SIPs
the best option for social housing demand
For reasons
of cost, speed of construction and performance, Structural Insulated
Panels (SIPs) technology is ideal for social housing.
This is the
view of Hemsec Sips, one of Europe’s most experienced manufacturer
of SIPs panels and an increasingly important player in the ‘off-site
manufacture’ (OSM) of building panel systems.
Following
the government-inspired Egan Report, ‘Rethinking Construction’,
which gave added impetus to improving the quality of materials
and techniques used in the UK building industry, SIPs technology
is set to become a major part of the trend towards ‘Modern
Methods of Construction’ (MMC).
According
to Hemsec Sips Managing Director, Richard Daley:
“Recent technological advances have improved the quality
and performance of SIPs to the extent that they represent a new
generation of timber-based construction which can be used as wall,
roof or floor panels and are suitable for buildings up to four
storeys high.”
Made from
timber OSB 3 facings with a core material of fire-retardant polyurethane
foam, Hemsec Sips are strong enough to form an integral part of
the structure of a building which cuts out the need for expensive
steel framework.
Equally significant
for the economics of social housing is the speed at which a SIPs
building project can be completed. The high-strength panels are
delivered to site and erected in half the time it would take using
traditional building materials.
For developers,
this has the obvious benefits of reducing financing costs as well
as ensuring earlier occupancy of the building to produce the revenue
streams which derive from that.
Occupancy
levels can be maximised at a lower level of investment because
SIPs technology allows for extra rooms to be created in the roof
space. No roof trusses are required which effectively frees up
an extra floor level at no extra cost to produce what is known
as a ‘room-in-a-roof’.
The thinner
walls of SIPs construction results in additional floor space which
meets the recommendations of the government’s PPG 3 initiative.
Internal walls also suffer no shrinkage of plaster which may otherwise
require costly remedial work at the post-construction stage.
More details
about Hemsec Sips panels can be found on line at www.hemsecsips.com
Ends. Dec
2005
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