Technical newsletters about emerging issues & our latest research

Berkeley Group’s new Modular Factory achieved a BREEAM Very Good rating this month reflecting the high standard to which Berkeley build even where there are no planning requirements.

We were the licensed assessor and the Accredited Professional for the site, enabling us to facilitate the design team’s efforts to successfully schedule activities, set priorities and negotiate the trade-offs required to achieve a target BREEAM rating.

We undertook regular specification reviews to ensure that BREEAM requirements were included and produced alternative specification text where non-compliances were shown. As we knew that Berkeley were the end users, we were able to remain in constant contact with them, providing instant updates to the assessment through our bespoke trackers.

The primary driver for Berkeley Group’s investment in volumetric modular manufacturing though is to enhance the quality of homes without compromising on comfort or flexibility of design. To assist with this we undertook surface condensation risk assessments to ensure issues were designed out. We also undertook thermal bridging calculations on the design of the modular homes in order to minimise heat loss and improve the thermal comfort of the occupants.

We look forward to working on the delivery of projects using the factory’s product which is scheduled to complete its first modular in spring 2020.