Prefabricated Building - The construction industry looks to reduce its ...

Over the past few years, the construction industry has been considering its impact on the environment and has found that the industry needs to become more environmentally friendly and cut carbon costs.

To try and become more environmentally friendly, materials are being modified for prefabricated buildings along with permanent constructions, as developers are looking to meet the growing demands of the sector.

Prefabrication is being seen in a completely different light by many in the industry, in response to the move towards reaching energy efficiency targets.

The new and improved eco-homes being constructed across the UK often have major parts constructed off-site, with the intention of improving build quality, saving money and reducing carbon footprints. In Britain, the increased demand for new technologies across the construction industry has led to the timber frame sector having to make drastic changes to keep up with the demand.

Kingspan Potton commercial and sales director Tony Hutchinson recently told Timber Industry Magazine that: "Timber not only has the inherent advantage of renewability, it also lends itself to more sophisticated ways of cost and energy-efficient offsite prefabrication."

One of the most up to date products to be launched with regards to modular building is a new fully recyclable and reusable ecological building panel from Finland-based company Ruukki.

The whole point of the design of the new ?life panel' has been to ensure that non-renewable raw materials are rarely used. The main piece is the mineral wool core, 80 percent of which is recycled.

The wool core and the steel sheets which surround it are all recyclable. However, despite the recyclable materials, the main unique selling point is that the different wall sections are reusable.

The product is intended for exterior use in both industrial, commercial and logistics industries. Ruukki is hopeful that the outlook of being able to cut costs with regards to waste processing will prove attract to the construction industry.

Through using the panels, companies will also gain from the new and improved LEED and BREAM assessment scores, with the product also compliant with the highest BVB materials assessment class in Sweden.

Ruukki product group manager Pasi Terpeenniemi said: "It has traditionally been hard to find sustainable building components; the Ruukki life panel provides an ecological building option at a competitive price, without sacrificing quality."

Brendan Wilde writes on a range of topics from construction to technology.

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