Ahead of construction work starting on site at Little Cross Street in Northampton, Fusion Building Systems took tenants and senior personnel of Northampton Partnership Homes (NPH) on a tour of its manufacturing facility, where the light gauge steel superstructures for their new housing will be designed and made.
The tour was an opportunity for the offsite manufacturer in partnership with NPH to engage future residents in the construction of their new homes.
An explanation of the design and manufacturing process was presented to NPH’s Planned Investment Service Improvement Panel (SIP) tenants, as well as information on the energy efficiency benefits of living in a home built with a pre-insulated light gauge steel frame. Following a question and answer session, the visitors were then taken on a tour of the manufacturing facility where they saw how a coil of light gauge steel was formed into the walls and floors of a new home and experienced Fusion’s patented insulation system in action.
Helen Town, Head of Asset Management and Development at Northampton Partnership Homes, said:”It’s really important to us and our residents that we provide a build programme that works for residents, delivers new homes to an agreed schedule and minimises disruption in the local community. We’re pleased to be working with Fusion. They are a local business in Northampton with a trusted reputation for sustainable and secure offsite building.
“Our tenants influence and shape the decision making in NPH. We felt it was important to engage our community and provide the opportunity for residents to learn about this method of construction.”
Mike Fairey, Director at Fusion Building Systems, added:”This was the first time we’d explained the Fusion system to those who would potentially live in the properties and I’m pleased to say our guests from NPH were thoroughly engaged. The factory tour in particular is always quite eye-opening, when visitors see how less than one coil of the light gauge steel (roughly 1m in diameter) is used to form the entire frame of one house.
“We hope the personnel and tenants of NPH will tell their colleagues and neighbours about what they learnt. And certainly from Fusion’s perspective, the questions asked during the visit will help us to develop our product and the explanation of our system, to help developers and communities alike, understand the opportunities and benefits of light gauge steel and offsite construction.”
Contracted through Willmott Partnership Homes, Fusion is scheduled to start a six-week build programme this Autumn for NPH, erecting the superstructures of 18 apartments and maisonettes at Little Cross Street in Northampton.
