Cramlington
Case Study
Located 9 miles north of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, sitting in the South East of Northumberland, Cramlington has so much to see and visit. From the largest female land sculpture in the world at Northumberlandia, to retail therapy and many indoor attractions to keep you and your little ones entertained if the weather is against you.
Client: Northumberland County council
Project Size: 80 properties
EWI System: ArtBrick
Finish: Brick Effect
Project Background
The ‘Dorran’ non-traditional house was, similarly to the ‘Airey’ non-traditional house, another take on rapid, pre-fabricated construction to address the post-war housing shortage. Unlike the ‘Airey’ property however, the ‘Dorran’ type of dwelling features a horizontal timber frame holding vertical pre-cast concrete panels spanning floors and supported at the top and bottom via concrete ring-beams. Tensioned steel ‘bosses’ beneath the floor hold the ring beam in shape.
Like the ‘Airey’ dwellings in Wrexham, the properties had fallen into a dilapidated state and were, thermally, incredibly inefficient. Many of the tenants were elderly and had lived in the properties most of their lives, so were very attached to the area and their homes. It is estimated that the demolition and re-build of the estate would cost somewhere in the region of £120k per property. The refurbishment we carried out cost less than £28k per property and required no decanting or temporary accommodation for tenants, whilst bringing the homes up to the same thermal efficiency as that of new build properties. To add to the extent of the refurbishment Northumberland County Council specified a brick effect finish to be matched to a very specific brick stock, combined with a white textured render finish to completely change the design and aesthetic of the estate.
Pre-EWI install however there were some incredibly complex structural repairs to be carried out on the properties. This consisted of:
- Completely removing asbestos gable ends, rebuilding and sheathing to receive the EWI system.
- Gluing and mechanically fitting steel ‘straps’ to bind together the vertical concrete panels and prevent independent movement.
- The installation of steel window frame carriers to accept the replacement windows.
- The blocking up of PVC panel areas beneath windows; this involved the movement of several radiators.
Following the structural repairs windows and doors were installed and a standard EWI system installed, taking care that the correct fixings were used in the right places. Whilst not specified, we submitted a sample to the client of the new ‘ArtBrick’ bespoke finish system for the EWI and effectively cloned a specific brick the client had obtained to get the look they wanted. All the work was carried out with the properties still occupied.
Outcomes:
- Again, the scheme started in September of both years and ran through two winters.
- Due to the extent of the works and the vulnerability of some of the tenants, extreme care had to be taken when working on occupied properties, putting strain on programme.
- It was discovered part-way through the scheme that when the houses were built the ‘tension bosses’ beneath the floors had not been properly installed giving rise to potential movement. This meant we had to carry out investigation and/or repair on every property to assess the condition of the steel. Unfortunately the location of the bosses in each property were different, making doing so extremely challenging!
- The roof coverings originally used a locally produced, now
discontinued concrete tile. There is no longer any availability of this tile so replacement of broken tiles was impossible. To get around this we completely stripped a selected roof of its covering and replaced with a similar, readily available tile. The removed tiles were then stored securely and used as stock for roof repairs on the rest of the scheme. - Scheme completed on time (with minor extension for inclement weather) and on budget.
- Scheme won numerous awards from the EEA (Energy Efficiency Association) for the extent of the works and the quality of the workmanship, plus the drastic redesign.
- Efficiency of the homes now surpasses that of new build properties.
- Obtained ECO funding and passed on to the client as a saving.
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