hometown of the dinosaur” by locals. So far over 13,000 fossilised eggs have been discovered in the area over the last 20 years. The first eggs to be discovered were found on a construction site in 1995 when two young boys were playing and discovered what they first thought were peculiar rocks. Another discovery was made the following year on a river bank in 1996. Since then there has been discovery after discovery.

The high volume of Dinosaur fossils, skeletons and footprints makes Heyuan a Mecca for palaeontologists and has resulted in the city being entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for having the largest collection of dinosaur eggs in the world.

City officials have since spent millions on constructing a dinosaur theme park and museum in a bid to cash in on their archaeological findings, however it appears efforts have been in vain as it has thus far failed to draw in any significant number of tourists.

The one review on Trip Advisor for the museum says “It is a small museum. It took us not more than 30 minutes to finish viewing.”

In conversations with the Chinese news, local archaeologist Du Yanli stated that 19 of the 43 eggs that were found are still intact, and some of them quite sizeable. The largest had a diameter of 13cm.

Most of the fossils, eggs and bones found in the city so far date from the late Cretaceous period, 89-65 million years ago.

The eggs have been given to the Chinese Academy of Sciences who will now attempt to reveal the species of dinosaur that laid the fossilised eggs.

This isn’t the first weird or wonderful thing that has been uncovered on a construction site. With large excavations commonplace in the building industry, we are often the first to find things. Here are our top 3 British discoveries:

 

  1. Mass grave of headless Vikings

 

During Road construction in Dorset in 2009, 51 headless skeletons were found in a mass grave. The skeletons were found entwined together in the pit, and are believed to be Vikings killed between A.D. 890 and 1034 and buried naked.

 

  1. Unexploded 1,000lb WW2 bomb found on construction site near the Shard

 

Demolition experts Matthews Group discovered an unexploded 1,000lb World War Two bomb on a south London building site located close to the Shard last month. Bomb disposal experts successfully disarmed the bomb and transported it to Kent, where it was destroyed.

 

 

  1. 3,000 pre-medieval skeletons and Roman suburbs in London

 

The large scale construction of Crossrail through the very heart of London is consequently resulting in one of the biggest archaeological programmes ever undertaken in Britain. Crossrail operates over 40 construction sites; one of which Crossrail is in Liverpool Street. Archaeologists recently unearthed up to 3,000 skeletons from the Post-Medieval Bedlam burial ground and parts of the Roman suburbs found as a direct result of the works.

 

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What do you know about Japanese knotweed?

It has halted developments across the country, caused untold damage to existing housing stock and rendered some properties completely unsellable. How much do you know about Japanese knotweed? As the sun coaxes this nuisance from the ground, Joe Bradbury of buildingspecifier.com investigates:

What is it?

Japanese knotweed is a non-native outdoor plant which grows at an alarming rate of up to 10cm per day. It proliferates in any type of soil and spreads incredibly easily, often leaving extensive damage in its wake.

By aggressively spreading its roots underground (up to 10 feet deep and 23 feet horizontally), it creates a serious threat to foundations of buildings and waste water management solutions.

If left untouched for a long period of time, the species can become very expensive to remove. It is estimated that total annual costs of Japanese knotweed damage, control and removal to the British economy £166 million. Defra’s Review of Non-native Species Policy states that a national eradication programme would be prohibitively expensive at £1.56 billion.

Needless to say, it is listed by the World Conservation Union as one of the world’s worst invasive species and also classed as “controlled waste” in Britain under part 2 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This means that all traces of knotweed need to be disposed of at licensed landfill sites only.

What does it look like?

Could you identify Japanese knotweed if you found it on your property? Because a study undertaken by online garden shop GardeningExpress.co.uk found that only 44% of customers were actually able to identify the invasive plant, and 56% identified the weed as a plant they would actually welcome in their gardens.
Here are some of the easiest ways of identifying knotweed by sight:

  • The plant is a lush green colour
  • Its leaves are shovel shaped
  • The stem looks similar to that of the bamboo plant
  • Between September and October it produces white flowers
  • It grows at an accelerated pace

What to do if you find Japanese knotweed

If you think that you have Japanese knotweed on your land you need to do something about it as soon as possible, to prevent further risk to your property and those close by.

The first thing you need to do is to alert a professional. DO NOT attempt to remove it from the ground yourself; this will merely serve to disperse its stem fragments and cause it to spread even further.

There are three main methods of getting rid of the weed. These can be split into three areas:

Non-chemical control

It is possible (but not always feasible) to dig out Japanese knotweed, but due to the depth of the roots, regrowth often reoccurs regardless. This method also creates problems with disposal, due to the waste needing to be disposed of at a licensed landfill site only. Alternatively, it can be destroyed on site by burning the waste, but only after it has competently dried out.

Biological control

A plant sucker (psyllid) is being released in the UK as a biological control for Japanese knotweed. It is currently only being released at a handful of trial sites and is not available to gardeners. However, if successful it will be released more widely and will become widespread in Britain over the next five to ten years by natural spread.

Chemical control

Perhaps the most effective treatment method is to use special weed killers to keep the plant at bay. Often it takes a lot longer this way (up to three seasons),but can produce great results in the long run. Injecting glyphosate herbicide into the stems of the plant can kill the plant completely with no impact on the surrounding vegetation, landscape or wildlife.

In summary

Japanese knotweed is a major issue for British builders. It is in everybody’s interest to be vigilant towards this invasive plant and prioritise the control and removal of it from our properties altogether – particularly those with surrounding parkland and riverbanks from where the infestations usually originate and spread from in the first place.

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How can the construction industry reduce its plastic usage?

To celebrate ‘Plastic Free July’, Insulation Express has uncovered five ways on buildingspecifier.com that the construction industry can lessen its plastic consumption on a day-to-day basis:

Every year the UK uses over 5 million tonnes of plastic – that’s about 15 times as heavy as the Empire State Building. But did you know the construction industry accounts for a quarter (23%) of the plastic consumed in the UK? The construction industry is still heavily reliant on plastic, for its cheapness, durability and water-resistance making it the second largest consumer of plastic in the UK.

However, what makes plastic so useful for construction is also part of its demise. The resilience of plastic means it can take up to 1000 years to decompose, while it degrades it contaminates our soils and oceans with the release of fossil fuels and greenhouse gases. So, how can the industry lessen its plastic footprint?

The most common sources of plastic waste in construction

When plastic is used in a permanent form, it can be vital as a building material. However, when the material is single-use plastic, this becomes a bigger problem, that’s wasteful and can be easily avoided. These are the most common sources of plastic waste in construction:

  • Plastic packaging (which accounts for 25% of packaging waste in construction).
  • Unused materials from over ordering and off-cuts.
  • Improper storage and handling.
  • Over-specified project design.
  • Workforce food packaging and utensils.

Annually, 50,000 tonnes of plastic packaging waste is produced by the UK’s construction industry

It’s believed the construction industry has an effective management of plastic waste, but the picture is not as transparent. The British construction industry generates 50,000 tonnes of plastic packaging waste per year – that’s four times the weight of The Brooklyn Bridge. Much of that plastic waste is incinerated, adding toxic fumes to the air we breathe. Other large amounts of plastic are placed in mixed waste skips which is impossible to recycle, because they can’t be identified, or they are contaminated with other materials. This has helped to contribute to 5 trillion micro-plastic particles floating in oceans, which we then consume through water or from fish.

40% of plastic waste from construction in the UK is sent to landfill

It’s estimated that large quantities of plastic leave construction sites in mixed waste skips – sending 40% (20,000 tonnes) of plastic to landfill, a weight that is twice as heavy as The Eiffel Tower.

On the other end of the scale, Germany recovers and recycles a huge proportion of the plastic waste created in construction. In total, Germany generates 201.8 million tonnes of waste in construction and demolition, but around 90% of that is recycled, and around 80% of the plastic waste is recycled.

plastic

How construction can reduce plastic packaging waste in construction

Research reveals that a huge third of single-use packaging leaving sites is single-use packaging. Shockingly, only 2-4% of this is recycled. The rest is diverted to landfill, fly-tipped, or burnt. It is clear that the amount of plastic being sent to landfill is not sustainable for either the environment or construction.

Most of the industry realises something needs to change, with 95% of construction professionals admitting that the industry needs to reduce plastic use. But, how can this be achieved?

  • A huge proportion of packaging thrown away can often be reused. You can talk with your supplier to see if they can reduce the packaging, or if they’re able to take back the packaging to recycle.
  • It may be more beneficial to order in bulk or larger packs, as this will cut the volume of packaging per item.
  • You could use reusable plastic boxes to place and protect materials in. These boxes can then be returned to the supplier.
  • Use large sheets of plastic sheeting that arrived as wrapping for use on site as weather protection.
  • For the plastic packaging that can’t be recycled, send it to a licensed Waste Management Contractor. They are best placed to decide their destination.

Not only does a reduction in packaging waste help the environment, it can also help your business too – financially. One contractor, Risby Homes, saved £13,000 on a 25-home development project, simply by reducing, reusing and recycling their plastic waste.

Construction companies can make simple changes that save money by reducing packaging waste, such as:

  • Cutting costs by reusing packaging where possible.
  • Time spent on handling waste, such as clearing and collecting waste, can be lengthy and pricey. Especially considering this cost can be easily cut by reducing packaging.
  • Slashing the costs of skip hire and transport costs, as well as reducing the ever-increasing fees of landfill sites and tax.

The Innovative Ways Plastic is Being Recycled Across Construction

How can construction reduce and recycle the plastic in construction? Some companies in the industry are even creating decking from recycled plastic, which can save 1000 plastic bottles from landfill in a single metre of decking. That means in just a small sized decking 3,600 plastic bottles could be diverted from landfill.

But it doesn’t just stop there, Insulation Express has discovered the most innovative ways construction are reusing waste materials.

Nappy Roofing – More than half a million tonnes of waste is created in Britain from disposable nappies, and with each one taking around 500 years to decompose this is a concerning problem. But, instead of letting the waste decompose, you could be looking at roofing your house with them. A company have found a way to turn waste nappies into roof tiles, which could save 110,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year.

Plastic Roads – Roads are traditionally made from asphalt which uses stone and gravel to form the infrastructure. However, future roads could be made from used plastic – dubbed plasphalt. Amazingly, as well as a way of recycling plastic, this method of forming pavements is also stronger than asphalt and less expensive.

Plastic Concrete – Researchers from Bath University have found an ingenious way to save sand and reuse plastic waste. The scientists have discovered that 10% of the sand in concrete can be replaced with plastic waste. Concrete requires 30% of sand, which strips our beaches and riverbeds. Just replacing 10% of it can save over 800 million tonnes of sand.

What Does the Future Hold for Plastic in Construction?

Plastic still has a place in construction; it’s durable, waterproof and lasts long. Although plastic is polluting our environment, it doesn’t have to be the enemy. Indeed, there are ways for plastic to be part of the solution, such as recycling plastic into other building materials. In the future we may see a massive take up of alternatives to plastic in construction, some of these are already being developed and trialled. But for the average construction professional, you can reduce plastic use by talking to your supplier, educating your workforce and setting a good example to employees.

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MMC: a solution for modern times

Our industry needs to change. To do this, we must cast a critical eye over our own behaviour and acknowledge our shortcomings; something many feel understandably hesitant to do. The bad news is that the UK construction industry is currently responsible for 45% of total UK carbon emissions, 32% of all landfill waste and is responsible for more water pollution incidents than any other industry. The good news is that we have the knowledge, skills and technology to facilitate real change in the world, when we put our minds to it. Offsite construction is the clearly catalyst. It’s time to stop quietly knowing it and start being proud bastions of our trade… before it is too late. Buildingspecifier.com Editor Joe Bradbury discusses:

Material usage

One of the key factors that will either seal our reputation as innovators or sully it indefinitely is the materials we use and how we choose to use them. With an unprecedented shortage of housing and schools in this country (coupled with a thriving private sector), it is clear to see that despite what construction industry doomsayers print, the UK has a voracious appetite for buildings that isn’t going away any time soon.

The construction industry is the largest consumer of natural resources in the UK today; a stark point that highlights just how high up on the agenda reconsideration of our building practices should be. The impact of our materials usage on the environment in of itself is staggering; a recent report by Willmott Dixon Group suggested that the construction industry alone is accountable for around 45-50% of global energy usage, nearly 50% of worldwide water usage, and around 60% of the total usage of raw materials.

Construction will always eat up a lot of resources by its very nature, but modular construction is taking steps to address this through combining modern building techniques to reduce cost and time with a moral sense of duty to minimise the negative effects on our environment.

The benefits of adopting more considerate ways to use materials are far-reaching. Take FSC-approved timber as just one of many examples; manufacturers who use forest products that are FSC approved can do so with confidence, safe in the knowledge that they are helping to ensure our forests are alive and well for generations to come. But the benefits are also far more immediate and closer to home than that; wood is a natural, renewable material, used often in modular building. It offsets our carbon footprint and offers significant thermal efficiency, keeping energy bills low.

For the four million people in Britain living in fuel poverty today, building more energy efficient homes using modern methods of construction is urgent. Interestingly, if housing targets were met through timber-frame construction alone, new build homes in the UK would serve as carbon ‘banks’, capturing and storing nearly 4 million tonnes of CO2 every year… unfeasible I know, but food for thought!

Reducing waste

According to ‘The Waste and Resources Action Programme’, offsite construction can generate up to 90% less waste than traditional onsite building methods. This is largely because a factory is a much more controlled environment than a traditional building site – with far fewer variables. Within the four walls of a purpose built factory we can continue to learn how best to use (and more importantly, re-use) resources and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill; something which is financially unproductive, unpopular, unsightly and unhealthy for our planet.

Another reason for offsite methods generating less waste is due to the fact that modular construction offers a greater degree of reusability; buildings can often be disassembled and moved to another site entirely if necessary. They can be shifted and repurposed when required. However, should a modular building find itself no longer fit for requirement as it stands, many of its components can be salvaged and re-used in another project, reducing the need for fresh new materials in each new build. This reduction in materials usage protects depleting stock of resources whilst simultaneously lowering waste.

Environmentally conscious

Offsite construction is far less energy intensive than traditional building methods. The carbon footprint left by the many construction vehicles and machinery on the site of a traditional construction project alone is considerably larger than that of modular construction. Put simply, fewer vehicles involved and less time spent on site results in less greenhouse gases being released into our environment.

Construction pollutes our world in more ways than one, and noise pollution has always been a serious problem on building sites throughout the country. There’s no getting away from it, the construction industry has a huge impact on all our lives, with most construction work taking place in sensitive locations. But there are things we can do to soften that impact. If all construction sites and companies presented an image of competent management, innovation, efficiency, awareness of environmental issues and above all neighbourliness, then they would become a positive advertisement, not just for themselves but for our industry as a whole. Due to being built away from the construction site, modern methods of construction such as offsite and modular are a great way to reduce and control noise levels, causing less disruption to the environment and the people around it.

In summary

The positive effects of modular construction on our environment cannot be understated and implementing it into our daily lives as an industry needs to happen fast. Widespread adoption coupled with a continuing focus on eco-friendly materials can only increase those benefits.

In the past, fines for pollution have been relatively low and environmental regulations notoriously slack, and it could have been perceived as cheaper (and easier) to pollute rather than take adequate steps to prevent pollution. Thankfully, this situation is now changing. Legal enforcement of environmental regulations expensive and can irreversibly damage the reputation of a firm. This is something that should be avoided at all costs.

With the UK Environment Agency and other government bodies putting increasing pressure on construction companies to reduce pollution and conform to environmental regulations, it is clear to see that change is imminent – the future is coming and we can either chase it or make it our own. Expect modular construction to take an even larger share of the construction industry, for awareness of its benefits to increase even further over time and stand at the forefront of that change.

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Home or Away? Homebuyers increasingly look overseas

The mortgage market review in the UK has displayed how it is getting increasingly harder to obtain a mortgage in Britain. It seems that many investors are now turning their gaze a little further afield in order to get a little more bang for their buck. Joe Bradbury of Building Specifier investigates:

Research undertaken by GoCompare.com indicates that more than 20% of those attempting to get on the UK housing ladder would consider leaving Britain in order to own a home of their own. Whilst this doesn’t mean that those thinking of an overseas mortgage will actually pursue one, it is a clear indication that there appears to be a shifting attitude within the UK regarding the possibility of owning property abroad.

So is this due to Great Britain becoming a growing generation of nomads, or is there something else going on?

In comparison, Santander mortgages conducted a similar survey of their own. Their compiled data suggested that 1.1 million would consider leaving the UK in pursuit of a place to call home. A further 10% said they would happily move jobs or relocate elsewhere in Great Britain to help them purchase their first house. Sadly, the research also revealed that 7.5 million (49%) of non-homeowners don’t ever expect to own a home. This shows the severity of the issues the UK is currently experiencing with house prices and mortgage availability. Needless to say, with such an attitude becoming increasingly prevalent in the country, it can only be expected that people are looking for new, lucrative directions in which to channel their hard-earned cash.

In the past, the majority of people who chose to buy a home overseas did so using savings they had accumulated over the years, or with equity released from their UK residence. However, with UK house prices currently in disarray and the cost of holidays abroad steadily soaring, many are beginning to consider a home abroad as a permanent solution to both problems. This has led to foreign lenders have becoming more inclined to work with prospective UK buyers, and gradually more and more people are borrowing to finance homes abroad.

Another contributing factor that could potentially be attracting many Brits to consider such a big move is the appealing interest rates around the Eurozone. Foreign lenders are often more inclined to work closely with investors, paying attention to their individual needs. For example, if your intention is to buy a property in a popular holiday location and rent it out, the income you make from renting can be offset against the loan for tax purposes. Also, some countries have extremely high wealth charges but these tend to only be payable on equity. Borrowing rather than buying outright could prove to be more financially beneficial, meaning that investors can avoid this pricey tax.

Although Europe seems to get a lot of attention from prospective emigrants, the research also suggests that people are open to the possibility of looking much, much further afield – outside of the EU. To be specific, 31% showed interest in America, 29% in Australia and 20% in New Zealand. A property in any one of these countries need not be solely a personal home, but could provide a tidy income through letting and would likely appreciate in the long term.

Whatever the reasoning and regardless of how many choose to leave Britain in order to improve their opportunities, both investigations suggest a sea change in the UK property market. It seems homebuyers are increasingly feeling like they are left with two choices, do they ride the tide or risk being left out to dry as the currents shift within the sector.

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Joe Bradbury explores the true potential of wood

As the built environment moves towards becoming eco-friendly, buildingspecifier Editor Joe Bradbury posits the question – are we not seeing the wood for the trees in the quest for a viable green alternative?

The construction industry accounts for almost 7% of the economy in the UK and we hold a 10% share of total employment. However, with great size comes great responsibility and unfortunately – a very big carbon footprint. 47% of greenhouse gas emissions are generated from buildings and 10% of CO2 emissions come from construction materials. Shockingly, 20% of the materials used on the average building site end up in a skip. According to a 2011 report, in 2010 up to 4.3 million tonnes of timber waste was generated.

However, it isn’t all doom and gloom and reckless capitalism, as the construction industry has come on leaps and bounds over the past 20 years or so in a bid to make the industry a cleaner, greener entity. One area where vast improvements have been made is in the recycling and usage of wood in buildings. In 1992, less than 2% of all waste wood was recycled; 10 years later approximately 60% (2.8 million tonnes) of all wood waste generated in the UK was recycled.

The energy industry is also beginning to see the potential of wood for cleaning up its act. Because trees absorb carbon dioxide whilst they grow, burning wood for energy is considered ‘carbon neutral.’ In 2010 around 0.55 million tonnes of wood was used in energy generation. Some coal-fired power stations have had some of their boilers converted to accept wood and they burn more than 100,000 tonnes of recycled woodchip a year.

Remarkably, the future of wood in construction of buildings has reached soaring new heights recently as innovations in engineered timber could spell the beginning of a new era of eco-friendly wooden skyscraper design.

Despite wood in its raw form not being able to compete with the steel-frame design used in skyscrapers globally, a new type of super-plywood has been created that just might give steel a run for its money.

By gluing layers of low-grade softwood together to create timber panels, today’s “engineered timber” resembles Ikea flat-packed furniture rather than traditional sawn lumber and removes the height limits usually imposed on buildings with timber frames. Free from these constraints, ambitious architects are exploring the possibility of a next generation of “plyscrapers.”

Architect Michael Green has drawn up plans for a 30-storey, naturally grown tower for downtown Vancouver, which if built would become the world’s highest wooden building – an accolade currently awarded to London’s Stadthaus at nine storeys and the 10-storey Forte Building in Melbourne.

With China next on the list of countries suspected to implement timber skyscrapers into their cityscapes, it is definitely possible that we could one day be working in a building that began life as a seed.

However, there is still deep mistrust of timber builds en masse, with many considering them a tinderbox responsible for causing ravaging city fires such as the great fire of London, San Francisco and Chicago, to name a few examples.  Whilst historically fires have razed great cities to the ground, today’s engineered timber develops a protective charring layer that maintains structural integrity and burns very predictably. This means that it would actually be more structurally sound than steel, which warps drastically under intense heat.

NASA satellite photos of our planet help biologists calculate the number of trees there are on Earth. Whilst impossible to settle on a specific number, many professors agree that there are roughly 61 trees per person worldwide. It requires 22 trees to produce the amount of oxygen consumed by one person, with an acre of trees producing enough oxygen for 18 people. The forest loss is 49,421 acres per day, equivalent to an area twice the size of Paris – an alarming statistic when you consider the expanding population.

Obviously trees alone aren’t the answer to the construction industry’s environmental issues, however, through responsible usage and with the utmost respect it could help us edge further towards that cleaner, greener future we all need.

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