One of our projects is taking shape on site. The unusually steep site needed a lot of new substructure to be put in before the contractors, Holyoak Projects, could start to assemble anything resembling a building.
The speed at which the wall and roof structure has gone up (just over 2 weeks) shows some of the advantages of using timber i-joists shows itself, rather than traditional 'wet construction' brick cavity walls.
Speed isn't the only advantage with timber construction. Using this method creates a series of large voids between each timber element, into which masses of cellulose fibre insulation will be blown to give the building's walls and roof a nice thick insulative jacket.
We have taken special care when detailing (architect-speak for drawing and specifying) the steel frame at one end of the building. The frame will support a large area of corner glazing. As this part differs in construction to the rest of the building, and cannot receive the same blown insulation, we have to make sure it is also carefully insulated to remove 'cold bridges'. A cold bridge is essentially a building element where more heat can escape than its surrounding components - imagine being under a warm duvet, and then sticking your head out - your head is acting as a cold bridge!
We are looking forward to completion, pegged for March 2021.
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