Apr 21, 2023 | Construction
Selecting the right commercial builders for any business-related refurbishment, development, new build, or renovation can be complex. There are myriad considerations around timeframes, budgets, expertise and professional accreditations, alongside compliance with commercial building regulations.
Safety and compliance are fundamental successful commercial projects, whether you are constructing new office premises or wish to upgrade your existing site. Working with skilled building contractors with a proven track record in the commercial property development industry can make a significant difference.
In this guide, the commercial master builders at Pinnacle Works provide insights into how a property build or renovation works, what to expect from your chosen contractors, and essential tips to ensure your building work meets your requirements.
An Introduction to Commercial Building Services
One of the first aspects of beginning any commercial building project is to ensure the professionals and contractors you collaborate with have expertise in the full range of services and building techniques necessary.
Residential and commercial building projects vary considerably, and an experienced company with a comprehensive understanding of the regulatory frameworks and building standards will be a valuable partner.
Crucially, commercial builders operating to high standards of professionalism can offer advice, planning assistance and guidance as you navigate the process, including:
- Help with identifying the range of commercial services required to meet your brief, from groundwork to traffic rerouting, project budgeting, liaising with local authorities to secure the necessary permissions, and monitoring progress.
- Communication with architectural services providers, working through your detailed construction plans and technical drawings to identify potential cost savings, efficiencies or challenges.
- Analysing the applicable regulations and safety standards, which are essential to ensure any commercial construction is compliant, approved by the local inspection team, and adheres to best practices.
We will discuss standards shortly, but this is an important element.
The relevant regulations will depend on the nature of your commercial construction, with specific requirements related to industrial sites, commercial new builds in the city and commercial medical facilities, as a few examples.
Our dedicated commercial building team can provide further advice on request if you would like independent support with planning your construction services.
Types of Commercial Building Projects
The scope of commercial refurbishment services is vast, and the right building contractor will differ with the nature of the premises or the type of building work involved.
UK commercial building projects could comprise:
- New builds – constructing offices, retail spaces, storage facilities, industrial warehousing and manufacturing sites, automotive buildings, hotels, and catering builds for restaurants.
- Building repairs and renovation services – addressing structural defects, renovating tired properties, restoring commercial sites, and upgrading the current style of newly acquired facilities.
- Property Extensions and additions – in the same way homeowners opt for loft conversions to increase their usable space, businesses often look to maximise their operating capacity by adding new storeys or expanding their premises outward.
Business clients might require anything from small to medium refurbishments to improve the value of their property assets to full-scale renovations and new constructions, each of which commands a different range of commercial skills and knowledge.
The Importance of Planning and Design in Commercial Construction
Every great commercial building project begins with detailed specifications, budgeting, research and site selection. The planning phase directly impacts the success of any building scheme.
As a reputable commercial renovation expert, Pinnacle Works invests as much time and energy into your design and planning as necessary to ensure you have a thorough understanding of the resources required, costs and other aspects of your building project to proceed with confidence.
Before we undertake any commercial projects, we assign one of our accomplished project managers to liaise with our commercial clients to understand the following:
- The core objectives, in terms of budgeting, deadlines, aesthetics, and functionality.
- Your expectations from your new or renovated commercial space.
- The current stage of the project – whether you have appointed architects and engineers, need assistance securing permits and planning permission approvals, or would like us to collaborate with third parties to keep things moving forward.
Thorough planning is vital, allowing our team to identify possible issues or delays, recommend approaches or techniques, and ensure all the work is properly scheduled, monitored and overseen by capable commercial building managers.
Incorporating Project Management Into Commercial Building Work
We’ve touched on project management, another all-important part of our building services. Following the planning and design stages, when we proceed to implementation, Pinnacle Works provides ongoing project management, which ensures our clients have the assurance of robust site controls.
Commercial buildings must comply with standards, building regulations and quality requirements.
An experienced project manager represents your interests and deals with a wide range of tasks, including:
- Budgetary control – ensuring work is completed on time, to your specification, and within budget, often signing off each phase before the next can begin.
- Liaison – project managers keep in close contact with clients, architects, building inspectors, subcontractors, estate agents and other stakeholders to ensure every party is up to speed.
- Scheduling – the complexity of a large-scale project means that several professionals may need to work to carefully planned schedules, from groundwork, electrical, plumbing and joinery services to commercial interior design teams.
- Quality assurance – your project manager is responsible for ensuring your building work meets the right quality benchmarks, from checking every tradesperson on site is fully insured to assessing whether each completed phase matches your expectations.
One of the great features of working with the commercial builders at Pinnacle Works is that we have an in-house team, from plastering and decorating to project managers, interior design specialists to expert tradespeople, providing a streamlined service from end to end.
Selecting Appropriate Construction Techniques and Materials
Commercial building plans are highly detailed and include structural engineering calculations that may dictate the materials required or how your site is developed.
For example, commercial building projects where the property needs to bear heavy loads – such as having an overhead crane – will require higher-grade materials, often steel, which have the requisite yield strength. In contrast, offices may require lower-grade support, thus reducing costs.
Building engineers and designers assess factors such as the compression, tension and load exerted on each part of the building to identify the most suitable materials, gauges, dimensions and placements.
However, an experienced commercial building team will also be able to offer recommendations to maximise your value for money, including:
- Sourcing and availability – where a specific material is scarce, in high demand, or subject to rising prices, it may be more affordable to select an alternative with the same performance features but a lower cost and less likelihood of delays.
- Durability – materials with excellent longevity that are well suited to the climate and purpose of your commercial building require less maintenance, will last longer, and maintain their aesthetic appearance.
Materials such as steel framing and precast concrete are most prevalent in commercial builds. Still, you may be able to reduce your costs or expedite construction by making informed decisions based on the most available and affordable options.
Businesses may also wish to prioritise sustainability, using energy-efficient working programmes, locally sourced materials and low-carbon equipment and tooling – this can be particularly important for commercial developments with a funding or grant element related to sustainability, low energy consumption or the redevelopment of brownfield sites.
Commercial Construction Safety and Regulations
Safety regulations vary depending on the location, type and nature of your project and the materials being used.
The primary UK regulations relevant to commercial building projects include:
Pinnacle Works is fully versed in these, and all other regulations imposed by the Health and Safety Executive and ensures compliance at every phase of your project.
Commercial builders often have additional considerations from residential construction teams, with the need to ensure work sites are safe, do not pose a public health hazard or safety risk, and are well managed for tradespeople, inspectors, and contractors.
One of the core requirements when selecting any commercial builder should be to ensure they have a complete understanding of all legislation and regulations and can recommend efficient strategies to achieve the required outcomes in adherence with best practices.
Challenges and Opportunities in the Commercial Building Sector
The challenges facing commercial construction have been well publicised, where Brexit prompted shortages in skilled labour, and post-pandemic material scarcity and global inflation have meant that some raw commodities and resources have been harder to find, slower to source, and more expensive to purchase.
However, our approach is always to embrace innovation and look for opportunities to add value and efficiency to the way we operate.
Sustainability and low-energy consumption buildings are growing significantly in demand as businesses seek to invest in premises that are future-proof, low-cost to run and meet future zero-carbon production targets ahead of schedule.
Technological solutions such as blueprint modelling and simulations can assist and expedite planning, cloud-based project reporting provides always-on communications, and smart infrastructure monitoring systems can identify potential deficiencies automatically to improve safety and reduce risk.
If you would like to explore ways to improve the sustainability or energy consumption of your building or discuss options to reduce the carbon output associated with your planned commercial build, please get in touch with Pinnacle Works at any time.
Our full-service commercial teams are always happy to assist, whether you’d like to begin work on a new office construction project, need to cost out a potential commercial renovation, or wish to understand all the options available.
Feb 2, 2023 | Construction
The UK’s construction industry is vast and multi-skilled. It covers an enormous range of projects, from large-scale developments and property builds to refurbishment projects for heritage homes, commercial renovation tasks and bespoke work such as carpentry, joinery, decorating and flooring.
Embarking on a building project can be an exciting challenge and an opportunity to adapt your living space, improve your home or enhance your property to transform it into your dream residence – but the skill, quality and reliability of your construction company are paramount.
Pinnacle Works regularly hears from clients dissatisfied with the standards on their construction site or realise that the money they invested into their home has not produced the expected results. We are often approached to correct sub-par workmanship.
Before you begin your construction project, here are a few important factors to consider when hiring a building firm or short-listing quotes.
Choosing Suitably Experienced Construction Companies
Expertise is one of the obvious priorities when selecting a contractor for construction projects. Still, you should consider the type of work you require because you may need a specific skill set.
Examples include renovation work in sensitive environments, such as a refurbishment in a listed building, redecorating properties with traditional techniques, or building a new home with precise planning permission conditions and requirements.
Likewise, you might need an expert builder to work in collaboration with your architects to fill a detailed design brief, so a general construction firm may not be the ideal solution.
Here are some of the things we’d recommend you look for:
- A construction company based in your local area – this allows you to look at past projects, review their portfolio, and assess whether they have successfully completed similar development work.
- Access to reviews or feedback from previous customers to determine whether other clients have been pleased with the outcomes.
- A range of skills, specialisms, and professionals within the construction team. Using one firm for the entirety of larger projects is cost-effective and highly efficient, where your builder can manage every task, from electrical to plumbing, brickwork to design.
A reputable company will be proud to share examples of their projects, explain how they operate and direct you to where other builds are located so you can get a first-hand look at the quality they deliver.
Working With a Reliable Construction Team
Watch any episode of a home improvement programme, and you’ll see that poor communication, delays, and lack of reliability are the top problems that mean projects run over budget and beyond the anticipated timescales set at the beginning.
Great building companies base their reputations on exceptional standards and focus on transparency – they’ll tell you if something is not achievable or recommend options to get to the finished outcome you’d like while remaining practical.
If your project involves creating a new building or expanding a development, it will be broken down into phases, starting with groundwork and progressing to foundations and structural engineering before the decorative stage begins.
Picking a construction firm with a strong track record of reliability will ensure the following:
- You are always informed when something goes wrong and are given advice and support to make clear decisions about the best way forward.
- You know in advance if there is an unavoidable delay. Specialist materials can also take time to source, and an established company may be able to recommend local organisations that can help.
Although it is natural to compare companies based on price, this differential may be less important than reliability because if your contractors regularly no-show, arrive late, or are working on other projects without informing you, the overall costs can spiral.
The Benefit of Solid Project Management
Site management is a fundamental factor that is sometimes undervalued – but outstanding communication, regular updates, and a named contact overseeing your construction can give you peace of mind that everything is under control.
It is also important to have a firm you can build a partnership with and feel comfortable explaining concerns, seeking advice, or discussing ideas.
Full-service construction firms normally have in-house designers with recognised accreditations – their role isn’t solely to construct the property, complete the refurbishment or finish your renovation but to listen to your aspirations and show you how you can achieve them.
Your chosen firm should be proactive about helping to address the potential disruption to local communities when working on a residential estate or larger construction project. For example, they can schedule delivery vehicles to avoid causing blockages to access routes during the morning and afternoon school run.
Conscientious, reliable, and professional builders will happily operate with other contractors if you have several on-site, adhering to all relevant health and safety considerations and ensuring your build is completed efficiently.
Finding the Right Construction Firm for Your Project
Construction can often bring about unexpected challenges, and a building firm with excellent reviews, project experience and a history of delivering fantastic standards will ensure everything goes to plan.
It is worth researching local contractors with an established record in the type of interiors, development, or aesthetic you have in mind, as a pre-existing sourcing network, knowledge, and ability to work around likely issues are invaluable.
Pinnacle Works always welcomes customers to arrange a convenient time to talk to us about their project ideas and discuss opportunities to inject innovation into the process, such as adding future-proof materials and smart home technology that can make buildings cheaper to run and more comfortable to live in.
As a family-run company, our dedication to unparalleled customer support, professional standards and industry-leading construction, engineering, decoration techniques, and carpentry provides a comprehensive package of services, allowing you to leave your project in capable hands.
We operate across the south of England from our base in Chichester, covering the Greater London area. We can prepare detailed quotations, organise site visits, or share examples of similar or relevant builds to help you make informed decisions.
Please get in touch if you would like any further advice about comparing pricing or browse our online service pages for more information about us.
Jan 13, 2023 | Construction
Renovating a tired, rundown building and breathing life into brickwork that has been unused for many years is a labour of love and often one of the most rewarding building projects you can undertake.
However, building renovations are never fast, or straightforward, and it is all too easy to rush a part of the process or make assumptions about the stability of a structure that can be disastrous – to both the project and your budget.
This checklist from Pinnacle Works runs through some of the advice from our skilled renovation contractors to help you sidestep common mistakes.
1. Commission a Full Survey
One of the typical errors is to start building renovations without knowing precisely what you are working with.
Structural or civil engineers can inspect the integrity of the building from the ground up, determining whether the property has solid foundations or needs preparatory work before you even think about decorating.
Refurbishment is secondary to renovation, so it is vital you address issues such as subsidence, poor condition walls, supporting brickwork or rot in the eaves to create a solid structure.
2. Map Out Your Plans
It is often necessary to hire a professional team of architects for complex property building renovations or those involving period, heritage, or protected properties.
The right solution for each aspect of your project will depend on countless variables, such as:
- The intended use of the finished structure.
- Planning permission restrictions.
- Space available and potential to expand.
- The size of the exterior walls, ceiling heights and presence of an attic or cellar.
- Groundwork required.
- Whether or not the building has live electricity, gas, and water.
An architect will start with the bigger picture, discussing your budget, expected timescales, planned use for the property and aspirations in terms of aesthetics, appearance, and style.
From there, they will break down building renovations into stages, deferring to you to make informed choices about things such as materials, tiling, and wall coverings – ensuring you know what your project will cost, how long it will take, and what it will look like when it is finished.
3. Complete All Necessary Paperwork
While it might be tempting to embark on building renovations as quickly as you can, missing a detail, failing to apply for planning approval, or forgetting about a licence or permission can be detrimental and stall work.
In some cases, you might employ an architect, surveyor or project manager (like Pinnacle Works) to assist with your planning application. Advice from professionals with in-depth knowledge of the planning rules and specific legislation applicable to your site can be invaluable.
You will need your architectural plans to proceed with a full planning application, although the exact procedure can vary between commercial buildings and domestic renovations.
4. Think About Project Management
Project management is more than just about keeping an eye on progress. In building renovations, it means having clear oversight of budgets, phases of work, contractors, and other aspects, such as releasing development finance at key stages of each job.
Many property owners imagine they will manage their own project, but this can take a substantial amount of time and effort, as well as commanding excellent negotiating and people management skills. If you hire a business to project manage, with you as the client, you must have absolute faith in their experience, abilities, and past form. Researching previous projects and asking for client testimonials can be time well spent.
Your project manager will commit to a certain number of hours or days on-site each week or month or might pre-arrange inspections and visits to see how things are moving forward. They are responsible for the logistics, material deliveries, tracking consignments, and ensuring each item or resource purchased aligns with your budget.
Although a third-party manager isn’t mandatory, they can potentially save you money by offsetting their fees in reduced downtime, delays or inefficiencies, which they will spot quickly.
5. Select Capable Contractors
Once you have reached the stage of breaking ground, building new walls or getting started with actual physical work, it remains essential to work closely with every tradesperson, construction firm or specialist company involved.
Most property redevelopment schemes will require several contractors to work alongside each other, including:
- Architects
- Plumbers
- Carpenters
- Bricklayers
- Plasterers
- Groundworkers
- Electricians
- Earth-moving firms
- Glaziers
- Roofers
- Decorators
Each professional needs space to work safely and efficiently while coordinating each piece of the puzzle to avoid completing one element of your restoration, only to find that you have skipped a step and need to repeat a task.
The capabilities and professionalism of your contractors is a significant factor, so we’d recommend taking plenty of time to review past projects, compare quotations and speak with potential tradespeople before deciding who is the best fit for you.
Hiring Pinnacle Works is an excellent solution, as a full-service building firm that can provide qualified, capable crafts and tradespeople for the vast majority of work inherent in renovating a property, including specialists in renovations.
We are always happy to discuss our abilities and experiences, walk through your plans to raise any queries or make suggestions, or showcase some of our completed work to give you an idea of our exacting high standards.
6. Focus on Quality Over Quantity
Older buildings need time and money to be renovated, and routinely lack insulation, wiring and other basic resources we take for granted in modern structures. It is far better to spend longer on every phase and achieve a remarkable outcome than to focus on aesthetics – which is a little like papering over the cracks.
The fun bits, such as painting, choosing heritage wallpaper, reinstalling period fireplaces, or retrofitting door handles, cabinetry and bathrooms, always come last. It is best to regard redevelopments as a long, delicate process rather than a one-off challenge because so many things need to come together before the structure is likely to be ready to live in.
By thinking through each step, and making careful choices in terms of who you hire, the materials you use, and what you spend, you will have a well-managed, methodical redevelopment that exceeds your expectations.
Nov 7, 2022 | Construction, Decorating
Embarking on a home renovation project can be an exciting journey – with endless opportunities to reimagine your living space or reconfigure the layout of your existing structure.
Whether you have bought a run-down building as renovation project, or want to refresh your existing building, the first step is to have detailed plans of what you’d like to achieve, and what the finished result will look like. Property renovation is one of those things where playing it by ear never works. You must have a clearly phased project to ensure you don’t skip steps or forget something that means moving back to carry out retrospective repairs, or incur additional costs.
It’s also wise to consider the interior design, the period features of your home, and how you will use spaces and rooms practically rather than focusing only on the aesthetics – because your property needs to work with you!
We’ve listed our eight top home renovation mistakes to help you form a detailed plan and avoid typical errors that can be extremely costly, before you begin working.
1. Buying Furniture and Furnishings Too Soon
Once you get stuck into renovation work, all those soft furnishings, elegant furniture, and wall coverings you see jump out as perfect for the dream home you’re creating.
However, buying décor too early is often problematic because while the project is ongoing, it’s difficult to take accurate measurements or find clarity about how and where furnishings or appliances need to go.
Think about:
- Buying beautiful antique pieces or contemporary furniture – only to find it doesn’t fit in the allotted space or would need to be taken apart to get through the door.
- Purchasing curtains, blinds or shutters that look great on paper but don’t match the glazing or the windows.
- Picking appliances or electronics without realising that there are no plug sockets close by.
- Investing in carpets or rugs that look beautiful but jar with the style or theme once the work is complete.
Our advice is never to guess at measurements or buy anything on a whim unless you are 100% certain it will be right for your home! Even smaller accessories such as light fittings, door handles or taps can be a wasted expense if they don’t fit into the sink you have chosen or are too large or small for your renovated doors.
Provided you have technical drawings or plans with the correct dimensions, you can schedule purchases of bigger ticket items strategically, taking advantage of seasonal sale periods to keep your home renovation budget under control.
2. Forgetting to Check the Natural Light
We talk a lot about natural light in a home renovation context, because the aspect of your home, the size of your windows and the position of each room dictates how the space feels and works. If you’ve ever wall-mounted a TV that is unwatchable at midday, you’ll understand the importance!
Sunlight also changes throughout the day and the seasons, so it’s worth spending time in each area at different times to gauge the light’s quality, strength and softness to help plan your room layout. This process ensures you’ll choose the right colour schemes and décor to maximise natural light without making darker or smaller rooms feel claustrophobic or gloomy.
Larger-scale glazing such as patio doors, picture windows or bi-fold doors can all benefit rooms that don’t have ample sunlight and make a space more comfortable and attractive.
3. Not Checking for Planning Permission Rules
Many aspects of home renovation do not require formal planning permission, but if you need building regulations approval and fail to apply, you could find yourself in hot water.
Adding an extension, sunroom or loft conversion to your home renovation project is a fantastic way to create more space and the saleable value of your property – but the larger the scale of the work, the more likely planning application and permission rules will apply.
In most cases, you can apply retrospectively. Still, if the local planning department rejects your plans, it could be a case of restructuring the extension or even removing the work altogether.
Homeowners with listed properties or those in a conservation area should be particularly cautious and verify whether planning applications apply before undertaking any home renovation work.
4. Taking on Too Much, Too Soon
Renovating an old property is more involved than a simple redecorating project, and those plans we have mentioned are crucial to keeping track of progress and seeing how much you have spent.
It is very common to want to jump into a home renovation project with both feet first, but this is invariably a mistake:
- Trying to renovate multiple rooms simultaneously causes disruption and makes it impossible to focus fully on any one task or decision.
- Monitoring a renovation budget is tricky, and if you spread yourself too thin, it is very easy to lose track and overspend on building materials and other costs.
- Quality is crucial, so working on one space at a time gives you more capacity to concentrate on achieving the best possible finish before you move forward.
We would suggest you work first on the rooms you’ll need to live comfortably – think bathrooms, kitchens and bedrooms.Once those areas are complete, you can get going with other spaces, such as hallways and living rooms.
5. Picking a Contractor Without Due Diligence
As an established renovation expert, our teams are always happy to provide quotes or pricing estimates and fully expect our clients to compare those rates, ask questions, or request advice and guidance throughout the planning process.
Picking a contractor without researching their skills, knowledge and previous projects can be a serious downfall if the building work fails to meet your expectations or you have to hire countless additional professionals for second fix jobs or to deal with structural issues.
House renovation is a big project, and you should take as much time as you need to explore budgets, construction methods, materials, layouts, techniques and finishes.
We suggest looking at previous work to verify that your contractor has an excellent track record and can back this up with customer testimonials!
6. Renovating Your Home Based on the Lowest Costs
Of course, costs are a necessary consideration, and however small or large your renovation project is, it must be affordable and well-planned. However, some perceived efficiencies will cost significantly more in the long run, and cutting corners is rarely advisable.
In some cases, the most qualified professionals can offer the most competitive pricing since they have existing material sourcing networks, knowledge about the right approaches to achieve your desired result, and efficient working methods to complete each phase faster.
We would suggest that any decisions are based on quality and expertise, not solely on the cheaper price.
7. Removing Structural Walls
You can remove load-bearing walls – but they need to have sufficient structural support verified by an accredited structural engineer to ensure that knocking through a wall doesn’t compromise the integrity of the building.
Removing walls to create open-plan living spaces has become hugely popular over the last two decades. Still, it isn’t a decorative job and requires specific calculations and an appropriate supporting beam or RSJ to bear the weight of the structure above. A structural survey may be required.
Knocking down structural and internal walls yourself can multiply the renovation project budget since the repair work required can be extensive.
8. Designing Spaces Outside of the Property’s Style
Any episode of Grand Designs is likely to mention ‘sympathetic architecture’ and décor ‘in keeping with the property’ – and for a good reason. When you start designing a house renovation, it is important to consider the original home’s age, appearance and functionality.
Disjointed architecture, clashing styles and haphazard shapes can be eclectic and interesting but invariably damage the potential to sell the property.
As an experienced renovation contractor, Pinnacle Works can steer you through the design phase and recommend materials, finishes and styles that will complement the original property aesthetic to create a harmonious, comfortable result. If you would like more advice about your home renovation project, creating a work schedule, or avoiding these common renovation mistakes, please get in touch! You can also browse the Pinnacle Works Blog for more informative guides and view our gallery for ideas and inspiration.
Oct 5, 2022 | Construction
Green roof systems are increasingly popular, whether to re-wild an area traditionally fitted with felt, slate or tiles or introduce a peaceful, natural space to make the most of your rooftop.
Roofs are often underutilised, and although you may need to consider planning permission requirements, most local authorities are keen on green roofs since they support broader sustainability targets.
Pinnacle Works can review all the considerations with you, advise whether your roof layout is suitable for conversion, and recommend the required structural supports. Note that a green roof is not necessarily the same thing as a roof garden, which you would most commonly find on a tall building with a flat rooftop – although you can merge the concept of a roof garden with a green one if you have a reasonable amount of space.
Which Properties Are Suitable?
The first thing to look at is the size and layout of your roof. Green roofs add additional weight to your roof structure, usually around 50 to 200 kg per metre. Many rooftops do not have sufficient support to bear additional weight but can be retrofitted with robust structural reinforcements.
It tends to cost a little more to convert a conventional roof into a green one. Still, there are considerable savings in terms of energy efficiency, pollution reduction and insulation that offset the outlay.
There are also various types of available, so if one style is not possible for your property type, we may be able to suggest an alternative:
- Extensive roofs are lighter in weight and require minimal maintenance. These roofs normally have a low profile layer of grass or flowers on shallow sedum blankets.
- Intensive roofs feature larger plants, bushes and even small trees and are more similar to a roof garden. Most of these roofs are best for larger commercial buildings where the property is substantial enough to bear the load.
- Semi-extensive roofs are a compromise between the two and have a deeper growing layer than an intensive green roof, although they are designed for smaller plants rather than trees or shrubs.
An extensive option is better for a sloped roof rather than an area where you’d like to sit or walk, whereas an intensive one is designed as a flat roof garden. Of course, you could reconfigure your roof space to incorporate a flat area for walking, but many green roofs are an aesthetic feature fitted on a typically sloped roof. An initial survey is advisable since we can assess the shape and pitch of your roof and advise on the appropriate solutions.
Environment Benefits
There are countless reasons an eco-friendly green roof supports your local environment as a microclimate for birds, insects and other species. If you have a property with an accessible roof, you can even repurpose the space to grow vegetables, flowers or herbs.
Biodiversity is a priority in urban spaces, where concrete and brick are inhospitable and mean that beneficial bee populations are falling – a green roof can have an excellent ecological impact.
Green roofs are normally fitted with a waterproof liner made from recycled plastic so that the entire space can be environmentally friendly. However, the advantages aren’t solely related to local wildlife and can benefit everything from property running costs to air quality:
- Rainfall surface water runoff is substantially reduced, particularly relevant for Sustainable Urban Drainage schemes. Rainwater runoff is a real issue in areas exposed to flash flooding, so a green roof can prevent exposure to water damage in heavy downpours.
- A green roof provides sound insulation, with layers of air trapped between the soil and plants. In city areas, you can use a green roof to reduce the noise impact of traffic, airports and street noise, with up to 30% of noise pollution eliminated.
- Green roof schemes regulate temperatures by retaining heat in the winter and allowing for natural airflow in the summer. Buildings with green roofs do not usually require air conditioning and need less heating in colder weather.
Alongside these benefits, a green roof ensures that your property meets higher building rating standards, especially if you select plants or grasses native to the region – this is usually a key factor for planning approval.
With changes to building regulations and a drive towards zero-carbon emissions, a green roof is an excellent way to meet government energy-efficiency criteria and comply with the Future Homes Standard.
Important Factors in Installing a Green Roof
If you are interested in replacing tiles with grass or creating a sustainable, efficient roofing system, it is important to ensure that your green roof is correctly installed.
Underlying roof structures often need strengthening, which requires a structural survey to help establish the necessary reinforcements and the types of planting schemes that will be best suited. Older properties and sloped roofs are not usually designed to bear heavy loads, so your calculations need to factor in waterproofing, protection matting, a drainage layer, filter sheet and root barrier. All these components are essential to protect the structure underneath and ensure your green roof lasts for years to come.
The best option may depend on the size and slope of your roof and the capacity to install a deeper soil level – extensive green roofs require very little maintenance and normally function naturally within the seasonal cycles.
Drainage is also important because soft landscaping can retain a large volume of rainfall, up to 90 per cent, so you need a reliable process to drain the water after heavy rain, usually with an HDPE layer. However, with a professional installation service, a green roof can provide life-long benefits to the local environment, your property value, and energy efficiency as a natural, eco-friendly alternative to other roofing systems.
For more information about green roofs, the installation process, or the right green roof design for your property, please contact Pinnacle Works at your convenience.
Sep 9, 2022 | Construction, Decorating
While we may be amid a scorching hot summer, it won’t be long before the autumn chills start setting in.
Energy prices have soared as high as the mercury, and now is an excellent time to start planning for efficient home improvements to make the winter months more comfortable (and affordable).
Bioethanol fireplaces are becoming increasingly popular, as a low-cost, eco-friendly and stylish alternative to conventionally fuelled heating systems, without an artificial flame.
Bioethanol Fireplaces Explained
If you’ve not heard of bioethanol before, this fuel source works just like logs or gas, creating real heat powered by an ethanol-based liquid. The fuel is entirely natural and is made from sugar cane and maize plants as a greener option to heat your home without relying on fossil fuels.
One of the big plus points is that a bioethanol fireplace is a sustainable home feature but is also straightforward to use.Simply pour the fuel onto the burner. Once lit, the fuel will keep burning for around four to five hours, or you can close the lid on the burner to extinguish the flame.
Homeowners can keep a toasty warm fire burning all day long, without excessive expense, by topping up the fuel periodically and waiting for the burner to cool each time.
The Benefits of a Bioethanol Fire
There are several compelling advantages to replacing an old gas or electric fire with a sleek bioethanol unit, not least that the ethical fuel source is plant-based and releases no harmful substances or gases into the air. Millions of people are striving for carbon-neutral living, and trying to offset the planetary damage caused by fossil fuels, so a bioethanol fire is a perfect place to start.
The benefits aren’t limited to green credentials, either:
- Cost-effective: the bioethanol fuel is considerably more affordable than gas or electricity, which provides a cost-saving, ensuring that a new fireplace pays for itself in very little time.
- Quick installation: the installation is efficient and fast because your new fireplace does not need to be linked to mains gas or electricity supplies. This clean fuel does not even require a flue since there is no smoke or fumes.
- Versatility: Pinnacle Works fits bioethanol fireplaces in a huge range of properties, including modern, minimalistic apartments and period homes. There are countless placement options since you can fit a fireplace in any room, rather than solely where you have access to a chimney or flue.
- Stylish: modern, ethical fireplaces come in countless designs, with contemporary finishes for a stunning interior aesthetic.
- Minimal Space: a new fire can slot underneath a media centre or be positioned in any discreet or focal point, with low-profile fireplace options for smaller living spaces.
- Low Maintenance: bioethanol fireplaces can heat small or large spaces quickly, with an adjustable output. There is very little in the way of maintenance since the unit operates independently.
Comparable Costs of Heating a Home With a Bioethanol Fireplace
Many clients contact our design team with queries about affordability and ongoing costs, but bioethanol fires are very economical, from initial installation to upkeep. Running costs can vary because various fuel types are available, and you might opt to have a fire burning all day during very cold weather or just for a few hours in the evening.
The average fuel cost is around £2.50 a litre, which allows the fire to burn for approximately 3.5 hours at full heat output.If you choose an adjustable fireplace, you can partially close the box slider to reduce the heat and make the same quantity of fuel last for several hours more.
Good quality bioethanol fuels are available in bulk and can cost a fraction of the average residential utility charges to operate a gas or electric fireplace.
It’s worth playing around with the settings to experiment with your fuel, as you can adapt your bioethanol fireplace to your requirements. Larger spaces may require more heat, but putting the fire on the lowest setting will extend the use of just one litre of fuel for up to eight hours.
The beauty is that you don’t lose fuel if you turn off the fire without depleting the liquid. Rather, the fireplace stores the fuel source safely and will begin to use it the next time you ignite the fire.
Bioethanol Fireplace Safety
Indoor fuels for bioethanol fireplaces are safe even in enclosed spaces and are much better suited to families with young children and homeowners who require good air quality.
One of the issues with traditional log fires is that the smoke and ash can be abrasive and even cause breathing difficulties if any proportion of the smoke isn’t removed through a flue or chimney. Bioethanol fuels are specifically designed for internal use, and the carbon dioxide produced is minimal. There are no carcinogens to worry about, so a bioethanol fire is an outstanding choice for homes without great ventilation.
Of course, we always recommend taking a few basic precautions when handling any flammable substance, and even the safest bioethanol fuel should be stored away from children and pets.
Provided you follow the instructions on the fuel and fill the fire correctly (without overspill), a bioethanol fire is one of the safest modern ways to heat a home.
Switching to a Bioethanol Fireplace
Bioethanol fires have a range of benefits and produce a real burning flame for authentic heat, without artificial flames, emissions or smoke.
Please contact the team at Pinnacle Works if you would like any further information, or wish to explore the opportunities to replace your old fireplace with a sleek bioethanol alternative. Our skilled tradespeople will be delighted to work on your design project and create a unique fireplace that matches your required aesthetic.
With unbeatable air quality and economic and environmental features, this advanced fire system is a fantastic way to upgrade your heating.
