In recent years the housing sector has been criticised for its spiralling construction costs. Over the past seven years construction costs have risen by 63% in the social sector, which has led to a lack of quality built, social and affordable housing. In addition, the government, the UK’s largest construction client, has now faced up to the realisation that it needs to promote more sustainable houses and review Building Regulations. Buildings are major contributors to CO2 emissions, both in energy used to produce materials to construct them, and in the energy they consume, though heating and lighting. Thus building industry practices need to change, and ways to reduce the impact of development on the environment also need to be found.
These factors were key in influencing the government in its drive to promote modern methods of construction (MMC) via the £60,000 Design for Manufacture house competition, spearheaded by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Its aim is to challenge the construction industry to build a typical housing association style house, which demonstrated sufficient affordability. Kingspan-Century’s response to this challenge was the Synergy house, which was unveiled by deputy prime minister John Prescott at OFFSITE 2005.
The Synergy house, which was built in just 17 days, received a positive response at OFFSITE from building professionals and housing association developers. Not only did it adhere to ODPM guidelines, it was also the only house of all the finalists to encompass three bedrooms. The 800ft2 family home was uniquely engineered with free spanning floors and no internal load-bearing walls, to give an extra feeling of space, which can easily be changed and adapted according to occupier requirements. Moreover, factory-fitted wall insulation was used, which allowed the walls to arrive on site pre-fitted with insulation and featuring a preformed service cavity.
A fast track brick system developed by Novabrik was used on the houses, which involved bricks being screwed into the house to give it a traditional bricked look. This is a clear demonstration of how wet trade and weather variables can be eliminated when constructing a house, thus reducing labour costs and time.
The house itself differs not only from its fellow competitors but also from other Kingspan-Century houses, as it is unique in design in terms of economy and space. The house cost £58,120 to construct, including its substructure and superstructure.
In addition, the Synergy house is very advanced in terms of energy efficiency, exceeding the energy requirements of the Building Regulations in England and Wales by over 30%. Its superior insulation means that annual heating costs should total no more than £160. As a result, the Synergy house was the only finalist to be awarded an Eco-Homes award, with a “very good” rating.
The energy efficiency of the Synergy house is particularly important, because from January 2006 the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive will stipulate that all new buildings must be graded according to their energy efficiency by means of building energy certificates. This will have a significant impact on housebuilders because buyers will have a clear system for comparing energy efficiency of one home with another.
The government should be applauded for supporting the Design for Manufacture scheme, and exerting pressure on the construction sector to embrace MMC on a far greater scale. This is especially important because from 2006, almost 50% of the Housing Corporation’s investment programme will be constructed using MMC.
The Synergy house heralds a new departure in social and affordable housing and provides the ultimate solution to the affordability crisis in the market. For the first time, quality-built timber frame houses have become available for first-time buyers. We have proven that it can be done and it is now up to the construction industry to follow the lead set by the government and embrace this new and exciting way of construction.
