Following an extensive tender process Alsecco were successful in securing a contract for the refurbishment of Regenda Homes’ housing stock in Fleetwood, Lancashire. This particular housing stock in suffered as a result of the often cold, damp and harsh coastal location. Previous cavity wall insulation measures were deemed inappropriate and ineffective and contributed to high proportions of fuel poverty amongst residents, so improving the thermal properties of these houses was essential for their wellbeing. The programme therefore began with removal of the inappropriately installed cavity wall insulation and subsequent installation of measures to deem the properties suitable for external wall insulation.

Alsecco attended a series of meetings with Regenda and their construction arm M&Y to plan the design work to retain the character of the properties and achieve best in class external wall installation alongside additional measures such as reroofing, improved loft insulation and window and door upgrades. From the outset it was clear that one of the stand out elements in this design phase was a complete unity of design between all the elements going on; roofing interfaces to EWI, EWI below dpc with groundworks, etc. so that the best possible design for the whole house was achieved – a real collaborative feel for the benefit of the occupants that you don’t necessarily see in all projects.

Some of the careful considerations and design challenges that the teams overcame were:

• Preserving the ornate concrete window details & mullions that gave so much to the character of the streets
• Removing concrete canopies to allow consistent application of the external insulation
• Applying Meldorfer lightweight brickslips to recreate the original stepping between ground floors and upper floors and to visually tie the properties into those private properties where external wall insulation would not be applied
• Installing insulation below the dpc level – a complete EWI solution to reduce cold bridging to an absolute minimum and involving the groundworks excavation around all properties
• Achieving a homogenous design approach between external wall insulation, pitched roofing works and specialist bespoke insulated window cill designs

Alsecco used its extensive experience in the retrofitting of solid wall properties to provide design recommendations and suitable system specifications prior to the work commencing. The installation and site management teams were briefed and trained in the specifics of the Alsecco Ecomin 300 system and regular site visits were conducted throughout the installation phase to ensure that work was carried out to specification as well as on-site problem solving to overcome issues specific to certain properties.

Alongside the Customer Liaison team, Alsecco also attended resident briefing explaining the benefits of external wall insulation and how to achieve bill savings through better use of space heating.