Hanson House 1
At the end of May 2005, Hanson had completed a two storey house with below ground basement and integral garage on an area of land within the grounds of the Building Research Establishment at Bucknall Lane, Watford, England.
The Hanson House was constructed as a demonstration project specifically for the BRE Offsite 05 event which took place from 6th to 9th June 2005. The house will remain on site for display, training and developmental purposes.
The load-bearing elements of the structure were constructed using prefabricated panelised concrete and masonry wall and floor units with the roof formed from prefabricated insulated panels.
The outer face of the external walls were clad with Hanson's brick faced Wonderwall system. The system comprises thin preformed plastic backing panels fixed to a 25mm insulating sheet. The panels were screw fixed to the outer blockwork face and were finished by gluing Hanson's brick slips to the surface of the preformed panel.
The building system(s) is flexible enough to meet the current and proposed requirements for Part L of the Building Regulations and due to the extensive use of precast concrete the structure offers excellent sound insulation as an inherent benefit.
The below ground basement will also highlight the extra usable space benefit that can be achieved on restricted sites.
The overall objective of the construction was to promote Hanson's range of building products and services whilst reinforcing Hanson's commitment to product development.
Although the house looks and feels solid and conventional, it was constructed using a mixture of building systems and products that can be assembled more quickly, produce less waste and prove safer than some traditional methods since the erection process precludes the involvement of untrained personnel.