Gyproc Habito plasterboard specified to reduce maintenance call outs

Minimising maintenance

London is feeling the full force of the UK’s housing affordability crisis. Responding to this issue, the London Borough of Newham Council has taken an innovative approach to developing a sustainable solution by trusting us to produce affordable housing with minimised maintenance costs.

Central to the council’s ambitious plans has been the opening of its own offsite manufacturing facility - with the capacity to provide two new homes per week. Key sections of each housing unit produced at the facility - such as the walls and roof - are built on timber frames and assembled on site. Highly durable plasterboard, such as Gyproc Habito, are used throughout to maximise maintenance cycles. The end result is high-quality homes which deliver significant time and cost savings compared to traditional builds.

Tony Abbs, operations director RMS at London Borough of Newham Council, said: “With the cost of homes and rents rising higher and higher, particularly here in London, increasing the supply of affordable housing is hugely important to ensure local people have a place they can rest, play and enjoy. An offsite, timber frame home is up to 40 percent cheaper to develop than a traditional build. These savings mean we can deliver more units within the same development budget, helping more residents across Newham access high-quality affordable housing.”

Trusting our expertise

It was important that the product used throughout the development was durable and low maintenance so it could stand the test of time, and Gyproc Habito plasterboard was the perfect solution for the London Borough of Newham Council.

Tony said: “Our repairs team are in high demand across our housing stock and, as a result, we’ve struggled to keep up with maintaining the walls in our properties. This means we need a robust, long-lasting product, which is also easy to install and replace when it is time to undertake maintenance on a home. We are impressed by the strength of Gyproc Habito. It’s ability to help in significantly increasing maintenance cycles makes it the perfect product for the development of high-quality social housing.

It’s also really important to us that our residents can make the accommodation feel like their home - one way of doing this is by hanging items on the walls - such as photos and decorations. Because the plasterboard we’ve installed is five times stronger than standard, it allows our residents to easily hang TV’s on the wall, or put up shelves and additional storage without any specialist fixings. All they need is a screwdriver and a no.10 woodscrew. Using Gyproc Habito means when a family moves out, there are just small screw holes left and our repair costs will be significantly lower than normal.”

Following a successful test-house - which now accommodates London Borough of Newham Council’s highway maintenance offices - the first development, featuring six three-bed homes, has now welcomed its residents. This initial development is expected to be followed by an additional 32 timber-framed homes, which will also use Gyproc Habito as standard.

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