Unidek Ltd gives the 2010 Budget a cautious thumbs up

Unidek, the company behind Europe’s favourite SIPS technology, have given the pre-election Budget a very cautious thumbs up. Here, Mike Ormesher, General Manager, explains why.

“It looks like the Chancellor has placed business at the heart of this year’s budget”, says Mike. “Whilst rises in alcohol and fuel will undoubtedly make the headlines, it is certainly a positive move for the residential property sector and the nation’s house builders that stamp duty has been increased to £250,000. This will allow first time buyers to gain a foothold on the property ladder. Whilst we would all have liked to see this brought in ‘across the board’ to stimulate the housing sector, it will nevertheless have a stimulating effect.

“What we would have liked was positive support for helping households to improve the energy efficiency of the home, which is a disappointing pre-election stance, given the drive for a sustainable future policy. Hopefully this will be communicated more positively post the election!

“And, as an SME in the UK, we are encouraged by the new investment initiatives in this sector. The reduction in business rates will provide some tax relief to smaller businesses who make a crucial contribution to the sector, whilst entrepreneurs have been incentivised by additional capital gains tax relief to invest more in UK PLC as a whole.”

“The big linger will be how the next or continuing Government set their stall for investment into the construction industry and how they deliver green and renewable investment. The continued support for initiatives like Kick-Start and others is crucial in getting the UK housing market back to the target of 250,000 houses per year.

“The use of MMC initiatives such as SIPS have been welcomed by groups of Parliamentary officials at initiatives such as the Delphi collaboration so we now await the chance to demonstrate just how easily we can build the UK’s sustainable future with a ‘fabric first approach’ that will stand the test of time”.

“Overall, there were not too many surprises – but then we expected this with an election imminent”.

Unidek Aero wins Innovation Excellence design award

Unidek, the company behind Europe’s favourite SIPS technology, are celebrating an Innovation Excellence award win at the SABINE fair, Reims (France) for their innovative Aero product.

In presenting the award, the jury praised the Unidek Aero innovation because of the revolutionary design and outstanding benefits including overall strength, rapid processing and three R values available from one single thickness (with a choice of insulant).

In addition, they were amazed by the hidden integrated stiffeners that radically reduce thermal bridging. And the overall strength of the panel was proved to be impressive when Unidek engineers then drove a fully loaded long wheel base transit van over the panels and stopped at mid span.

Summing up this prestigious award Mike Ormesher, Unidek’s General Manager in the UK commented,

“Aero is a massive step forward in SIPS technology on mainland Europe. However, in the UK, we have yet to fully appreciate the major benefits of our standard SIPS panels, never mind this latest development.

“Having a parent company with so many years of experience and innovation in SIPS technology that is way ahead of the UK’s common requirements, is a great position to be in. The team at Unidek Ltd in the UK is extremely excited to be able to offer this latest technology to our regular users of SIPS.

“We are providing turnkey benefits for many high performing buildings both residential and non residential and with our latest communication strategy, SIPS SENSE^TM, we believe it won’t be long before our current and new clients start to ask for our award winning innovations to be implemented into their current designs to differentiate their input and services and to seriously add value engineering into their projects”.

Contact Unidek today to discuss how you can apply SIPS SENSE and use Aero panels in your next project. Visit the website here

Introducing SIPS SENSE to the UK building sector

Recognising an information gap in the market, Unidek has launched an initiative to ensure SIPS (Structurally Insulated Panel Systems) technology is communicated clearly and consistently and reaches as many UK construction professionals as possible.

Why? SIPS technology has been a mainstay on the continent for forty years. Indeed, Unidek’s parent company CRH is the dominant player in the market, producing millions of square metres of roof and wall panels each year.

With UK specifiers waking up to the potential, we are seeing SIPS used in hotel, education and social housing projects.  In all of these areas, the organizations and individuals utilizing SIPS are reporting back the same set of positive experiences.

These include a simplified build process offering earlier completion, with far fewer defects and greatly improved airtightness (an increasingly important consideration as Building Regulation requirements are enhanced).

Projects are being completed on schedule and to budget, with the sometimes higher capital cost being more than compensated for by reduced labour costs and earlier occupation; while the whole life benefits of such thermally efficient, sustainable structures are in harmony with national and international targets for the environment.

So what are you waiting for?

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