Skanska hands Tarmac five year ModernaHus deal

Skanska has handed a five-year deal to Tarmac for the supply of precast concrete components for ModernaHus, its residential housing solution.

The low carbon ModernaHus system has been used on a number of sites in Sweden where is comes close to Passivhaus standards. It has been adapted for the UK market to comply with Code for Sustainable Homes level three as standard and level five with add-ons.

The system is yet to be employed in the UK but it is in the running for use as part of the Olympic village.

Skanska’s chief executive, David Fison, explained: “It is an apartment system so the efficiencies are to be gained on larger schemes.

“We think the minimum number of storey's to gain the required efficiencies is three, and we can go up to eight with each additional storey making the system more cost effective.”

Tarmac is to manufacture the precast elements offsite, with Skanska delivering and assembling the finished product as a turnkey solution.

Significant investment has been made in Tarmac’s precast manufacturing site in Tallington, Lincolnshire and the company expects to expand the production facility further as orders come to fruition.

It intends to supply concrete panels complete with doors and windows, as well as offering a variety of cladding options depending on the local context. The largest panels will measure three metres in height by 10m in length, and all will include 150mm of embedded insulation.

Clive James, managing director of Tarmac Building Products, said the prefabricated residential solution would be ideal for the UK market.

He added: “The manufacturing process uses fewer materials compared to some more traditional build methods, and minimises waste and therefore the volume of waste sent to landfill.”

Fison continued: "The Government’s target of building around 200 new homes per week between now and 2013 means that there is a huge demand in the UK for affordable, high quality housing that actively reduces the burden on energy usage and the environment as a whole.

“We have come up with a series of different offerings. For example we can offer community heating and cooling. This will take a cultural shift but it has the potential to halve energy use.”

Commenting on the decision to partner with Tarmac he said: "Tarmac has the right technical expertise, manufacturing capacity and innovative thinking to partner us in the roll-out of this exciting concept in the UK."

BRE has certified that the ModernaHus is suitable as a prefabricated building system for use in construction in the UK.