COVER STORY EOS FACADES With the country still facing a crippling housing shortage – triggering demand for one million new homes to be built by 2020 – the need for a revolution in housebuilding edges slowly forward and this has seen the increased call for the greater uptake of offsite construction technology to deliver ‘accelerated housing programmes’. London is at the centre of the housing crisis with experts forecasting that the city will require 60,000 new homes a year – around double the current rate – to meet projections. Innovation in building methods and materials is required for housebuilding in urban areas to hit targets, whilst ensuring a high quality of living, low carbon emissions and a reduction in overall costs.
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RISING TO THE CHALLENGES OF URBAN CONSTRUCTION The UK domestic political agenda has seen housebuilding at its centre for some time now – especially over recent weeks with the publication of the Government’s Housing White Paper. With the pressures to deliver housing at scale growing, EOS Facades and light gauge steel frame are poised to meet challenging construction industry demands. 6
WWW.OFFSITEMAGAZINE.CO.UK | SPRING 2017
Space standards have recently become a focus of urban building. A report conducted by RIBA in 2011 pushed the Government to take action in tackling the shrinking size of houses, particularly in the London area. In October 2015, a new nationally described space standard was implemented, setting out detailed guidance on the minimum size of new homes. The guidance stated that new one-bedroom, one-person flats would have to be a minimum of 37m2, while three-bedroom, five-person homes, should be a minimum of 93m2. By taking advantage of the lightweight structure of steel, developers are able to reduce foundation requirements and significantly improve design capability. Using lightweight steel frame as the primary structure allows developers to construct high-rise buildings that offer a larger number of dwellings at a spacious size.
2 Steel is a robust, rigid and dimensionally stable material that does not suffer from movement created by moisture related issues. As an advanced high performance offsite solution, steel is not susceptible to shrinkage, warping, cracking, rot infestation or moisture absorption. The inherent benefits of steel construction are why it is dominant in shaping our present and future city skylines.