The Use of Composite Building Components Spreads
There is evidence, that slowly but surely, demand for housing and high overheads is leading builders to use more composites. Over the past couple of decades, building techniques have changed drastically. Contractors are able to complete buildings much faster.
Some of the changes that allow builders to do this have been quite radical, but some have been quite small. The use of composites for porches, chimneys, window bays and dormer windows are some good examples. The elements of a building these composites replace are relatively small.
Composites Save Builders Time as well as Money
However, building these elements from scratch, using traditional materials and techniques takes a long time, and requires skilled labour. This means that replacing these building components with composites can save a building contractor a lot of time and money.
With a little training, an ordinary labourer can install a preformed chimney made out of glass-reinforced fibre in a few hours. This is much faster and cheaper than employing a bricklayer to build a chimney from scratch. Using a full range of composites on a house saves a lot of time and money and considerably speeds up the building process. On a housing estate project, these savings are significant.
The future of Composites
There is little doubt that builders will continue to use composite building components. The UK needs several hundred new homes, and they are needed urgently.
The 2011 census showed that the UK’s population had grown by 1.7 million. However, despite this rapid growth the formation of new households was the lowest in over a hundred years.
It seems that many UK residents have little choice but to continue to live with their families, even as adults. The main reason for this is a lack of affordable housing. There are simply not enough empty properties in the UK, which is part of the reason house prices have remained so high. Unsurprisingly, this is something that the government wants to change, so the rate at which new homes are built will inevitably accelerate over the next few years. It, therefore, seems likely that contractors will increasingly turn to composites to help them to speed up the building process.
