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EUROFORM’S VERSAREND® SPECIFIED FOR PASSIVHAUS DEVELOPMENT

Euroform’s Versarend® sheathing board has been specified as the base for the render finish for 52 new homes being built to Passivhaus standard at Nailsea near Bristol.

 

‘Elm Grove’ is a North Somerset Council flagship, sustainable homes development of properties with reduced carbon footprints and high standards of energy efficiency.  Stonewood Homes has been appointed to deliver the scheme on council-owned land.  Due for completion by the end of 2025, the first homes are expected to be available for occupation by the end of 2024.  A show home will open early this summer.

Euroform has worked with the architects and with Harbour Façade Systems, the installer of the façade finishes, to specify Versarend®.  In tests Versarend® has proved compatible with leading render systems, including PermaRock®, the render system selected for these Nailsea homes.

Developed as a direct render carrier board for projects where a non-combustible façade is required, Versarend® has A1 Euroclass reaction to fire classification.  It is UKCA marked according to BS EN 12467:2012+A2:2018 ‘fibre cement flat sheets’.

Installing Versarend® does not require the use of power tools, as it can be scored with a utility knife and snapped to size easily, so minimising noise and dust, a benefit for a site where work is taking place close to occupied properties.

Highly moisture tolerant, Versarend® will not rot or degrade.  It is manufactured by combining Ordinary Portland Cement and a reinforcing matrix, meaning it is more workable and easier to handle than traditional fibre cement boards.

Commenting, Phil Bailey, Managing Director of Harbour Façade Systems said,

“It’s been a great experience working with Euroform on this project. When I approached them about using their Versarend product, they were very supportive with technical support for our team to help ensure a quality installation.”

 

Roly Culverhouse, Technical Product Manager at Euroform, said,

“We are delighted Versarend® met the brief for Elm Grove and to be working with Harbour Façade Systems on such an innovative affordable housing development.”

Lee Zeffiretti, Stonewood Homes’ Contracts Manager, added,

“Working with Harbour Façade Systems and Euroform on our Elm Grove development in Nailsea has been an exceptional experience. Their professionalism and quality materials have significantly contributed to the success of the project, ensuring we meet the highest standards and deliver outstanding results.”

With over 5,000m² of Versarend® required, the Euroform product is being delivered to site from SIG plc’s Bristol branch as required.

Elm Grove is being supported by a £557k grant from the Government’s Local Authority Accelerated Construction fund, administered by Homes England, around £128k in Homes England capacity funding and a £481k grant from the One Public Estate Land Release Fund for site infrastructure.

Euroform has been developing, fabricating and supplying materials for the construction industry since 1995, specialising in ensuring fire and thermal compliance across its product range.  It is part of the Performance Technology Group, a group of companies supporting the construction industry to meet acoustic, fire, thermal and vibration challenges.

Harbour Façade Systems is a leading installer of façade finishes for national house builders and main contractors operating throughout the south of England and Wales from its head office in Cheltenham.

Elm Grove show home topping out with, left, Lee Zeffiretti, Contracts Manager, and Sam Smart, Managing Director, Stonewood Homes

 

CLICK HERE FOR:

Euroform

Harbour Façade Systems

Stonewood Homes

 

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Quick to build, affordable office has the ‘wow’ factor with earthy SterlingOSB Zero

 

In need of a bigger space to work from, TMV architects harnessed its own team’s design and build skills to create an office using a combination of West Fraser’s SterlingOSB Zero and corrugated metal. Six years ago, the fledgling practice had outgrown its annex accommodation above a garage in the home of one of its directors and  . . .

“we wanted our own building; something to give us an identity and space to accommodate clients.” explains Thomas Mann, a director.

The practice bought a plot of land which was occupied by a disused BT repeater station building in Cambridgeshire. Today, the brick repeater station building has been replaced with TMV’s new office, a simple black, single-storey metal-clad contemporary building, complete with a pitched roof to accommodate a mezzanine floor. With the exception of two car parking spaces at the front, the new office almost fills the plot.

Budget was a major constraint when it came to the new building so TMV’s design is based on a superstructure of locally-manufactured structurally insulated panels (SIPs). The panels consist of a 140mm insulating foam core sandwiched between two SterlingOSB Zero sheathing boards. The result is a building system that is extremely strong and energy efficient.

“We designed the office with a large, vaulted roof which, if built traditionally, would have required a lot of expensive steelwork. However, because vaulted roofs are relatively easy to construct using SIPS, all we needed was a couple of timber posts,” explains Mann.

The simple SIPs walls rise from an insulated concrete raft foundation. The uncomplicated design meant very few contractors were needed; this allowed the practice to project manage construction. With the foundation slab cast, a single contractor assembled the SIP-walls and pitched roof. Within a week, the shell was up and wrapped in a membrane so that the building was effectively watertight. Externally, the SIPs are clad in block corrugated metal sheets that lend the building a modern industrial aesthetic. That aesthetic is continued internally with a full-height gable wall featuring exposed SterlingOSB Zero.

The SterlingOSB Zero feature wall’s textured, organic finish is given additional emphasis by the crisp white plaster used to finish the adjoining walls. Mann says visitors often walk into the office and say ‘wow’, simply because OSB is a material they are not used to seeing in this context. The SterlingOSB Zero feature wall has also been given illuminated TMV branding. Eleanor Stamp, senior architectural designer at the practice says that, although the office had to be a cost-effective build, its open-plan design and the natural feel that the SterlingOSB Zero brings to the space makes it a great place to work:

‘Everyone loves working here; we’ve gone from two to eight staff in five years and no one has left,’ she says.

 

As is always the case, West Fraser’s experienced technical team is available

to aid with product specification

CLICK HERE for downloadable data sheets

For further informantion call 01786 812 921

or CLICK HERE to visit the West Fraser website

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