RGU shortlisted in international building innovation award
Friday 31 August 2018
Professor Gokay Deveci’s ‘Integra House’ is one of four shortlisted in the TRADA, TTJ Timber Innovation Awards 2018 ‘Innovative Product Development’ category, which celebrates pioneering product design.
The Integra House, the first of which is being built in Tyrie in rural Aberdeenshire, is designed to offer an affordable and a low-energy concept for rural living by applying the roof truss concept to the whole house including walls, floors and roof.
The project has been developed at the university with support from Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC), and two industry partners, Sylvan Stuart and Pasquill ltd.
Professor Deveci, who will travel to London later this month to deliver a presentation to the Innovation Awards panel, is thrilled to have been recognised.
“I’m absolutely delighted to have been shortlisted in the TTJ Timber Innovation Awards and it’s great for RGU and the Industry partners involved in the project to gain this recognition.
“At present there is an acute shortage of affordable homes in rural communities - just one in ten homes are considered affordable, in comparison with one in five in urban areas. In addition, the fuel poverty still a main problem.”
The Integra House’ offers an entirely new construction concept for rural living. Roof trusses are the most common and cost effective way to build roofs in the UK and the house will use the well-understood concept and technology of truss manufacturing to design a new truss types that will provide the super structure and envelope for the entire house, including floors, walls and the roof.
The design utilised the 600mm thick blown wood wool insulation solution to meet the ‘breathable’ wall construction, as well as meeting the very low-energy standards in a cost effective manner.
Professor Deveci added: “The design enables a reduction of operations on site and the time spent erecting the structure while simplifying the processes involved. Also, the project targets the ease of buildability as well as addressing the fuel poverty and healthy living in remote rural locations using locally available workforce or self-build opportunities.”