Eco BCI joists by Boise for sheltered housing

Boise has been selected to have their BCI joists utilised for the Queens Road Very Sheltered Housing scheme in Bristol as they offer an economic alternative to traditional timber flooring.

The Queens Road Very Sheltered Housing (VSH) scheme is located in the Withywood area of Bristol.

Specialist contractor Screedflo Limited, based in Maldon, Essex, offers clients and consultants a radically different approach to floor construction by combining a dry batched, pumped screed with engineered timber floor beams to achieve an extremely flat, rugged and defect-free structure.

It was these advantages of speed and quality which led to the system being specified for the housing scheme by noma Architects, contractors Leadbitter and the developer, Brunelcare.

David Cecil of Screedflo comments: "We operate six vehicle-mounted batching plants across the UK and partner with a number of joist manufacturers in order to offer customers choice.

One of the advantages for us with the BCI joists is that the calculation of the initial deflections of the floor are all built into the Boise software; so we can tell immediately if the design comes within the structural tolerances, particularly the maximum deflection allowable under NHBC guidelines.

"The batching is computer controlled so it produces the exact quality and quantity the customer wants, so there is no waste and 30% less water content.

The system is ideal for creating an acoustic separating floor on joist structures and we are working towards Robust Detail approval.

It is also the only system with full third party certification for covering underfloor heating installation, either wet or electric.

The project architect for noma, Mr Paul Thornton, adds: "Utilising a design solution such as this with underfloor heating enables us to safeguard the frail elderly residents in this 'very sheltered' accommodation, rather than fitting low surface temp radiators.

We wanted a floor which could take the weight and offer very good sound reduction, so having researched the market we specified Screedflo and Boise as a certificated system".

At the Queens Road VSH, the underfloor heating system was installed by MecServe, the mechanical and electrical engineers for the project.

Although Boise's BCI joists can achieve far greater spans, the structural grid for the housing scheme only required the manufacturer to produce 4.5m lengths to span between main supports and the outside walls.

Secured in position, they were then covered in flooring grade OSB and the system's special slip membrane which is turned up at all room perimeters.

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