The SmartLIFE Housing Demonstration project was conducted to find the best ways the UK can deliver a greater volume of sustainable, affordable and high quality homes in less time, using both traditional and innovative methods of construction.
SmartLIFE - Lessons learned details the findings from the project which involved a massive 140,000 hours of monitoring across three development sites in the towns of Chatteris and March. Issues such as build speed, build quality, the sustainability of the construction process and the related costs of the resulting houses were assessed and recorded for each of the construction methods: timber frame; light guage steel frame; insulated concrete formwork and traditional brick and block construction.
Speaking at the launch, Oliver Novakovic, director of housing futures at BRE, said: "Research in the field of construction methodology is so lacking that often it is difficult for developers or contractors to compare and select the right approach for their requirements - whether conventional brick and block methods or Modern Methods of Construction- we now have such a robust body of knowledge that will inform and enlighten our approach to future housebuilding..."
The new report SmartLIFE - Lessons Learned is published by IHS BRE Press as BRE Report BR500. It includes a CD-ROM with a detailed report on the site measurements.
