I was recently invited to see a new form of construction developed in Bristol.
Tom Redfern and his team at Roundwood Design have thought very carefully about building highly insulated wall panels using cheap and recycled materials.
The result is very exciting and is a natural fit with their use of larch for building structural frames. Most natural timber framed buildings are constructed in oak which as well as being expensive has a serious problem of movement which makes it unsuitable for airtight construction. As well as being cheap and locally grown larch has the important advantage of remaining static.
While I champion SIPs construction it has to be admitted that it has become more expensive over the last few years and can be hard to justify on cost grounds. But also the UK building industry’s attitude towards innovation is staggeringly negative and has clearly slowed the uptake of SIPS.
Illustration courtesy of Roundwood Design
Roundwood Design’s table.