Welcome to the Big Build Blog – 2009 edition!
Follow progress as we add three new homes and refit and refurbishing two other buildings that will play a key role for INSITE09 at BRE in June. Pictures are posted a week or so after being taken.
Enjoy the read, and remember to book your INSITE09 tickets to come along and see the completed buildings in June.
Words and pictures: Peter White at BRE. Photographs are copyright, and the comments here are my personal observations.
Update 28 April.My last update brought us to the beginning of April. This posting brings us right up to date. The Renewable House, always expected to be first to complete, is well advanced, with external render and the internal second fix underway. The Creo building, which at 17m tall will be far and away the largest building of the Innovation Park so far is now rising rapidly... If you're new to this page, read the earlier postings below first. |
First two weeks of April - at the Renewable House...   |
| Above: Internal plasterboarding was fitted, here in the bathroom; guttering added to the roof; and the Juliet balcony installed outside the master bedroom. |
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| Airless spray-applied plastering in progress upstairs, and in the loft the heat recovery ventilation system has been installed. Also the first layer of sheep wool insulation can be seen between the rafters. |
| and on the Creo site... |
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Above left: The Bullivant team are introduced to the BASF Neopor blocks of the Creo system, and right, with the first row of ICF in situ, work begins to roll out the underfloor heating pipework (These 2 photos and below left from Sophie Roland) |
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Above left: The floor slab was cast the following day, seen here part way through, and shortly afterwards once complete. This is only part of the ground floor area, and is where the food retail unit will be located. To the left (out of shot)is the main stairwell area of the building |
14 to 27 April -The Creo building:   |
| Above: The process of building the ICF system begins. Here we see the first sections of reinforcing bar being wired to the starter bars, and in the right hand show, a section of sacrificial polystyrene protects the connecting 'nodules' of the blocks from concrete splash as... |
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| ...the mobile tower crane readies to swing the concrete hopper into the site. In order to form a solid base, the first pour only fills a low section of formwork. Once cured, later sections can be cast in much deeper pours of up to 1500mm at a time. The Creo build is being undertaken by Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd. |
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| WIth the first sections cured, the ICF Creo formwork rapidly builds up like a child's toy. Centre shot: looking down onto the site. The scaffold here is only 10m tall - the final building will be 17m at the highest point. And right, later sections of formwork being filled, to complete the ground floor wall. |
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| By 23 April, the beams of the beam-and-block floor have been placed. The block infill is again Creo/Neopor, which has additional insulation and the floor slab reinforcement laid over it (seen in the right hand shot) before the concrete is placed. This floor was cast on Friday 24 April.
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| and the Renewable House up to 24 April... |
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| 20 April: I arrived with the camera to catch the last piece of the timber cladding that encloses the gable end being fixed, while inside, the kitchen units were being fitted. |
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| Above, 21 April: Work begins to apply a weatherproofing lime render to the Hempcrete walls. This is the base coat: the top coat will go on next week |
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| 22 April: Second-fix electrics in the now complete kitchen. The right hand shot is from a similar angle to the artist's impression and shows that completion is not far off. The scaffold will be struck in a couple more weeks... Have you booked your tickets to see INSITE09 yet? Book now to see the Renewable House and the other nine full scale exhibits, or join us for one or more days of the four day conference |
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And the final few for this installment, all Thursday 23 April: The Worcester air source heat pump and the porch that surrounds it; the beginnings of heat pump plumbing in the hallway (to be insulated and boxed in later); and one of the high-efficiency LED downlights in the kitchen ceiling. Did you see the Renewable House on Sky News? Broadcast over the weekend, you can watch BRE's Jaya Skandamoorthy's piece to camera here on the Sky News website |
Daily update - find me on Twitter | Remember to book your INSITE09 tickets to see the completed buildings in June. |