Material in construction methods are changing

Material In ConstructionHead into any relatively Large town in the UK and you’ll seea skyline peppered with cranes, as developers work to meet thehousing needs of our expanding population. From the outside, many of these buildings look like theircounterparts from 10 or 20 years ago, but thanks to a combinationof regulatory demands and social expectations, virtually every homebuilt today is kitted out with the kind of energy saving technologythat, until recently, was the preserve of the eco eccentric. Whether it is The Orchid, a revolutionary eco-house on a privateestate in the Cotswolds which has sold off-plan for ￡7.2m,and which will have an underground heat pump, geothermal heatingand cooling, rainwater collection and solar and wind power; or thelow-cost affordable housing that is a key element of the giantEbbsfleet Valley development in the Thames Gateway area of NorthKent, innovative construction techniques are being implemented tocreate energy-efficient homes. It is a much-needed effort. The energy footprint of the averagehome is relatively large. It is not only about the energy it usesonce it’s complete, but also the energy used to create abuilding – its lifecycle assessment, which includesmanufacturing components, extracting materials to make thosecomponents and transporting them from A to B, as well as the energyused in the physical building process, such as powering thosecranes. When it comes to creation, Kerry Mashford, head of sustainablemanufacturing and construction at engineering consultancy Arup,believes passive design is key: “Passive design is aboutmaximising the use of natural flows of heat, energy and light inorder to minimise a building’s energy requirements. So, forexample, it means planning the correct orientation of the building,taking account of the sun’s path. Designing roof overhangs toallow low winter sun in, while shading from high summer sun, meansa home can be designed to need little – or even no –energy to keep it at a comfortable temperature all yearround.” The Government is promoting eco-construction with its compulsoryCode For Sustainable Homes, implemented earlier this year toregulate the way new homes are built to be more sustainable.Regulating the house-builders is only part of the solution,however. Ian Arbon, senior partner at Engineered Solutions,believes the main challenges the industry faces are social, nottechnological, ones. “People expect me as an engineer to come up with newtechnology that allows them to carry on living the way they do now.I’ve got bad news for them – they need to change theirlifestyles. Solar and wind power are supply solutions, but we needa demand solution – and that means changing behaviour,”he says.