Hanson Building Products

Modern Methods of Construction

Hanson Building Products

Combining traditional build with modern performance

As one of the UKs leading manufacturers of building products, Hanson has sought solutions to the main criticisms against traditional build - speed, quality and waste reduction - and has developed its own unique answers to Modern Methods of Construction. By combining traditional techniques with modern factory-based processes, the company has been able to meet and exceed the exacting requirements of current and future building regulations. At the same time, Hanson has provided a safer working environment for the construction of standardised single storey cavity walls with regulated work patterns and assured quality control, unaffected by inclement weather conditions.

Hanson Building Products

A range of innovative systems using Modern Methods of Building Construction

Contents
Modern Methods of Construction 4-5

Exterior Walling Systems Hanson a single source solution in prefabricated building products
With its market-leading position, Hanson has developed a range of prefabricated building products that enable housebuilders and developers to gain all the advantages of quicker build times and quality of workmanship. By using traditional building materials, the Hanson product range satisfies the requirements of end users who, consistently favour traditionally built homes.

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Interior Walling Systems

12-15

Flooring Systems

16-19

Basement Systems

20-21

Staircases

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Hanson Building Products

Modern Methods of Construction

Aircrete Blocks

Hollowcore Suspended Flooring System

Wonderwall Panel System

MMC
Off-site manufacturing utilising technically advanced prefabrication processes for better build quality and efficiency

Omnia Flooring System

With mounting emphasis to increase both the number of houses built and the efficiency with which they are built, Modern Methods of Construction have never been more relevant. Hanson is in the forefront of leading UK construction product manufacturers to be offering innovative solutions that meet the needs of efficiency and acceptability. Using the accumulated skill and expertise gained through its wide-ranging operations, Hanson is now able to offer a range of related products. The Hanson House provides prefabricated solutions from basement, through ground and first floors - and including staircases - to external and internal walls.

built factories, whilst minimising the need for on-site involvement that is subject to the unpredictability of both the weather and the availability of skilled labour. Unlike the prefabricated housing built during the 20th century, much of which was designed to be temporary, the focus of Hansons MMC compliant products is on quality of materials and workmanship. In more recent times prefabrication has been successfully used for the construction of hospitals, hotels and schools in the UK as well as for housing in other countries. This helps to provide the assurance of building methods and materials that have been tried and tested in use. Whilst quicker build times are the ultimate goal, they are not achieved at the sacrifice of quality of design and workmanship. Hanson MMC products are provided with the full backing of the companys technical advisory service.

Dense Block Walling

Jetfloor Insulated Flooring System

In all instances, products have been developed to take advantage of advanced prefabrication processes. The products have been designed and developed to maximise the benefits of off-site manufacturing processes in the controlled environments of purpose-

Concrete Staircase

Basement Twinwall System

Hanson Building Products

Exterior Walling System

Wonderwall
Lightweight cladding panel system with high quality clay brick slips
Prefabrication benefits with traditional finish
Hansons Wonderwall cladding system combines all the advantages of modern prefabrication with all the appeal of traditional appearance. It can be installed faster than traditionally built masonry to a higher level of quality and is suitable for use as a durable, decorative and thermal insulating finish to external vertical walls. Existing or new build structures that use masonry, dense concrete, modular units, timber or metal frames are all suitable for fixing. The system comprises a rigid urethane insulation panel which Hanson prebond to a vacuum-formed brickwork co-ordinating carrier sheet. The composite panel is fixed back to the substructure on site, and brick slips are fixed to the carrier sheet using a purpose -made adhesive. A specialist pointing mortar completes the installation. A wide variety of brick finishes are available, including extruded and stock facing slips. Different brick bonds
Greatorex Street, London

such as stretcher, stack, Flemish and English can be easily achieved. Brick details such as corbels and dentil courses can be incorporated by altering the thickness of the finishes from 15mm to 35mm. External corners, soldier courses and reveals can be achieved by the use of L-shaped pistol slips. Being lightweight, Wonderwall provides a method of finishing areas where traditional brickwork cannot be incorporated, such as staggered gables or balconies on framed structures. Wonderwall also provides on-site flexibility to enable shaping to suit openings and other building details, whilst minimising wastage.

Hanson House, BRE, Watford

Brick slip installation process

Hanson Building Products

Exterior Walling System

LockClad
A ventilated rainscreen and decorative terracotta faade
The Red Bank LockClad system provides an external rainscreen faade that is suitable for most types of construction, including concrete, timber and steel framed buildings and can accommodate curved facades, corners, angles, window and door openings. The system comprises of sigma clay tiles, sigma aluminum support rails and clips. The primary support structure and the sigma rails can be fully installed before tiling commences. Installation is fast and simple and can be effected in any direction and sequence. Each LockClad sigma tile is securely and independently retained on the supporting rail by fixing clips, allowing individual tiles to be removed and reinstated. LockClad sigma is designed to be fixed to most substrates - including masonry, concrete, steel and timber frame systems and lightweight walling panels. LockClad sigma is designed to function as a rear-ventilated, open-jointed rainscreen cladding. As with most rainscreens, it allows the insulation to be located on the outer face of the building shell. This provides efficient insulation and reduces the risk of thermal bridging and condensation problems. LockClad sigma has been subjected to rigorous independent testing to establish its high performance criteria. This covers all aspects of durability, strength, water penetration, fire, impact and maintenance. LockClad is the first terracotta rainscreen to be awarded a British Board of Agrment Certificate.

Terracota cladding system with high quality clay sigma tiles

Each tile is securely and independently retained

External rainscreen faade

Hanson Building Products

Exterior Walling System

Gluedbrickwork
Thin-joint glued brickwork
High compressive, flexural and tensile strengths are achieved
Developed several years ago in Europe, thin-joint glued brickwork is appropriate for a wide range of building types, from domestic construction - particularly where several dwellings are constructed on the same site allowing efficient use of equipment - to large commercial and civil engineering projects. The technique relies on joints which are formed using an adhesive or glue mortar, that have a high percentage of cement, very fine inert additives and specially formulated polymers. The adhesive is applied by using specially developed hand-held pumped nozzles that usually dispense two parallel beads of material along the horizontal bed joints and on the perpends prior to the bricks being laid. Many metres of bed joint adhesive can be laid in a rapid single operation, with the nozzle dispensing relatively accurate quantities of mortar. Working conditions, speed of construction and overall quality are generally considered better than those of traditional mortar. A variety of finishes can be achieved through the flexibility of brick type and the scope for creative bond patterns as a stretcher bond is no longer necessary for the structural strength of the wall. The compressive, flexural and tensile strengths of thin-layer mortars are higher than that of common mortars. This leads to an increased bond strength meaning lintels can often be omitted, and facilitates the simple use of unreinforced stack bonding. The glue mortars permeability is less than that of common mortars. This, together with the thinness of the joints, tends to minimise water penetration through the mortar zone. Perhaps the greatest potential for thin-joint glued brickwork lies with prefabricated panels either in a factory or at a construction site. Prefabrication is particularly useful for congested city centre sites, buildings with rapid construction programmes and when there is local bricklayer shortage.

Easy application

University of West of England

Allowing scope for creative bond patterns

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Hanson Building Products

Interior Walling Systems

Blockwork
Prefabricated thin joint dense concrete blockwork panels
Ease and speed of working on site
Thin joint adhesive technology, employed for on-site construction in European countries for more than a decade, has now been developed by Hanson to create fully prefabricated thin joint dense concrete block panels. Providing ease and speed of construction on site, the panels offer the mechanical advantages of strength, sound insulation and fire resistance, whilst minimising wastage. They are suitable for use on ground and first-floor levels and because of their weight and high load bearing capacity, are equally suited to multi-storey construction. The strength provided by thin joint construction enables the panels to be fully prefabricated in the factory and transported and installed on site. The panels consist of a 100mm outer leaf, a 100mm inner leaf and a 100mm insulated cavity, and can be used with a variety of internal and external finishes, including dry lining systems, plaster, paint or specialist cladding panels such as the Hanson Wonderwall System. Factory manufacture mirrors the manual blocklaying approach although the laying rate using a bespoke mortar applicator can be up to three times faster than traditional trowel laying techniques. Prefabrication moves the wet trade off site and into the controlled environment of a factory to provide consistent quality not subject to the vagaries of the weather and variations in skill levels.

Installation of prefabricated panel

Purpose made corner panel

Masonry Option
In addition, prefabricated inner leaf dense blocks can be used in conjunction with single brick skin masonry which may be built up on site or as panels in a factory environment. 12 13

Hanson Building Products

Interior Walling Systems

Aircrete Blocks
Thin joint lightweight concrete blocks
Saving time and costs in building walls
Thin joint lightweight aircrete blocks provide a fast, clean and accurate method of construction that is designed to lower costs by reducing the time taken to build walls. By using Thermalites Thin Joint Mortar and Aircrete Blocks the depth of mortar can be reduced from 10mm to 3mm or less. The application of thin joint mortar to the blocks is quickly and accurately achieved by the use of a serrated scoop, the full benefits being realised on long runs of wall. Independent speed trials have indicated that a wall of Thermalite blocks and thin joint mortar can be laid twice as fast as that built with aggregate blocks and general use mortar. The speed of construction can be further enhanced by using Thermalite Large Format Blocks, which have a face size of two traditional concrete blocks. Thin joint mortar sets more rapidly than traditional mortar and is typically stable after 60 minutes. This allows the amount of walling that can be built to be increased and the earlier installation of other components such as floors and roof timbers. The completion of a weathertight envelope allows brickwork to be taken off the critical path and for internal work, such as service installation, partitioning and plastering to progress. This method of construction also reduces heat loss through mortar joints to provide improvements in U-values of up to 10%; improves the airtightness of the construction; and reduces wastage on-site by allowing for the precision cutting of blocks.
Construction in progress

Lightweight blocks for easy handling

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Hanson Building Products

Flooring Systems

Jet floor
The original insulated flooring system
High levels of insulation with reduced construction costs
Another example of Hanson marketleading innovation, Jetfloor Super is the first composite suspended system for ground floors incorporating polystyrene infill blocks to provide high levels of insulation, achieving U-values as low as 0.20 W/m2K. The integrated insulation effectively reduces the overall floor zone by obviating the need for sheet insulation material, thereby reducing construction heights. In this way, Jetfloor Super actually reduces construction costs. Contractors also benefit from the systems speed and simplicity of use that makes for rapid and easy installation. This enables floors to be finished early in the construction process, allowing for earlier drying out and faster follow-on for other trades. The system consists of standard 150mm deep inverted T beams at a maximum of 610mm centres, infilled with expanded polystyrene (EPS) blocks. A grade 25 structural topping with A98 mesh or polypropylene fibres completes the system. The EPS blocks are supplied in lengths of 550mm to enable rapid coverage of large floor areas. Services are easily accommodated by omitting blocks or trimming them with a fine-toothed saw. Installation is simple and there is no requirement for special skills, equipment or preparation. Jetfloor Plus is an alternative system which comprises inverted T beams infilled with purpose-made EPS blocks, finished with either a floating 18mm thick chipboard layer, or 65mm sand/ cement screed. The thermal performance of both Jetfloor Super and Jetfloor Plus can help significantly in meeting the requirements of Part L of the Building Regulations.

Jetfloor Super

Rapid and easy installation, no special skills required

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Hanson Building Products

Flooring Systems

Hollowcore
For suspended floors with clear spans up to 13 metres
Hanson prestressed hollowcore units are ideal for all suspended floor applications, particularly where a clear spanning durable deck is required. With clear, unpropped spans of up to 13 metres, they can be used on masonry, steel or concrete structures, offering benefits of fast erection and the provision of an immediate working platform. With excellent sound and fire resistant properties, the units can be supplied with preformed service holes and notches. The Hanson range, now the most extensive available in the UK, increases the versatility of the product enabling flooring solutions to be tailored to projects. The structural properties come from the prestressing strands cast into the lower half of the units the number of strands and the degree of prestressing determining the ultimate load/span capacity. When concreted together hollowcore units can provide diaphragm action without structural topping. However, enhanced structural performance is achieved by using a composite structural topping. All units are machine produced ensuring consistently high quality with the steel beds producing a smooth regular soffit. Solid composite flooring units offer the similar benefits to hollowcore but, being thinner, enable a wider range of composite solutions for a given floor zone. Manufactured to the same factory standards, they are available 100mm deep and in widths up to 1200mm. Unpropped spans can be constructed up to 5 metres, with propping enabling greater spans. Full technical advice is available.

Suspended floor application

Omnia

Wideslab flooring combining pre-cast and in-situ concrete

girder manufactured from cold drawn wire. The girder is cut to size and attached to a lower layer of reinforcement. Concrete is then poured to create the precast panel. The lattice girder ensures a mechanical bond between precast and in-situ concrete. Standard panels are 2.40 metres wide (smaller panels can be manufactured to order) and between 50mm and 75mm deep. Depending on loadings and overall slab depth, spans of over 11 metres can be achieved. The Omnia Flooring range includes panels incorporating polystyrene void formers, perimeter edge formwork or insulation, or can be manufactured using lightweight aggregate to provide weight savings of over 20%.

A direct equivalent to an in-situ slab, Omnia enables pre-cast and in-situ concrete to be combined to give major benefits to specifiers, engineers and contractors. Acting as a fully participating formwork, Omnia is fast to erect saving time and money. Its exceptional flexibility enables each panel to be designed to suit a specific location and load, with irregularly shaped buildings being easily accommodated. Service holes and the like are positioned and formed during manufacture. Panels incorporate the Omnia lattice 10 18

Fully participating formwork

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Hanson Building Products

Basement Systems

Twinwall
Using prefabricated panels comprising two slabs connected by means of castin lattice girders to form a single unit into which concrete is poured on site, Hansons Twin Wall is a fully flexible walling system that combines the speed and quality of precast concrete with the structural and waterproof integrity of a continuously poured in situ concrete structure. Without restriction on architectural layout, the system eliminates the need for expensive formwork and the waiting time for the removal of formwork to provide for fast build, with installation rates of up to 100m2 per hour. No edge shutter is required when pouring upper floor concrete and plastering to ceiling is not necessary to achieve a high quality finish. The panels are machine manufactured to exacting tolerances and can incorporate cast-in cable ducts, electrical boxes and service ports. They are supplied complete with floor, window, door and ventilation openings. Once installed, panels provide superior sound insulation. By reducing weight, prefabricated Twin Wall panels provide savings in both transport and crane costs. Full computer design with detailed installation drawing, calculation and method statement can be supplied for each project.

Twin benefits from a combination of precast and in-situ concrete

A fully flexible walling system with complete design freedom

Box Culverts
The UKs largest producer of Box Culverts, Hanson manufactures a wide range of precast concrete units from 1000mm x 600mm to 6000mm x 3600mm with flat or shaped inverts. Traditionally used for water transportation, Box Culverts are exceptionally versatile and can be used not only for basements but also for above ground applications such as garages. Manufactured in rapid hardening Portland cement, or combined rapid hardening Portland cement and pfa, they meet Class 3 and Class 4 soil conditions respectively.

Crane installation

Pre-cast concrete unit

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Hanson Building Products

Staircases

Staircases
Precast stairs and landings for domestic and commercial projects
Quality-controlled factory production for rapid construction
Individually designed and manufactured, precast concrete staircases combine the advantages of quality-controlled production with rapid construction and immediate access for follow-on trades. The Hanson range now includes both straight flight and winding staircases in both standard and bespoke arrangements. Suitable for virtually any situation in most masonry, concrete and steel structures, they require no propping or formwork and are inherently fire resistant. Where a standard mould is not suitable, a comprehensive bespoke design and manufacturing service is available. Standard moulds are available for:

straight flights with cross landings ideal where side support is available for both main and half landings

flights with integral top and/or bottom

landings - suitable for steel framed buildings or where fewer crane lifts are preferred. Hanson also produces the unique Uniflight winding staircase, which is available in both L and U configurations. Designed to emulate traditional timber staircases with winders radiating round the Newell Post, Uniflight offers a reduced plan area over alternatives, together with excellent sound insulation and a high quality ex-mould soffit, suitable for direct decoration. Winding staircases can be installed as the building progresses, providing immediate and safe access to following floors.

short flights with integral top and/

or bottom landings - ideal for locating round lift shafts

Uniflight staircase in domestic property

Excellent sound insulation

Straight flight

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Hanson Building Products Head Office Stewartby Bedford MK43 9LZ Tel: 08705 258258 Fax: 01234 762040 Website: www.hanson.biz/uk Email: mmc@hanson.biz