To date, aircrete from H+H has delivered over 8,000 MMC homes in the UK, making it one of the most widely used materials for the Modern Building agenda. Jenny Smith-Andrews, Head of Marketing at H+H looks at the MMC solutions on offer.
There is no denying that the building industry, and particularly the housebuilding sector, in this country is extremely conservative: slow to adopt new methods and systems. Government clearly understands this. The degree of its intervention, in terms of overt encouragement and financial incentives is marked.
Whether it is any Government’s business to dictate to private sector organisations how they make their product is debatable, but the objective is laudable: to deliver better quality homes, faster, and H+H is well positioned to help its customers reach MMC targets.
Aircrete benefits from being a material widely used across Europe where housebuilding is a very different industry. Hugely popular for its robust, durable and thermally efficient characteristics, aircrete plays its part in the development of modern construction methods delivering high-performance homes.
In the UK, H+H aricrete is fundamental to three Modern Methods of Construction. Our Thin-Joint blockwork provides a fast and accurate means of building exterior walls – meeting the criteria to be rated an MMC category 6.
Put together into a packaged offer combining Thin-Joint exterior walls with ground floors, upper floors and partitions, our Rå Build solution gives the entire weatherproof structure as a single, fast system.
Neither of these offers is new, both have been widely used in Europe for decades. However, in the UK, both have struggled to gain widespread adoption. We certainly see more interest, given the focus on implementing Modern Methods, but for many, Modern means “offsite”. Our Celcon Elements, particularly when used as part of the i-House system, provide the answer that is gaining ground fastest.
Celcon Elements are storey-high panels of aircrete. Craned into place and fixed with Thin-Joint mortar, Elements allow the entire ground floor wall structure to be completed on site in just hours.
Elements, by the way, are not new either, so H+H has a track record of high-performing housing developments across Europe to reassure the UK market of the practicality of this building method.
Elements really come into their own when used as part of a system-build solution, and H+H worked in partnership with Roofspace Solutions to develop i-House™. This combines aircrete walls with prefabricated first floors and roof structures, installed by a dedicated contracting team. Most suitable for large volume standard house designs, the entire building fabric can be completed within five days on site.
In promoting our options for Modern Methods of Construction, H+H is highlighting a common misapprehension around the term MMC. There is no prescription as to the material used or the method of build. To qualify as a Modern Method of Construction, the solution needs to meet the objectives for building faster, more efficiently and to high tolerance. I-House meets the MMC definition at category two.
We know that our industry has a preference for aircrete – a trusted and popular material. 8,000 homes built with Modern Methods based on aircrete is a demonstration that this material is ready for the 21st century building agenda.