The Architects

From an early stage of development, the client, Mike Webb at Seaton Beach Developments Ltd wanted the project to meet the highest standards of energy efficiency. With this ambition in mind, Mike reached out to the architect team of Gale & Snowden for its assistance. As architects, Gale & Snowden place a great importance on employing a fabric first approach to construction work.

On the Seaton Beach development, the architects worked to prioritise the construction and insulative composition of the property’s core elements, particularly its walls, while also employing a holistic approach to the building design.

Photography by Dug Wilders

The Construction

To ensure it achieved its overarching design and sustainability goals, the architect team chose to specify the Porotherm modern clay block walling system. Previously, the team had used the innovative solution when working to complete similar major Passivhaus housing projects in Exeter, Bristol and Bournemouth.

The project team utilised a monolithic clay block construction combined with a high-performance external render and internal plaster. On account of this decision, the structure’s wall build-up was mineral. In turn, this meant the development was hygroscopic, which helped to regulate internal humidity and promote optimum indoor air quality.

Photography by Dug Wilders

The Carbon Footprint

The team’s decision to employ this form of construction also enabled it to design the project around a large format block coursing. In turn, this then dramatically reduced construction time. Likewise, at the end of the building’s life, the structure can be crushed without the need for the separation and disposal of composite elements.

These benefits help to further reduce the building’s associated carbon footprint. Implementing measures that reduce carbon consumption is important in an industry like construction, which contributes to around 40 per cent of the nation’s total carbon emissions.

Photography by Dug Wilders

The Awards

The Seaton Beach project has gone on to be recognised with a number of prestigious awards, including:

• Winner – Residential Project of the Year (35 units & under) – 2020 Michelmores Property Awards
• Winner – Sustainability Project – 2020 Constructing Excellence South West Awards
• Highly Commended – Sustainability Project – 2020 Constructing Excellence National Awards

This project has helped to highlight what’s possible when development teams dually prioritise longevity and energy efficiency on large-scale builds. Additionally, the certified Passivhaus Plus project exemplifies the benefits of adopting a holistic approach to design and the positives of utilising modern, sustainable solutions, such as Porotherm.

Photography by Dug Wilders

The Product

Porotherm is a unique clay block walling system, which offers a genuine alternative to concrete block construction.

This sustainable building material is helping to deliver exceptionally fast, virtually dry construction. A number of Porotherm blocks were used on the Seaton Beach project as well as a number of thermally broken lintels.

The Porotherm clay block system offers a breadth of choice across two ranges; a core selection for interior walls in three width options of 100, 140 or 190mm and an extensive monolithic range serving both interior and exterior wall build ups with accompanying accessories.

Photography by Dug Wilders

The Benefits

Thanks to its lightweight nature, Porotherm is much faster to lay than traditional concrete blockwork; an average of 30/40 sqm per man, per day can be laid, which allows project teams to build to storey-height within just one day. Similarly, thanks to this easier installation process fewer people are needed on site, which reduces installation costs and makes social distancing regulations easier to uphold.

From a safety perspective, Porotherm doesn’t feature sharp corners and allows for mortar to be applied with a roller, which helps to reduce the risk of dermatological irritation for installers.

Photography by Dug Wilders

The Sustainability Credentials

Despite being lighter, the compressive strengths of Porotherm’s core range are typically 10 N/mm². As such, the range provides long-term, durable performance with a life expectancy of over 150 years.

However, on a project like Seaton Beach, perhaps the most important benefit of the solution was its impressive energy efficiency and sustainability credentials.

Most notably, 30% of the materials used to create a Porotherm block are from alternative, recycled or secondary sources (MARSS). Additionally, solutions from the range are designed to be thermally and acoustically efficient, which allows them to deliver real value to tenants long after being installed.

Photography by Dug Wilders

The Project Details

• Project name: Seaton beach
• Location: Devon
• Client: Seaton Beach Developments Ltd
• Architect, Passivhaus Designer: Gale & Snowden, project architect Lawrence Millyard
• Main Contractor: Classic Builders
• Product: Multi-cellular Porotherm clay blocks

Photography by Dug Wilders

To find out more about the Porotherm clay block walling system, please visit www.wienerberger.co.uk/products/clay-blocks