Magellan Residential

Magellan Residential is committed to improving the sustainability of all future developments, and has already taken steps to improve the standards of current developments to be higher than required by current Building Regulations.

Consideration of sustainable issues begins with the choice of a site.  The majority of our developments are on brownfield sites (previously developed land) and are designed to enhance the local environment by including extensive landscaping and amenity spaces. Many of our current sites have been chosen for their proximity to public transport links (bus and rail) and on a number of our sites we have provided Metro cards which offer free travel on public transport to reduce reliance on the private car.

When considering how we build our developments, sustainability is high on the agenda.  We are particularly keen to promote the use of modern methods of construction (MMC’s), which, not only represent a more sustainable form of construction than traditional methods, but also improve site health and safety and quality of finished product.

Timber frame is a recognised MMC and we have been building timber frame structures on many of our sites* for a number of years. Timber, from a sustainable source, is widely recognised as one of the most environmentally friendly forms of construction. For example a typical size two storey house constructed with a timber frame saves about four tonnes of carbon dioxide over a house constructed traditionally (from brick and block). This is the same amount of CO2 produced by a car driving for 14000 miles!** The advantages of timber frame don’t stop there, as its use also enables us to highly insulate our homes (30% higher than required by current Building Regulations), therefore reducing requirements for space heating and further reducing carbon emissions. 

At Highfield Court, Idle we are using insulated concrete formwork (IFC) for the structure of the Gatehouse, another recognised MMC. This will greatly improve the insulation and airtightness of this home, which, will in turn, greatly reduce heating requirements and therefore reduce CO2 emissions. IFC systems also have the advantage of a high thermal mass and a robustness reflected in structures with long lifespans.

Magellan recognises the importance of the Government’s ‘Code for Sustainable Homes’ and will be assessing all schemes submitted for planning after April 2008, under the Code, as well as carrying out sustainability appraisals on all future developments. Watch this space for further information on the Code and forthcoming schemes!

Useful external links:

Information on timber frame construction: http://www.timber-frame.org/
Information on insulated formwork construction: http://www.icfinfo.org.uk/index.php
Code for Sustainable Homes: http://www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/buildingregulations/legislation/englandwales/codesustainable/

*    Timber frame schemes include:

Victoria Mews, Eccleshill
Kassapians, Baildon
Highfield Court, Idle (apartments)
No. 1 Otley Road, Baildon
Barley Fields, Garforth (apartments)

**     Source: UK Timber Frame Association (website – see link above)