From the May issue of 'Housing Association magazine'

“Social housing accommodation has moved on in unrecognisable terms in the last decade”, says Frame Wise MD Simon Orrells. “In a similar way to private housing the challenge is to develop a scheme that appeals to a broad range of tenants or co owners that not only looks architecturally beautiful but also meets the very exacting requirements of the Registered Provider in terms of sustainability and speed of build – this is a challenge, but the very reason why timber frame is perfect in the social housing market.”

From the moment a Housing Association receives its funding it’s vital that the build can get underway, add to that the pressure to build homes for people that really need them, the challenge to build quickly and get it right first time is unique to this part of the housing market. Simon continues: “the social housing market has a unique set of criteria by which it needs to build homes, unlike the private housing market where homes are built almost to demand, the necessity to build homes quickly in the social housing market means that timber frame really suits this market. It’s not uncommon for our government-funded clients to ask us to build 30 homes in 5 weeks and reach Code level 4 at the same time – this would be an expensive gamble in any other build method. Add to that the complexity of building schemes on restricted sites or infill sites in town centre locations then the ability to build offsite really plays a critical role.”

“All of our clients have come to realise that the simplest and most cost effective means of building homes to higher Codes is by building in timber frame – if you get the fabric of the building working efficiently by utilising exacting methods of offsite construction then the need to rely on expensive add on renewables is much reduced. Housing Associations have a heavy financial burden to maintain their housing stock for many years and if we can reduce some of the financial burden of maintaining expensive renewable technologies then surely that has to be a much better prospect for our clients.”

For more information please contact Frame Wise Ltd on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or telephone 01544 260125, we look forward to speaking to you….