Reinforced frame

Columns, beams and floor slabs cast on your plot in steel reinforced concrete. The walls between them carry nothing but themselves, which is why the rooms can be the shape you want.

Section through an external wall at first floor level. Not to scale.

1Render or brick slipsSilicone render on mesh, or 20 mm brick slips bonded to the block.
2Insulated block infill300 mm aerated block with a mineral core. The wall reaches U 0.18 without a separate cavity.
3Plaster, insideWet plaster on the block, taped at the frame junctions, which is where airtightness is won or lost.
4Floor slab200 mm solid slab in C32/40, two layers of bar. No bounce, no squeak and a real sound barrier.
5Edge beamCast with the slab and wrapped in 60 mm insulation so the frame does not make a cold line round the house.
6Damp proof courseRun through the wall at ground floor level and lapped under the render bead. The columns either side, 300 x 300 mm with four or six bars, are cast the same day as the edge beam above them.

At every pour

BS 4449

Grade B500B bar, delivered with mill certificates and cut to the engineer’s schedule in Litherland.

C32/40

Ready mixed to BS 8500 from a plant with third party certification. Delivery tickets kept for every load.

3 cubes

Taken from each pour and crushed at 7 and 28 days by an independent lab. Results go in your handover file.

Sign off

Building control sees the steel before the concrete goes in. Nothing is covered up that has not been looked at.

Next to the other ways of building

	Concrete frame	Timber frame	Brick and block
Frame up, two storeys	4 to 6 weeks	1 to 2 weeks	8 to 10 weeks
Open plan spans	Up to 7 m, no steel	About 5 m	Needs steel beams
Sound between floors	Solid slab, best	Needs extra layers	Depends on the floor
Fire	Non combustible	Protected by board	Non combustible
Cost, shell	Mid	Lowest	Mid to high
Mortgage and warranty	Accepted with a warranty	Accepted	Accepted

Timber frame goes up faster, and we say so. A concrete frame wins on span, sound and how the house feels to live in. Lenders treat it as standard construction once the structural warranty is in place.

Who builds it

Est. 1998