Saint-Gobain Off-Site Solutions has unveiled Thermistud, a closed panel timber solution, to help housebuilders and affordable housing providers efficiently construct high performing homes.
Thermistud has been designed in response to the UK government's drive for sustainable off-site construction, helping housing providers maximise premanufactured value (PMV) and meet the upcoming Future Homes Standard.
Offered via Scotframe and designed to be compatible with other Saint-Gobain products, the closed panel timber solution provides a scalable solution for building sustainable and energy-efficient homes.
The wall system benefits from the repeatability and quality associated with off-site manufacturing, with a flexible design which enables a Thermistud based design to be tailored to each project’s unique requirements, while still delivering projects at speed on site.
Thermistud is built through the combination of established technologies and is designed to help customers achieve a better thermal performance than that required for current building regulations. The use of an engineered timber stud reduces thermal bridging within the panel and is combined with a mineral wool core to form a closed panel solution that achieves a U-value as low as 0.13 W/m2k. Thermistud wall panels can be used with lightweight modern cladding solutions, or with traditional brick facades, dependent on the project’s need. When combined with lightweight cladding solutions, the wall thicknesses needed to achieve low u-values can often fit within a standard masonry wall width, meaning that enhanced thermal performance can be added within existing building layouts without loss of usable space or land.
With the inclusion of membranes, service zones and externally fitted battens, the system speeds up on-site build time and, when combined with suitable flooring and roofing solutions, delivers a high-performing fabric.
The result is a solution with a performance point that can exceed the expected wall requirements likely to be needed by the Future Home Standard without the need for additional site-installed insulation. However, the wall panel is only part of the solution needed for whole house performance, the Saint-Gobain’s product offer also includes structural roof and floor solutions and is supported by a design service that helps the client create a building that meets the whole life needs of its users.
Tom Cox, Technical and Development Director at Saint-Gobain Off-Site Solutions, said: “By supplying whole-house fabric solutions with complementary service offers, rather than individual components, we can be confident of performance and quality.
“Together, we can work with design teams to understand how solutions such as Thermistud work to meet and exceed a client’s design brief. Understanding how our systems work at a total fabric level and the complex relationship with other key areas of design such and heating and hot water provisions will enable clients to deliver high performing, sustainable and comfortable homes.”
From concept to reality
Thermistud has already been delivered as part of the eHome2 concept home, a collaborative partnership between Saint-Gobain UK & Ireland and Saint-Gobain Off-Site Solutions, Barratt Developments, and the University of Salford.
Built at the university’s globally unique £16m Energy House 2.0 facility (part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund) the project aims to accelerate progress towards low carbon and net zero housing with a programme of rigorous whole-building testing.
eHome2 is monitoring the thermal performance, energy efficiency, running costs and residential comfort of the concept home as well as its ability to cope with extreme temperatures and climatic conditions.
Ross Baxter, Managing Director of Saint-Gobain Off-Site Solutions, said: “In the UK we are really struggling to tackle the housing crisis; we have got to find better ways to build high quality, affordable homes.
“Several years ago, we united a number of brands – Pasquill, Scotframe, Intrastack and Roofspace Solutions – under the banner of an off-site division which aims to help achieve this.
“While each has its own product range and area of expertise, together we’re greater than the sum of our parts, providing joint solutions rather than individual components. This is further strengthened by the group backing of our global parent company, Saint-Gobain.
“As such, we’ve introduced Thermistud as an incredibly flexible off-site system designed to meet the needs of affordable housing providers and other scale housebuilders to increase supply in an efficient and sustainable way.”
