Steel frames are the fastest way to build homes

A lightweight steel frame offers the fastest way to build sustainable, affordable and high quality homes. This is according to a BRE study, known as the SmartLife Housing Demonstration Project, conducted to find the best ways to deliver a greater volume of homes in less time.

BRE’s Director of Innovation and Housing, Oliver Novakovic, said the organisation had carried out the

study because of the lack of data showing how cost effective and quick modern building methods of construction were.

He said the study’s findings showed housebuilders had to become more efficient.

“We now have a robust body of knowledge that will inform and enlighten our approach to future house building – once the current credit crisis abates,” he said.

Dr Bassam Burgan, Chair of the Steel Homes Group, said: “For a long time we have been saying that light gauge steel offers a quicker, cheaper alternative to other forms of construction, and it is great to see that recognised in a well respected study.”

The construction of 106 homes on three Cambridgeshire sites formed the basis for the study. The same house types were built using

four methods: brick and block, lightweight steel frame, panelised timber frame and concrete formwork.

The highest achieving system used in terms of speed and cost was light gauge steel frame. On a site with unproblematic access and storage, a steel frame house took an average of 800 man hours per house to build, followed by the next best performer, brick and block.