Specifying NOW – for Tomorrow’s Standards

Faced with rising energy demand and dramatically rising costs, the case for improving the energy efficiency of buildings has never been stronger. Climate Change, political disruption and depleting natural resources all add pressure on the construction industry to improve its methods and standards to cope with the effects of challenging environmental conditions.

Traditional building methods and specifications are proving expensive and time consuming when built to today’s - never mind tomorrow’s – standards, and most MMCs have yet to prove cost effective or flexible enough to satisfy vernacular considerations.

ICF, Insulated Concrete Formwork, is one modern method of construction that has the flexibility and range of performance to meet all future demands. The materials are proven, robust in service and, within the timescale of growing a tree, will have reduced embodied carbon well within the definition of environmental sustainability.

Today, however, the greater problem is one of reducing carbon emissions from buildings, and the simplest way to do this is by designing the fabric to minimise energy losses, - and indeed controlling the energy gains that are a problem increasingly associated with the lighter weight building systems more common today.

The basic principle of designing FABRIC FIRST has tended to be overlooked in recent times as renewable energy devices were promoted as the modern solution to the nation’s problems. A FABRIC FIRST specification is, however, the most reliable and economic method of reducing a building’s energy demand and, incidentally, of serving to eliminate Fuel Poverty!.

BecoWallform ICF is an established building system employed worldwide in the construction of all project types – from multistorey developments to low cost housing, from military bunkers to individual prestige homes. The more general application is for all types of housing where aesthetics, reliable construction and cost are key parameters.

The Wallform (aka isorast) system was the first building system approved by the Passivhaus Institut in 1999 and is designed to meet anticipated 2050 building standards. Typical construction details provide air tightness, eliminate thermal bridging and offer a choice of systems to satisfy structural, fire, acoustic and overall energy efficiency requirements.

For the Designer, BecoWallform provides the flexibility to design with greater freedom.

For the Specifier, the key areas of building performance are covered without the need to add other materials, membranes or protective layers to achieve just the minima. Other key components in the building design – floor, roof, services… - are easily incorporated in the design and the choice of claddings is not constrained.

For construction, the building process is not dissimilar to traditional practice, enabling current approved contractors to use existing resources and improve levels of productivity as well as standards of Health & Safety on site.

BecoWallform is a building system developed to be:

Flexible in Design - Practical in Specification - Economic in Construction

Beco WALLFORM - Building for the Future