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Building Energy Efficiency and Sustainability
News Release from: Traditional Housing Bureau | Subject: Lobbying for modern masonry construction
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 03 October 2005
Lobbying for modern masonry construction
THB is a lobbying body for the modern masonry construction industry communicating all the performance advantages of brick and block construction to the consumer and the housing industry.
Established in the 1980s the THB is a lobbying body for the modern masonry construction industry communicating all the performance advantages of brick and block construction to the consumer and the housing industry Traditional housing construction accounts for approximately 85% of the current UK new build housing market
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 27 Nov 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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The THB's membership comprises 95% of all modern concrete masonry producers and as such represents an important sector of the construction industry.
The THB already has the support of leading manufacturers, suppliers, builders' merchants and associated trade bodies.
Members of these associations work closely underneath the umbrella of the THB to counter the threats to, and misrepresentation of, masonry building techniques.
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Housing pressure group the Traditional Housing Bureau says that a recent report deflates the Government's championing of lightweight construction methods.
The THB is working hard to dispel the myth that the Egan report advocates prefabrication, which has led to the apparent support of the Government for timber frame, prefabrication and panellised systems as a solution to the current housing crisis.
The THB's present activities are centred on informing and educating the debate on off-site construction methods, believing that modern masonry construction with its long lifespan, adaptability and cost efficiency - of up to 10% compared to alternative methods - makes for a far more sustainable and long lasting future for our communities than lightweight prefabricated methods.
The THB believes that sustainable communities can only be created by building solid, durable homes that can be adapted to suit contemporary living requirements - something that brick and block housing has already been doing for far longer than 60 years - enabling them to last for generations.
This is a view which is beginning to be more widely held in the industry in particular in light of Kate Barkers review on housing, which found that masonry construction can be as quick as off site competitors and often proves to be a cheaper build method.
And with recent comments made by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) highlighting the concerns of insurers about the lifespan of lightweight prefabricated structures and questioning the potential social and economic cost of fire in modular constructed homes the case for lightweight prefabricated construction is beginning to look flimsy.
Building homes is a large responsibility that stretches far beyond the actual job of producing houses.
Communities and whole social fabrics are created from the physical environment of buildings.
The THB believes the current preoccupation with modular and off-site construction goes against what the public actually want from their homes.
The consumer preference for brick and block construction is backed up by research.
The THB has conducted three separate MORI polls since 1994, which have concluded that 90% of the house buying public want to live in homes with attributes that relate to brick and block houses.
Benefits offered by brick and block construction such as maintaining an even temperature, good sound insulation and achieving a high resale price were viewed particularly favourably.
Ultimately the THB believes that the general public has a Right to Know" the method of construction of their home and what that actually means in terms of its performance and how this may affect how they enjoy their home, its durability and in light of property replacing pensions in many instances, its value over time to ensure that the house they choose to buy is the house they would choose to live in.
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