Beacon Lough & Harlow Green Refurbishment
Gateshead Housing Company is using Novabrik, an innovative dry built, brick cladding system from Acheson & Glover for the refurbishment and improvement of over 400 homes in the Tyne and Wear area. The project, is one of Gateshead Housing Company's maintenance and improvement packages under the Communities and Local Government's [formerly ODPM], Decent Homes initiative, which requires that over 3.6m homes throughout the country are brought up to a minimum standard of repair, facilities and insulation by 2010.
Gateshead housing Company manages a stock of 22,500 homes, included within that are a diverse range of non-traditionally constructed buildings from the early 1960's. Over the years, shortcomings in their design, construction and insulation values have come to light, requiring major remedial work to bring them up to living standards that will ensure their longevity.
This tranche of 400 houses is being refurbished under a strategic partnership arrangement with Morrison Facilities Services. The work involves stripping out glazed screens in “Wimpey No-Fines” properties as well as front and rear walls of the “NEMA and Gateshead Butterfly” houses on the Beacon Lough and Harlow Green estates respectively and installing new, insulated timberframed structures faced with Novabrik, brick cladding to receive new windows as part of a package of improvement works. Firstly, a complete new timber frame is installed using larger section timbers. New PVCu windows are then fitted and the areas beneath ground floor windows thermally insulated and clad in Novabrik.
Initially, the refurbishment specification had been for a brick effect
polymer render, but consultation with Acheson & Glover and
specialist sub-contractor St. Astier, resulted in a decision to change
to Novabrik, mortarless brick cladding. “Speed of installation in all
weather conditions was very important to us because the houses
remained occupied throughout the work. Novabrik gave us much
better control over quality and, after stripping out and replacing
the old defective timberwork and windows, we could complete the
re-cladding of a house within one working day.” commented St
Astier Contracts Director Ranson Og.
Gateshead Housing Company was also keen to improve the
overall appearance of the houses. Russell Urwin, Senior Contract
Administrator for Gateshead Housing said. ”We wanted our
tenants to be pleased with the look of their homes and Novabrik
has a very traditional looking brick appearance. It's also recognised as an innovative, modern method of construction. For
us, it ticked all the boxes”
Novabrik is a mortarless dry built cladding system that comprises brick sized interlocking tiles which lock together to form a weather-proof outer skin for timber framed, steel-framed or concrete panel structures. It is also suitable for use with conventional block-work walls or ICF [Insulated Concrete Formwork] systems. The interlocking construction works as a cladding system in a similar manner to vertical tiling , with units overlapping to prevent water from penetrating the wall. Originally developed in collaboration with Canada's National Research Council, Novabrik is manufactured under licence for the UK and Irish markets by Northern Ireland based building materials specialists, Acheson & Glover Group.
The main benefits of the Novabrik System are speed of installation and the fact that no wet trades are needed, meaning that installation can continue in virtually all weather conditions. Novabrik is suitable for new-build as well as refurbishment projects. Savings in installation times of up to 50% have been experienced, resulting in earlier occupancy and overall reductions in contract duration. Work began on the Gateshead Housing refurbishment project in April 2007 and will continue until mid 2008.
