Protection for Affordable Housing

Published by Max Salsbury for Symphony Housing Group in Housing

One of the North-West’s biggest housing and regeneration organizations is ‘protecting’ local people’s ability to buy homes in an area where house prices have more than doubled in the past decade….

Contour Housing Group’s development of 21 two-bedroomed apartments at Wilmslow View, Handforth, will be offered for shared ownership, from as little as 25%, to help meet the housing need in the area, but still built to a high standard. The development is achieving Code for Sustainable Homes’ Level 4, and the stricter thermal requirements of the new Building Regulation Approved Document L, by use of Glidevale’s TF200 Thermo reflective low emissivity breather membrane.

To architect Pozzoni’s specification, main contractor Bullock Construction has installed Protect TF200 Thermo in the air cavity between the internal wall insulation and outer cladding, to keep warmth in and moisture out. The Protect TF200 Thermo provides 0.77m²/KW thermal resistance- a 327% improvement over a standard unventilated airspace of 20mm or more.

Glidevale maintains using TF200 Thermo reflective membrane in a still air cavity can reduce insulation costs by up to 20%.

Rainwater harvesting, combi-boilers with gas savers, and enough photovoltaic panels on the roof to enable some electricity to be sold back to the national grid and thus used to offset maintenance charges, are also contributing to the high CSH attainment.

Nicky Harris, project manager for Contour Housing Group, explained, “The site was previously a block of maisonettes, demolished about 7 years ago because it was not up to standard. It has always been our intention to redevelop the area, creating high specification homes built to at least CSH Level 4 that will meet housing needs in the area, where property prices have more than doubled. Timber frame with a high performance membrane such as Protect TF200 Thermo and other energy-efficient solutions was judged the best way to achieve that.”

Protect TF200 Thermo is part of  the Glidevale range of Protect membranes, including Protect A1 and Wunderlay impermeable underlays, VP400 and Zytec vapour permeable underlays, Protect TF200 vapour permeable breather membrane for timber frame buildings, Protect VC Foil insulating vapour control layer and the BuildTight™ airtightness range. Glidevale is part of the Building Product Design Group, which specialise in developing and bringing to market innovative yet practical roofing and ventilation products, in line with changing requirements.