Wienerberger's clay blocks chosen for care home

Baxter and King Construction has employed the Porotherm clay block walling system from Wienerberger at its latest care home development in Corby, Northamptonshire.

The project being carried out by the care home contractor is being built for Seagrave Care Developments, and marks one of the largest single orders of Porotherm since it was launched to the UK market last year.

Construction of the 72-bed care home is being undertaken by main contractor Baxter and King Construction who have specialised in health care construction for more than 20 years.

Work started in March and will incorporate the use of 5,200m2 of the precision engineered Porotherm blocks over three storeys.

The Porotherm system was recommended to Seagrave by Baxter and King following a demonstration at the Porotherm Training Centre, based at E H Smith Builders Merchant in Longbridge, Birmingham.

The speed of construction, lower volume of in-built water and reduction in post-build snagging, make the system suitable for the construction of health care facilities.

It is estimated that the construction schedule of the building will be reduced by up to six weeks through the use of Porotherm rather than traditional building methods.

The thin joint bed mortar, used to bond the blocks, uses 95 per cent less water than traditional mortar, enabling the building to be dry and water tight far quicker than when traditional masonry products are used.

This means that Baxter and King will be able to start the internal first fix sooner.

The performance credentials of Porotherm have been validated by CERAM, the internationally acclaimed testing laboratory, which has confirmed the system meets levels required by the UK's Codes of Practice and building regulations.

Offering a modern construction method, with the traditional values of clay, Porotherm is suited for both monolithic construction, with external render, or as the inner leaf of a double skin of cavity walling when finished with an external facing brick.

Used correctly, the system can significantly increase construction speeds with 10m2 per man per hour realistically achievable.

It is a virtually dry, efficient, strong, safe and environmentally-friendly method which offers commercial benefits through increased labour productivity and shorter project programmes.

It has excellent thermal performance due to precision-engineered air pockets and has a Class A fire rating.

Porotherm uses less clay due to innovative design and contains a minimum of 20 per cent MARSS (recycled) content.

The block is up to 50 per cent lighter than other similar products of the same size due to perforations and smooth-edged design, also adding to safety standards on site.

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