The eco-house made from Brighton's rubbish

There is no such thing as waste…  just things in the wrong place!

EJOT UK supplied a variety of fastenings to Brighton’s Faculty of Arts ‘Waste House’ Project - including specialist fixings for external wall & roof insulation - and for the project’s photovoltaic solar panels. Architectural Researcher at the University of Brighton’s Faculty of Arts, Duncan Baker-Brown, has been leading the project which will create a sustainable studio at the Grand Parade Campus.

The Waste House was inspired by a collaboration between Baker-Brown and TV celebrity Kevin McCloud during an earlier series of 'Grand Designs'. The aim was to create the UK’s first low-energy prefabricated house using purely eco-friendly materials. ‘The House that Kevin Built’ as it became known, proved to be the prototype and the Brighton Waste House has allowed students to create new methods of sustainable construction using locally sourced waste materials. 

In the UK, some 45% of CO2 emissions come from architectural structures so finding ways to build sustainably is a social responsibility. The project aims to exceed EU targets for a 30% reduction in emissions.

Insulation in the walls and to the roof structure include materials like tyres, inner-tubes – even toothbrushes – hence the request to EJOT was to trial a variety of fixings that would achieve the necessary pull-out strengths from unconventional substrates. In the end it was a combination of EJOT’s SW8R fastener and SBHT washer that provided the solution on the walls, with the TKR fastener securing plywood boards and insulation in the roof area.

Steve Bailey carried out the on-site pull-out testing:
"The Waste House is the most fascinating project I’ve conducted testing at, but the way that the variety of materials were put to use has been meticulously planned."I was working with 100% reclaimed plywood and the vapour membrane consisted of used advertising hoarding sheets. By design, this material is light and weather resistant, just like its conventional equivalent. Our SW8R is a carbon steel fastener that is organically coated for corrosion resistance. It is specifically made to fix insulation to a variety of substrates and it proved ideal. Equally, the SBHT washer works with a variety of fasteners – and ironically it carries EJOT UK’s ‘Made in Yorkshire’ stamp as it is in itself, a product of our own zero-waste material production process. The TKR offers exactly the same advantages from a countersunk headed fastener".