IN AN AGE when houses in many areas cost more than five times the average salary, the pressure to increase housing supply, not least affordable housing, is huge. Nowhere is this demand felt more acutely than in the social housing sector, where the Housing Corporation plans to provide 84,000 affordable new homes by 2008.

Secretary of State Ruth Kelly recently launched the Code for Sustainable Homes, which set a new national standard for sustainable housebuilding. Containing a raft of measures to which housebuilders must adhere to assess new homes’ environmental performance. The code, which will be mandatory from April 2008, is adding to current pressures on the industry.

As a result local authorities and housing associations are faced with potentially conflicting priorities; homes must be high quality yet affordable, they need to be built quickly yet meet exacting environmental criteria and, equally important, they must create neighbourhoods where people want both to live and work. It is such exacting criteria as this that is leaving the public building sector with something of a headache.

Yet a solution to these problems in the guise of off-site manufacture waits in the wings. Steel based housing systems developed using offsite techniques offer high quality, affordable homes with minimal environmental impact to meet the demand for delivery of sustainable homes for future generations.

By using offsite construction, steel framing can provide housebuilders and developers with a real and practical alternative to traditional methods of construction, speeding up build times and delivering adaptable homes that offer the occupiers the many benefits of steel, including increased thermal efficiency and enhanced acoustic performance. Both of which are vital considerations in the social housing sector.

The end product regularly exceeds regulatory targets and satisfies the most demanding EcoHomes “Excellent” ratings.

High-performing homes

Steel frame can incorporate applied insulation, cavity details and, working in conjunction with multiple resilient material layers. It brings advantages such as exceptional acoustic and thermal performance. As well as being acknowledged and enjoyed by end occupants, this performance is regularly confirmed through post completion testing, case studies and the granting of Robust Detail status. These are vital factors in the development of affordable, high density housing to ensure the occupier has a high standard of comfortable accommodation.

Part L regulations, along with the Code for Sustainable Homes, are designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Steel frame can comfortably meet or exceed Part L of the Building Regulations. A project at Oxford Brookes University, consisting of three student flats and a staff house that uses steel frame, demonstrated this. The inhabitants discovered that not only did they benefit from reduced heating costs, they also had a shorter heating season, switching on as late as November and off again earlier in the spring. In addition, it was proven that the frame did not degrade over time or require maintenance to remain effective.

A lot of heat energy is required to change the temperature of high density materials, whereas ‘warm frame’ light steel structures heat up very quickly. This is an important consideration for today’s modern living trends and high performance expectations. In fact, the Steel Construction Institute claims that a house with high thermal mass can cost up to 30% more to heat than one with low thermal mass. Combine this with high standards of air-tightness offered by warm frame construction, and the occupant benefits from a warm, draught-free internal environment, where energy consumption and associated utility bills are reduced. This is an important consideration for social housing providers whose tenants have low incomes and where fuel poverty is well publicised.

Sustainable offsite social homes

At present, homes built using offsite methods are in the minority, although all signs point towards substantial growth in coming years. The offsite market in the residential market is expected to increase three-fold to £300m by 2009 and last year over £1bn of new investment through the Housing Corporation used some form of modern construction method. This resulted in over 70,000 people living in social rented homes built last year using offsite processes.

The historic post war misconception that offsite prefabrication methods can result in cheaper, low performing and drab housing is now clearly a thing of the past. Steel system technology is proving how offsite construction works hand-in hand with good design whilst maximising costeffectiveness to deliver high quality sustainable homes offering flexible space options to suit any lifestyle.

Produced in controlled factory conditions that ensure accurate, quality workmanship, offsite construction is more predictable than other forms of construction.

Flexible and market focused automation within the manufacturing system enables the production of a range of bespoke structures from standard components. We call this ‘invisible standardisation’ and it facilitates end structures designed to fit awkward spaces, thereby optimising brownfield land, reducing costs and waste, and enabling rapid assembly on site.

With its speed of construction, cost effectiveness, outstanding performance, and unrivalled sustainable qualities, light steel systems provide a genuine opportunity for the construction industry to meet growing, and sometimes conflicting demands in providing affordable housing.