Airey houses – and the Structherm solution

Airey houses – and the Structherm solution!

Our colleagues at Structherm are the UK’s number one experts when it comes to external refurbishment of non-traditional housing and high-rise buildings.

Airey houses come under the non-traditional category and are notoriously difficult to deal with.

The construction of Airey properties was introduced by Sir Edwin Airey. Twenty-six thousand were built between 1945 and 1955, to ease the chronic shortage of housing.

They were developed at a time when traditional building materials and skilled labour were in short supply.

Airey houses were only designed to have a lifespan of [maximum] twenty years, yet consequently many of them have exceeded this expectation.

Airey properties are designated “defective” by the Building Research Establishment (BRE).

These are the main characteristics of an Airey home:

  • 2-storey semi-detached houses
  • Medium or steep pitch roof – hipped or gable roof, finished with tiles.
  • Or a flat roof covered with bituminous felt.
  • The external walls are made of exposed aggregate PRC panels through-out with upper panels placed over those below.
  • The corners are finished with splayed PRC edge panels.
  • Tile hanging or horizontal timber boarding to the apex of the gable walls.

And key areas of concern when it comes to Airey houses include:

  • Cracking of PRC columns
  • Water penetration through PRC panels
  • High chloride content in PRC panels

The Structherm approach:

With any Structherm project, the first step is always a structural survey – especially with an Airey property.

Once this has been carried out, our technical team are in the perfect position to advise on the right system for the project.

For instance, with our Wrexham Aireys project, Wrexham County Borough Council appointed Westdale to deliver a Structherm SEWI refurbishment scheme.

The system was installed with an ArtBrick™ finish to the ground floor, ensuring the properties are aesthetically pleasing and of traditional appearance.

The results were telling!

  • Structherm’s SEWI system, combined with re-roofing and additional external work allowed the design life of the Wrexham properties to be extended by an additional thirty years – minimum.
  • The aesthetic upgrade of the Airey property is transformational.
  • SEWI is a cost-effective solution for thermal and aesthetic upgrading of non-traditional (classified defective) housing especially when compared to costly demolition and re-building.
  • Wrexham’s Airey properties were thermally upgraded from 0.59W/m²K to 0.20 W/m²K.
  • There was no requirement for decanting tenants.