Articles

Metrotile Lightweight Roofing originated in New Zealand over 40 years ago, demonstrating that you should expect so much more from a product as established as the traditional roof tile.

The concept is deceptively simple – press roof tiles from a highly durable, modern material (in this case, the highest quality steel), galvanise with an aluminium, magnesium and zinc (ZAM) compound and cover with a stone-chip coating. The result is a roof tile that, to this day, exceeds the expectations of a traditional modern roof tile by a significant margin and can be seen on rooftops all over the world.

Stannah Lifts has supplied and installed (and will maintain) 38 lift products in Imperial Green, a high-specification development of 75, two-, three- and four-bedroom townhouses and apartments in Hythe, a peaceful, coastal market town on the fringe of Romney Marsh.

Location: Imperial Green nestles in the landscaped grounds of The Hythe Imperial   Hotel, a recently rejuvenated, 19th-century edifice on Princes Parade, overlooking the   English Channel.
Total cost: £4.2 million
Project duration: 2 years.
Award winner: Imperial Green won the prestigious NHBC 2016 accolade, with Phase I   shortlisted for the Kent Design Awards 2012.

Eleanor Johnson, Market Manager for Fittings at Pegler Yorkshire looks at how a combination of push and press technology is becoming a system of choice for more and more plumbing installers and how Housing Associations can identify quality fittings.

It is clear that today’s Housing Associations and their plumbing installers are much more likely to opt for a system that provides cost and time saving benefits over traditional forms of jointing.  Both quality metal push and press systems offer these benefits in abundance!

Figures from the National Housing Federation’s Home Truths report reveal that the average London home now costs £526,000 - 16 times the average Londoner’s salary of £33,000 a year. However, if the mayor does commit to offering the sector priority access to public land, could housing associations help save the day?

The report marked the launch of the 100,000 Affordable Homes for London campaign – an offer from London’s housing associations to help the next mayor tackle the current 151,000-home deficit.

Low supply and high prices are not the only barriers to homeownership highlighted by the research. Rent in the capital now averages £1,461; around a third of the people’s pay packets. 

The social housing sector has been amongst the first to really embrace renewable heating in a drive to combat fuel poverty and bring down carbon emissions.  With leading heat pump manufacturer, Mitsubishi Electric launching a new range of Ultra Quiet Ecodan units,HA Magazine visits the company’s manufacturing plant in Livingston to find out more.

The Ecodan range of air source heat pumps has led the market over the past decade with what Mitsubishi Electric claim are “amongst the quietest on the market and designed to provide any home with reliable, trouble-free renewable heating and hot water.”

What is retrofitting, exactly?
For the purposes of this article, I’m referring to ‘Retrofitting’ as the refurbishment of domestic and non-domestic buildings to reduce energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions.
In particular, this refers to projects that make major changes across the entire building to significantly reduce energy usage that require design by specialists.

Nobody was spared from feeling the chill last month as the polar vortex nicknamed "Beast From The East" spiralled in from the arctic, heralding an unusual beginning for Spring. However, despite worsening weather and widespread fuel poverty, a new report from energy think tank e3g indicates a 58% cut in public investment in warm homes in England since 2012.

In stark comparison, Scotland spends four times as much per citizen as England on energy efficiency. Wales spends twice as much as England on insulation per person, and Northern Ireland three times as much.