Palgrave Brown EcoHomes support service

Palgrave Brown is helping a Taylor Woodrow project to gain valuable EcoHomes credits with its EcoHomes assessment support service.

When Taylor Woodrow (under the Bryant Homes brand) was awarded the English Partnerships tender for a sensitive development of over 800 houses on the site of a former hospital in Hampshire, an eco-friendly approach was essential, because of the landowning Government's strict environmental criteria.

Situated on the edge of Basingstoke, Park Prewett was built nearly a century ago and today forms part of the Hospital Sites Programme portfolio.

The architect specified Western Red Cedar cladding for the houses and planning permission was granted on this basis.

Palgrave Brown was awarded the contract to provide cedar panels, but as the site was subject to the requirements of English Partnerships, the timber supplier's EcoHomes assessment support service offered to review the specification.

The service identified that Western Red Cedar rates poorly on the environmental impact of materials because of the distance it travels, and this enabled Palgrave Brown to offer Taylor Woodrow an alternative solution that would also be well received by English Partnerships.

The EcoHomes assessment support service suggested PlatoWood as an alternative - a heat-treated European softwood that compares to Western Red Cedar in terms of durability, class and aesthetics, but at a lower cost.

Contrary to popular perception and to the expectations of Taylor Woodrow, Palgrave Brown's greener solution is actually cheaper, delivering both significant savings and an improved environmental rating.

Andy Warren, key account manager at Palgrave Brown, explains, "Our EcoHomes assessment support service has really paid dividends for Taylor Woodrow".

"We don't just think about chain of custody, we also consider the environmental impact of materials, which in fact carries more weight under EcoHomes than responsible sourcing".

"PlatoWood scores on all fronts with a higher rating for environmental impact, FSC chain of custody to prove responsible sourcing and substantial cost benefits." For the Park Prewett development, PlatoWood timber panels varying in size from 1m x 1m up to 3m x 3m consisting of tongue and grooved boards framed by a mortice and tennon construction frame are bespoke produced.

Palgrave Brown is also supplying floors, roofs and doors for the Park Prewett development and deliveries of all products are scheduled on an 'as required' basis for the customer's convenience to minimise stock held on site.

For further information about Palgrave Brown, visit the website.

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