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TRADIS: The Architect’s Choice
Date: 17 September 2003

Excel’s TRADIS range of wall panels, floor cassettes and roof plates have received the ultimate endorsement from Cambridgeshire architect Meredith Bowles of Mole Architects, having been specified for the construction of his own three storey, ‘eco house’.  TRADIS was used to meet the demanding objectives of providing a lightweight structure to minimise foundation requirements, optimising the use of sustainable building materials and minimising environmental impact.

In addition, being totally factory-manufactured, the TRADIS structure enabled the house shell to be erected in just five days.   This capability enables the build programme to be massively truncated by allowing following trades to commence work immediately in a wind and watertight structure.

TRADIS was used to construct the 200mm thick walls, 250 mm deep ground floor and 250mm deep warm roof of the house, delivering U values of 0.16 W/m2K, 0.14 W/m2K and 0.13 W/m2K respectively.  The structural insulation is complemented by argon-filled, double-glazed windows with a low emissivity coating.  The calculated heat loss for the entire house is less than 5 kW at minus 4•C.

External sunscreens above the large ground floor windows cut out mid-afternoon sun in the summer.  An external reflective coating on first floor windows and Velux rooflights, fitted with external sunscreens and internal blinds, offer further controllability of internal temperatures.

Intermediate floors of the house were constructed using uninsulated Engineered I Beam floor cassettes, with the largest panels spanning the full 11m length of the house.  The main internal cross walls of the house, which were designed to provide structural strength, were also created from uninsulated, factory-manufactured Engineered I Beam panels.

The top storey of the house is open to the full height of the roof, with the additional roof height accommodating a split level interior layout.

The light weight of the TRADIS structure enabled the amount of concrete required to create the foundations to be minimised by reducing the number of piles required to support the house.  Brick piers, built on the concrete piles, support a glulam ring beam, onto which the insulated TRADIS ground floor cassettes were laid.

The components of TRADIS wall panels, floor cassettes and roof plates are Engineered I Beams, providing the structural strength, Panelvent external sheathing and Paneline internal sheathing, and Warmcel 500 high performance insulation, which is manufactured from 100% recycled newspaper.

TRADIS structures are free from harmful or toxic substances, such as VOCs and CFCs, and provide outstanding protection against fire.  Their inherent EVT Technology ensures that normal moisture ingress into the structure, which occurs in any inhabited building, safely migrates to the outside where it is harmlessly expelled to the external atmosphere.  By self-regulating moisture levels in this way, the integrity of the TRADIS structure is always protected.

Striking all-black corrugated cement fibre boards provide the external cladding of the house, fitting in with the local rural architecture typified by this barn-style appearance.