No‐fines concrete homes: atypical thermal performances

Abstract

Purpose

This paper is a continuation of “No‐fines concrete in the UK social housing stock: 50 years on” published in Issue 4 of Volume 29 of this journal. It identifies the thermal performance of existing, un‐refurbished no‐fines concrete (NFC) walls; as about 33,000 NFC homes exist in Scotland. A majority of these properties are owned by social housing providers (SHPs) and are being upgraded to current building standards. Literature identifies the thermal performance (U‐value) of NFC walls ranging from 1.1 W/m²K to 2.0 W/m²K depending on the build‐up of the structure. The homes are classified as “hard to treat” and, as a result, the occupants experience “fuel poverty”. SHPs currently adopt a range of measures to refurbish NFC properties and adopt a broad brush approach, refurbishing a range of non‐traditional (NT) constructed dwellings under similar refurbishment packages. The purpose of this paper is to call for a re‐think in terms of such refurbishment approaches when seeking to improve the thermal performance of NFC properties.

Design/methodology/approach

Various cores were extracted from NFC homes in the West of Scotland to explore the heterogeneity of NFC construction. To measure the thermal performance of existing NFC homes, in situ u‐value calculations were undertaken through case studies and fieldwork.

Findings

The findings of this research highlight the heterogeneity of NFC construction. The paper discusses the different approaches adopted by SHPs and identifies the variations between individual NFC elements resulting from workmanship and build issues.

Practical implications

The findings expose the heterogeneity of individual NFC elements and further suggest that any decision to adopt a refurbishment approach must be based on a detailed consideration of the existing characteristics of the property including location and orientation of the property.

Originality/value

This paper is the first to discuss the in situ u‐values of NFC properties in the last 20 years. It will be of interest to SHPs planning to refurbish such properties.

Citation

Craig, N., Sommerville, J. and Charles, A. (2013), "No‐fines concrete homes: atypical thermal performances", Structural Survey, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 43-55. https://doi.org/10.1108/02630801311304413