Maple Timber Frame has announced the building of a new £1m factory and a partnership agreement with construction products procurement company Viridis UK Ltd.
Langley-based Maple, which has also launched a structurally insulated panel system to meet the growing sustainable building agenda, said the tie-up with Viridis would enable the delivery of homes with interior and exterior joinery already fitted into wall panels.
Work on Maple’s new factory, which will include an automatic production line, is expected to start in the spring.
The company says its new patented SupaWall interlocking insulated wall system, which has achieved a U-value of 0.113W/m2K (including cladding) in tests conducted by the National Physical Laboratory, will meet government requirements for sustainable housing.
Maple believes the greatest interest for SupaWall, which comprises 140mm studs sheathed by OSB and filled with a polyurethane foam insulation, will come from the social housing sector.
The closed-panel wall structure, the result of several years’ research, has been used to build a house with no central heating near to the company’s factory. The house features a heat exchanger to retain and recirculate heat, as well as supply fresh air.
Philip Price, head of Maple’s technical department, said: “As well as cutting heating bills for occupants and landlords, the system contributes to a reduction in the use of fossil fuels and the emission of CO2 – and therefore to the government’s commitments on climate change.”
