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Building the Dream
3 August 2004

As well as taking possession of a brand new £¹/₂ million, 250m² luxury home, the winners of the recently completed ITV1 reality game show, ‘Building the Dream’, will also benefit from reduced heating costs and a healthy living environment through the specification of an Excel Building Solutions EVT construction for their dream home. Based on a standard timber frame structure, the external walls of the house are insulated with Warmcel 500 high performance insulation and sheathed with Panelvent external sheathing board and Paneline internal sheathing, delivering the EVT construction.

The house was built in the picturesque village of Witham Friary, near Frome in Somerset. Designed by award-winning architects Brady Mallalieu, with input from the couples, the house is a contemporary aspirational home, fully in keeping with the local architecture.

The EVT construction was specified for the house by architects, Brady Mallalieu, who had used it for number of previous timber frame projects. According to architect, Sara Thomas: “Specifying a timber frame structure was the best way of ensuring the contestants would be able to complete the project in the strict 13 week schedule. It was our preference that Warmcel 500 was used for the insulation, because of its superior thermal performance, enabling us to achieve excellent U values, and, being manufactured from recycled newspaper, it also has superb environmental credentials.”

Furthermore, the combination of Warmcel with Panelvent and Paneline sheathing boards (both of which are manufactured from recycled wood waste), delivers the benefits of EVT technology, which ensures that any moisture that gets into the building structure (which happens in any inhabited building) always migrates to the external side where it is harmlessly expelled to the atmosphere. This action, known as ‘Enhance Vapour Transfer’ or EVT ensures that interstitial condensation does not occur, thereby protecting the timber structure throughout the lifetime of the building.

Produced by Zeal TV and presented by Linda Barker of ‘Changing Rooms’ fame, the 13-week show saw twelve UK couples living and working alongside each other to design, build and furnish the stunning dream home. As the house progressed, the number of couples was reduced, with those not pulling their weight being voted off by their fellow contestants. The series culminated in a head-to-head between the two remaining couples, as the viewers voted to decide which of them was given the keys to the house.

The house comprises three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living/dining area and gallery, kitchen, cloakroom, utility room and garage and is constructed over 1¹/₂ floors.

The 140mm deep external walls of the house, were completely filled with Warmcel 500 using the TurboFill insulation technique to deliver a U value of 0.234 W/m²K. The TurboFill injection system features a nozzle akin to those used on refuelling rigs seen in Grand Prix Formula 1 pit lanes. This nozzle is docked with the wall panel by means of pre-drilled access holes in the internal sheathing, through which the Warmcel 500 is injected. An ingenious pressure sensing system ensures the void is completely filled to the correct density for optimum performance.

In addition to the external walls, the house’s internal partition walls were also insulated with Warmcel 500 to provide high levels of sound insulation between rooms. In the loft, Warmcel 300 loft insulation was installed to a depth of 200mm.

Externally, the walls of the house were clad in cedar shingles, reconstituted stone and brickwork. The roof finish is a combination of clay tiles and cedar shingles, which were used on an unusual octagonal roof section over the kitchen.

Excel Building Solutions is a division of Excel Industries Limited and is the UK’s leading supplier of innovative building solutions. The company is the UK supplier of the Engineered I Beam Building System for walls, floors and roofs; the Warmcelrange of high performance insulation; Panelvent, Bitvent and Paneline sheathing; and Sarket roof sarking. Together, these components combine to form the high performance EVT Technology Solution for walls, floors and roofs and the factory-produced TRADISrange of wall panels, floor cassettes and roof plates. In addition to building solutions, Excel manufactures a range of speciality fibres for road making and diverse industrial applications.