Country: United Kingdom
Key Area: Buildings
Services: Civil Engineering,Environmental Planning,Geotechnical Engineering,Structural Engineering

This Housing Development is a state of the art, innovative and sustainable scheme.  The scheme comprises timber panelled properties.  The timber panels are manufactured in a work shop and delivered to site for erection.  The walls are clad in a laminated panelling, not traditional brickwork or render.  This allows a large reduction in wet trades and greatly speeds up the construction process such that the bulk of the works are for internal fit out. 

The properties incorporate a high level of insulation together with eco ‘hats’ which house the air recirculation units such that heat is reclaimed from the expelled air and used to heat the fresh air.

Opus' involvement has been in the ground investigation and the design and detailing of the foundations which are non standard due to the lack of masonry. 

The properties are also very lightweight which has allowed an economical foundation arrangement.  This reduces the amount of excavation and disposal required but more importantly for an Eco home it reduces the amount of cement content required.  This reduces the carbon footprint for the material in comparison to the normal equivalent sized modern property.

This project won Innovator of the Year & Best Innovative Use of Materials and Products, for Housebuilding 2007.  It also won the 2008 South East Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors awards under the Sustainability category.