Flagship project for East Midlands Housing Association for a ‘hard to treat’ home
Providing a cost effective solution for a detatched house with circa 1900s thermal insulation values.
East Midlands Housing Association (EMHA), is an independent, not-for-profit organisation providing homes for people unable to buy or rent on the open market.
The organisation has been working closely with local authorities and specialised agencies to provide homes to address a wide range of needs and they now have over 6000 affordable homes available for families, the elderly and those requiring additional support.
The specific challenge with this project, was to find a cost effective solution for a detatched house with circa 1900s thermal insulation values. Also key, was to modernise the house, keeping some of the original features, but without the need for decamping or significant disruption to the tenant and their family.
Mark Group had already worked closely with EMHA to install over 100 measures of loft and cavity wall insulation in their housing stock. However, EMHA were not aware of alternative methods of insulation for their hard to treat homes, so following an inspection of the property, Mark Group offered them the chance to try an External Wall Insulation System (EWI).
The technical team proposed that a Alumasc Swisslab External Wall Insulation system was the best solution for the property and in May 2009, the works commenced.
The work itself took 12 working days to complete (the tenant continued to live in the property during the works) and has been an unqualified success.
Prior to the work commencing, the thermal performance of the property was 2.14W/m2k. Post installation the thermal performance of the property was up to current building regulations, 0.35w/m2k. Furthermore, the work has eliminated issues with damp, condensation and maintenance.