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Norton Farm – Bromsgrove,

Executive summary:

Principle contractor: Barratt Homes The SIG I-House System Client: Barratt Developments / Housing Trust incorporating Celcon Elements (BDHT) has been specified for use on 164 units on the Norton Farm site in Project: Construction of 164 units with a mixture of one, two and Bromsgrove. The I-House System, three bed homes in terraced, semi-detached and detached form, of a collaboration between SIG Offsite which 98 are to be affordable homes for BDHT and H+H UK, provides the speed Cost of build: £11,000 per unit (average) for the structural frame of offsite construction with the familiarity of a traditional build. Location: Norton Farm, Road, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire Type of contract: Private and Affordable Housing Aircrete contractor: SIG Offsite Build time: One week per unit

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Norton Farm – Bromsgrove, Worcestershire

Project description:

Norton Farm, located less than Each unit is constructed by a three a mile from Bromsgrove town man gang and a crane operator centre, south west of Birmingham, from SIG Offsite. This has solved is a development shared between one of the critical challenges faced Barratt Homes and David Wilson by Barratt Homes in the Midlands, homes, consisting of a total of with a shortage of skilled labour 316 units. Of the Barratt Homes creating a delay in construction. development, the SIG I-House A crane lifts each Celcon Element System is being used for 164 of into place where is it secured using those plots. The Norton Farm a fast-setting mortar specifically development is part of Barratt created by H+H for use with Homes’ final trial stages of the Elements. SIG I-House System which has seen several other developments By using the I-House System the completed across the Midlands. external brick façade has been taken off the critical path allowing the ground floor, first floor and roof to be completed, finished and wrapped in insulation prior to bricklayers arriving on site. A bespoke scaffolding system has been created to allow bricklayers enough space to operate while the scaffold remains in place.

The walls achieve a U-Value of 0.27W/m 2K - similar to that in a traditional build - with roofs achieving 0.8W/m2K and floors 0.2W/m 2K

Reason for choosing H+H aircrete products:

The main attraction of the I-House System both on site and for others within the supply chain is that it is very similar to traditional build in its materials and approach so there is no dramatic change to working practices for the follow-on trades. The plumber, electrician and carpenter are all used to working in aircrete buildings.

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Norton Farm – Bromsgrove, Worcestershire

Products used / aircrete NHBC prior to occupation of the specification: new homes. “It’s simply one of the best offsite systems we’ve seen. It’s Celcon Elements by H+H: External walls: basically block-work erected in The majority of the interior leaves Designs for the external walls a different way which gives us of the cavity walls are constructed includes both rendered finishes and flexibility on site. If you require using Celcon Elements by H+H. In brick façades. This will provide a any design alterations while some instances, standard grade mix of styles to meet the needs and on site, you can treat it like a Celcon blocks by H+H have been aspirations of the local community traditional build – if you need use to build specific design details and blend with the architectural an additional window suddenly, such as bays. aesthetic within the existing you can do it; timber frame can’t residential areas. The Celcon Elements are be altered due to the structural manufactured to the design storey Roof: calculations changing.” height of a standard house with a Roofs are either a standard truss Steve Cartwright width of 600mm and a thickness of roof construction or the ‘Roofspace 100mm. Where the required width I-Roof’, a panellised room-in-the- Barratt Homes Construction of the modules is less than 600mm roof system designed for the UK Director or in cases where the Elements are new build residential housing used under windows, the Elements market. can be cut to size on site. The knock-on effect is of less product The I-Roof by SIG Roofspace is waste on site and cleaner work manufactured offsite in a controlled environments. Celcon Elements are environment making it a faster, lightly reinforced to facilitate the cost effective construction. Safety handling and transportation without benefits include reduced working damaging the product. at height and the removal of the risk of gable block work collapse. H+H element mortar: A fast-setting and very strong thin- Floor: layer mortar developed especially Prefabricated timber I-Floor for use with Celcon Elements to Joist cassette floors are used in form a 2mm airtight joint. conjunction with the system to maintain the speed of build. Each Foundations: cassette is lowered into place by A mixture of trench fill and crane, sitting on top of the first lift piled foundations, designed, of Celcon Elements. implemented and validated by the

“The Norton Farm development has been a great opportunity to showcase the speed, quality and performance benefits of the I-House System. We believe that what we have is a package solution for the fast construction of new build homes, something of which the UK housing market is currently in desperate need.”

Stephen Knight H+H Internal Development Manager

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Norton Farm – Bromsgrove, Worcestershire

built, allowing follow-on trades to start work sooner in a weatherproof environment, whilst retaining the flexibility of on-site construction. Thin-Joint is a recognised modern method of Construction and has been fully adopted as the preferred method of wall construction throughout most of Northern Europe.

Other benefits include highly adaptable block-work, allowing for any last minute design changes. Components for the Thin-Joint system are all readily available off the shelf, Thin-Joint Cost certainty technology helps achieve a very low The SIG I-House System can airtightness. Fire resistance with be used where lightweight or Health and Safety improved Increased quality control a Class 0 rating for surface spread traditional construction would be of flame. considered and where the design Integrated system compressive strength of the Fully managed package – design, H+H aircrete applications: masonry is approximately 3N/m2. manufacture, install, complete It is ideally suited for two storey Traditional materials and Internal and external leaves housing and two storeys with room familiar build in cavity walls in the roof. Improved airtightness Solid walls Separating / party walls In limited circumstances, H+H – Thin-Joint System: Flanking walls where design requirements As well as the Celcon Elements Partitions may not facilitate the full use range, the System combines the Infill to multi-storey buildings of Celcon Elements, the H+H Celcon Plus, Jumbo Blok and Foundations Thin-Joint system may be used MultiPlate ranges of high quality, to complement the Elements in accurately dimensioned aircrete certain sections of the build. blocks with specially developed Contact details The SIG I-House System provides Thin-Joint mortar called Celfix. This a watertight and airtight shell provides simple solutions for Parts Enquires L and E of the Building Regulations Tel: 01732 886444 for the follow-on trades to move or email: [email protected] in to. A house can typically be and simplifies the construction completed within a week of the process. Thin-Joint block-work Head office scaffolding being erected. It is a enables walls to be built quickly to H+H UK Limited storey height without having to wait Celcon House very rapid build system that takes Ightham, Sevenoaks the construction of the outer leaf of the conventional 24 hours for the Kent TN15 9HZ a cavity wall off the critical path. mortar to set before further loading can be applied. For further information about the subjects Key Benefits of SIG I-House covered or the H+H products used in this The Thin-Joint method of case study, please visit our website System: www.hhcelcon.co.uk construction enables a fast, Rapid build weather-tight masonry shell to be build with ease