TYPICAL construction time for a conventional house takes 4,000 hours – or nine months – with an average team of three people on site per house, then there's the fitting out, delays if the weather's bad... Where is this leading?
Well, to this house, and 17 more two, three and four-bedroom homes that are being constructed "Lego style" for a new homes site in Mansfield. They'll be built and fitted out in the factory and ready to move into within just four weeks. Can't be done?
Well, Derick Wilson has proved otherwise.
"Forget everything you know about construction," were the first words Mr Wilson said when I walked into the SpineLock factory in Mansfield. After just an hour of chatting to him and fellow executive Melody Stokes, I had begun to think of housing construction and "eco-homes" in a completely new way.
Mr Wilson isn't from a house building background and perhaps it takes someone with a fresh eye to see how some techniques could be improved.
In one swipe, he has not only reinvented how mass house building could be done but at the same time restructured how we heat and maintain our homes to create carbon neutral homes that look and cost the same as a traditional one but at what, he says, will have running costs of just £250 a year for a three-bed home.
The first thing that's different about this house is its construction. For a start, it's not on site. The house is not being built but engineered in the factory in four parts. Each part and interior component is measured to a point of a millimetre so everything fits precisely. Walls are built with building services concealed within their fabric (for instance wiring, including Virgin Media cabling, is already within the cavity along with water and sewage pipes), there are no exposed gutters or downpipes and even a patented anti-blocking gutter system. Lighting is fitted and even the flooring is laid – carpets and laminate.
The kitchen is fitted along with appliances and lighting and so is the first half of the staircase. Everything is installed prior to the structure being delivered to site, which means that SpineLock can "plug in" and check that everything is in good working order before it leaves the factory.
The whole house is finished in four separate sections in less than four weeks – the remaining couple of days needed to lift the four parts on to the back of a lorry (a combined weight of just eight tons) moved onto site where the landscaping has already been carried out, and the four parts placed on pile foundations and "zipped together" using Mr Wilson's innovative SpineLock joining system. Then it's a case of the utility providers coming along and making their connections.
Mr Wilson says: "Within two days of arriving on site the house is finished with the beds made and the sheets turned down." Hypothetically, of course.
So, how did this all come about? He says: "I'm an engineer and wanted to take a fresh look at house building." He's spent 15 years playing with renewables and five years working on developing the technologies.
"When I realised the housing market was in crisis I put the two together – fast construction and low running cost – to create housing that could be expertly built, quickly and solidly, at prices on a par with a conventional build but with the environmental systems in place to create low running costs and emissions.
"We're building homes like Henry Ford built cars," he says. He says various national home builders are showing interest in the technologies.
But as with any innovation there is an element of "is it safe?" Mr Wilson says that building control is happy with the system and he's expecting the BBA (British Board of Agrément) certificate to be through by September. The BBA is the UK's major authority offering approval and certification to manufacturers and installers supplying the construction industry.
He said: "This will mean our houses will comply to full European standards and will achieve NHBC and LABC certification by default as a BBA certificate is over and above the requirements of the NHBC."
BBA Approval is recognised by building control, government departments, architects, local authorities, specifiers, and industry insurers like the NHBC.
He said: "When we initially put in for planning we were put before a ten-person committee and approved by all."
Mansfield executive mayor Tony Egginton said: "I am thrilled that this company has chosen to invest in Mansfield and bring its pioneering technology to our district.
"The development will see new methods of house building using the latest in ecological and economical techniques.
"The method of construction is one which is pushing the barriers of low-cost living into an affordable market, as the building is designed with the end user in mind.
"More and more people are looking for homes which are more environmentally friendly and cost effective to live in. The high levels of insulation placed within these properties will mean that the cost to heat them will be considerably less than traditional houses."
Mr Wilson added: "These technologies are putting Mansfield on the map and creating jobs. We are aiming for job creation for 16 to 24 year olds who can work while completing a three-year training programme with the local college to gain a nationally recognised qualification.
"We're locally sourcing everything we can to keep our carbon footprint low. Aluminium is from a firm in Loughborough, windows from a firm on the same industrial estate as us – our window manufacturer has already taken on two or three extra people on the back of our contract."
The first houses to use these technologies and method of construction are being built at the moment – in the factory, ready to go on site and finished off in June. Our houses are 30 per cent larger than a conventional house in the area but selling at the same price," Mr Wilson adds.
They will stand on a new site at The Green, Westfield Lane, Mansfield, NG19 6AE, a former bowls club, and will provide two, three and four-bedroom homes priced from £129,950 for a two bedroom home up to £189,950.
Mr Wilson said: "We are happy to show people around the factory and talk them through the products, just call for an appointment.
The site will be launched on June 21, but if you're interested in buying one of these homes Mr Wilson and Melody you can go around the factory.