Scrap materials website offers an alternative to landfill

BuilderScrap is a new initiative for housebuilders and others in the construction industry. Designed by builders for builders, the online business offers an alternative to landfill for the millions of tonnes of unused new supplies and good quality second hand materials, which are thrown away each year.It is completely free and allows users to upload materials to the site, either from a computer or from site via MMS from a mobile phone. These items are then available to other users at a cost or free. Users also have access to a wealth of information regarding environmental and industrial issues.

The initiative seeks to introduce a culture of efficient waste management on site, by promoting segregation of different wastes at source, and encouraging re-use and recycling of product rather than disposal.

A purpose-built web based business it allows housebuilders to communicate with nearby construction companies, to use up each others’ surplus, and thus reduce the amount of goods sent to landfill.

The general overview of the business is that users register (for free) and can then upload any surplus goods or materials they have which will appear on the site. Any users searching for products can then contact the seller and complete the transaction. Some goods will be sold at a cost; others will be given away for nothing simply as a way of preventing them from going to landfill (which has a cost due to landfill tax, skip hire, labour cost and so on).

It works simply but efficiently, offering three options of item upload to users. The first option, one we believe will be popular with builders on site, uses a mobile phone camera to upload MMS messages to the website. It is also possible to upload items by email, and directly through the website. Both of these options are free of charge to users. Users can then search for desired items online, and register for email and text alerts for regular search items. The website will also provide information to users regarding environmental and waste management within the construction industry.

BuilderScrap.com is currently undergoing in-house trials, to be followed shortly by local trials in parallel with the formation of the first social enterprise reclamation site in Moreton

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More information: www.builderscrap.com

Rural housing charter calls for action

Nearly 700,000 people are now stuck on waiting lists for an affordable home in rural England according to the National Housing Federation and Campaign to Protect Rural England.

Over the last five years, the number of people waiting for an affordable home in country areas has soared by 37%, up from 507,757 in 2003 to 695,735 last year.

That means that on average 14,494 people have been added to housing waiting lists in rural areas every month over the last four years.

The situation is now so serious that the NHF and CPRE has launched a charter – ‘Save Rural England, Build Affordable Homes’ – containing an eight point blueprint, setting out how the supply of affordable homes could be significantly, and appropriately, increased in rural communities.

SCALE OF THE CRISES

Figures released by the NHF and CPRE expose the scale of the housing crisis in the countryside.

• The proportion of homeless households in rural areas has more than doubled over the last five years from 16% to 37% of the national total.
• In four South West rural districts, at least 11% of the local population is on a waiting list for affordable housing.
• In the Lake District authority of Allerdale, the number of households applying for an affordable home has increased by 107% over the last five years.
• In Dorset, house prices are over 15 times local incomes, one in 30 homes is a second home and waiting lists have doubled in the past five years.
• The number of households now on waiting lists for an affordable rural home is 311,989.

The Federation and CPRE fear that with the younger generation priced out of the market in many rural areas, unless action is taken to address the lack of affordable homes rural communities face an uncertain future. The only way to solve the problem is to build a limited number of affordable homes in every village and rural town where a need has been identified.

The recommendations made in the charter include:

• Ensuring that a fair share of future government spending on social housing is committed to delivering affordable rural homes.
• Restricting the right to buy in rural areas of acute housing pressure.
• Ensuring all rural planning authorities set ambitious but achievable affordable housing targets.

GOVERNMENT TIMETABLE

The NHF and CPRE are calling on the Government to publish a clear timetable for responding to Liberal Democrat MP Matthew Taylor’s landmark report into the rural housing crisis. Since the report was published in July, the Government has given no indication if it will act on its findings.

NHF chief executive, David Orr, says: “The rural housing crisis is intensifying rapidly, with more and more people being priced out of the market and having to live in cramped and unsuitable conditions.

“Ministers need urgently to implement the key recommendations in the Taylor Review and the Federation and CPRE joint action plan if they are to help those in need of an affordable rural home.”

CPRE chief executive, Shaun Spiers, adds: “Unless action is taken now to provide the affordable homes we need the future looks bleak for many people and their communities in the countryside.

“Today’s challenging housing market highlights the need for public investment to ensure rural communities receive a fair share so that they can have the homes they need. It also suggests a growing role for community-led initiatives, such as Community Land Trusts.”

More information: www.cpre.org.uk

Architects should have designs on timber frame

The doubts are overcome
By Mike Cruickshank

Every so often, it becomes clear that a technology’s time has come. The doubts are overcome, the arguments are won and the benefits become obvious and undeniable. At this point, the technology becomes an industry standard.

This is very much the stage timber frame construction is at. Despite rearguard actions by proponents of traditional brick and block construction methods, timber frame now ticks the boxes in so many areas – from sustainability and carbon footprint to labour costs – that the real surprise is that anyone still builds by other means.

Why should developers and the industry persist in building on sites which are wholly at the mercy of the weather and indifferently-skilled labour, when the opportunity exists to fabricate off-site in the controlled environment of a modern, high-tech factory?

But as timber-frame becomes increasingly dominant, is a different mindset now required from architects? After all, timber frame construction not only maximizes flexibility and ease of construction but takes full advantage of potential standardization to reduce costs.

Architects have not exactly been widely encouraged by developers to introduce bold new innovations in commercial house construction of late, but the combination of a new political will to increase house building and the limitless possibilities of timber frame should put them back into the driving seat when it comes to influencing the built environment.

ON-LINE DEBATE

Computer-based design in an architect’s office can integrate seamlessly with the engineering and manufacturing systems and highly automated plant in a modern timber frame factory. The architect can engage in online discussions with the manufacturer as the project progresses and design out potential problems before the job reaches the site.

The system takes weather out of the equation and superstructures can be erected quickly, efficiently and accurately – reducing sub-contractor costs and taking the guesswork out of pricing.

Getting the manufacturer involved in the design process at an early stage makes sense at many levels, not least on costs. But the architect can contribute substantially to cost savings and efficiency by accepting minor adjustments which need not compromise architectural integrity.

The most fundamental area in which cost-effective considerations should be taken into account is the floor plan. Ideally, to reduce labour and wastage from cutting standard size plasterboard and flooring sheets – and to suit standard stud and truss centres – buildings should be designed using either a 90mm or a 140mm stud depth on a 600mm “grid”, measured from the inside face of timber frame to inside face of timber frame on the external walls.

Ceiling heights should be designed to standard plasterboard dimensions. Although non-standard panel heights can be priced to the nearest standard height up, there will still be wastage and on-site labour costs for cutting.

In the design phase of the ground floor, it is vital to consider the spans of the upper floor joists. If joist spans are designed near to their limit, it increases deflection whilst avoiding excessive spans solves a number of traditional problems, including ensuring that load-bearing partitions are positioned correctly.

DESIGNERS IN DIALOGUE

Designers, in a dialogue with manufacturers, can also benefit by standardising external door lintel heights and window dimensions. For instance, a lintel height of 2.1m from finished floor level will accommodate most external door sets and increase choice. Non-standard internal doors should be avoided.

Bespoke windows are attractive from a design point of view, but are expensive and can lead to delivery delay. It may be possible to achieve an architecturally similar effect by combining the widths of standard modules.

Using the “grid” plan referred to above will also reduce the number of trusses needed for “room in the roof” designs using dormer windows, Velux windows and stairs. Stairs themselves can be finalized at the design stage to make them fully compliant with new building control requirements.

The variety of standard skirtings and facings and the materials from which they are made – is now so extensive that there is no real need for specifying non-standard items. Once again, all they will do is increase costs and delivery times.

The technological advantages of timber frame construction are an opportunity for architects to make an impact on the urban environment as never before. If designers work in tandem with reputable manufacturers, the benefits can be reaped not only in cost and time, but in the quality of people’s lives.

Images show example of Scotframe projects

[Mike Cruickshank is Sales Director at Scotframe Timber Engineering. The company operates across the UK and Ireland from its bases in Inverurie near Aberdeen, Cumbernauld near Glasgow, and Hillsborough in Northern Ireland and employs over 200 people. Current turnover is in excess of £35m.]

More information: www.scotframe.co.uk

New homes for New Orleans

Safety is paramount on the levee

Nowhere is in more desperate need of a replacement housing solution than New Orleans where Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005 with such devastation. Many thousands of people are still awaiting new homes in their native city but, hopefully, the problem has come a step closer to being resolved?

A few months ago Brad Pitt and residents of the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans launched “Make it Right”, a national multi-million dollar fundraising campaign to help at least one part of the city recover. The actor made the announcement from the site of the “Make It Right” project’s first initiative -150 affordable and sustainable homes that are being built in partnership with US multi-millionaire, Steve Bing.

The new homes’ architects who unveiled their groundbreaking designs for the community joined Pitt and his fellow campaigners.

The architects – from the USA and around the world – include Adjaye Associates, Billes Architecture, BNIM Architects, Concordia, Constructs LLC, Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, Graft, KieranTimberlake Associates, Morphosis, MVRDV, Pugh + Scarpa Architecture, Shigeru Ban Architects, and Trahan Architects.

As New Orleans is such a special city with unique traditions and lifestyles the new home designs not only have to embrace an exceptional climate and social quirks but also take advantage of this major urban revival to introduce affordable, sustainable living in a very big way. But at the same time they don’t ignore the fact that catastrophe could strike again in a region that frequently takes a heavy buffeting from one or another hurricane.

FOUR SOLUTIONS

In this brief editorial we outline just four of the architectural solutions that are rising from New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward where some of the worst flooding and devastation took place.

The architects Pugh+Scarpa’s concept takes advantage of one of the most under-rated, but easily sourceable elements around – recycled wooden pallets. Their imperfect, rough-hewn texture aims to provide an exceptional patchwork wrapping for each home’s main structure. And, of course, wooden pallets are commercially available, cost effective and eco-friendly.

In the architects’ words, inside “this home breaks the prescriptive mold of the traditional home by creating public and private ‘zones’ in which private space is de-emphasised in favour of large, public living areas”. This is intended to “transform the way people live” from a reclusive, isolating layout towards a family-orientated, interactive space.

The home’s sustainability revolves around its orientation to control solar cooling and heat loads and to minimise its exposure to the prevailing winds. It’s specially shaped to induce natural ventilation and airflow distribution, while its high internal ceilings will encourage an “airy, spacious ambiance that’s less reliant on artificial lighting.”

IMPORTANT PORCHES

Porches always have been and always will be an essential ingredient of New Orleans homes. And the new dwellings will be no exception. BNIM’s 940sq ft, two-bedroom design suggestion is a modern interpretation of the “shotgun-style” of home that was common in the city with ample porches fostering neighbourly interaction.

Just like all of the new homes intended the city’s Lower 9^th Ward, BNIM’s solution is sufficiently elevated to provide adequate protection from typical flooding events. Its structural insulated panels and mould-resistant walls maximise efficiency, minimise waste and respond to the local climate.

Its designed for easy of construction and energy efficiency as the roof structure will be ready to receive photovoltaic panels. A rainwater cistern and portable solar energy pack form part of ‘area of refuge” so that residents remain safe in the event of future flooding.

With significant tracts of its land below sea level Holland has a lot of experience to call on when it comes combating flooding. So it’s not surprising that the designs by Dutch architects MVRDV picked up on a lot of this knowledge.

ALL AFLOAT

For example the “floating house” concept was inspired by recent new housing developments in the Netherlands where the house is on top of a concrete barge that rises when there is flooding. “Piles” keep the house in position and the front porch forms a “garage” that takes the car with it when the water level rises.

Variations on this theme are the house on top of a lift ensuring that the entire dwelling is above the potential water level. Then there is the “bent house” which rises up at both ends creating a porches font and rear. Internally is created a “valley” of platforms with living and bedrooms whilst the very lowest level becomes a water storage facility.

The Graft house design is a “bridge between the past and present”. Once again the front porch is an important feature but beyond that there are two distinct shapes. The symmetrically pitched roof at the front represents the past and the angular flat roof shape signifies the present.

The construction uses only efficient, low-energy and healthy materials with hurricane-resistant low-E windows. The design takes advantage of passive and cross ventilation lessening the use of mechanical air conditioning or heating. Rainwater catchment systems are provided.

Each habitable room has an emergency access to the roof where there is a flat area called “the safe haven”.

Images show the MVRDV’s “bent house” which rises up at each; Pugh+Scarpa’s wooden pallet solution; Graft’s symmetrically pitched roof version; and BNIM’s more traditional version.

More information: www.makeitrightnola.org/