The latest news and developments from BIG

Jake Reilly: New face at BuildItGreen

From working in East London, Jake moved to Dorset and has recently joined our specialist team to construct SIP houses.

Jake has a wealth of experience including Joinery, Furniture Making, Art Exhibition stands and timber frame housing.

James Dickinson, Managing Director said: "We are very pleased that Jake is working with us. He is someone with a keen eye for detail and precision, and enjoys producing work of the highest quality".

Is this the perfect house? It could be, say Bellway!

It's green, virtually defect free, cheap to heat and takes 8 weeks to build!!

It is the house builder's conundrum: how to build a virtually defect-free house that is cheap to heat and environmentally friendly in 8 weeks! Plot 64 (A Bellway Homes development) The Coppice, Tudhoe, County Durham does, to all intents and purposes, look like any other Bellway Montague style (3 bedroom) house. But this is a very special house, a very special house - indeed!

Plot 64's foundations were laid, just like any other house. From there on, the construction could not have been more different. This house has been built by using the latest and most radical developments in Structural Insulated Panels (or SIPs). Essentially, panels made in a factory and delivered by road; significantly three people erected the panels, one of whom was a crane driver. The results, thus far, have been remarkable!

Iain Skeoch is Bellway's Group Product Development Manager with responsibility for bringing the project to fruition. "We are delighted with the way the scheme has come together. The speed of construction has been phenomenal - about half the time of a conventional "brick and block" house. But there are even more derived benefits. The house is environmentally friendly, cheap to heat and has incredibly low U values."

"We are committed to monitoring the quality of the product," says Bellway Chief Executive, John Watson. " A defect free house is high on our agenda and we intend to monitor the house every 3 months." To enable them to do this Bellway have agreed to pay the running costs of the property for the first 12 months. Comparison can then be made with the conventional three-bedroom Montague type. Five bedrooms could be cheaper than three; more space - lower bills!

So could this spell the end of the traditional "brick and block" house? No one yet knows but at least one major house builder has been prepared to invest in the new technology. Measuring the benefits of the new house will be Bellways next task. "One clear benefit should be a virtually defect free house" Iain Skeoch concludes, "with the house almost ready for the market we need to be satisfied that this house will benefit our customers. Bellway believe it will" It could mean dramatic changes for Britains' house builders.

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