Midas Group

Oakfield project a blueprint for future housing, says Nationwide

The £50 million new Oakfield community being built in Swindon by Mi-space was today showcased by the Nationwide Building Society as a potential national blueprint for housebuilders on how to create-energy efficient homes and communities for the future. The brainchild of the Society, the Oakfield scheme aims to be one

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Latest Issue
Issue 323 : Dec 2024

Midas Group

Oakfield project a blueprint for future housing, says Nationwide

The £50 million new Oakfield community being built in Swindon by Mi-space was today showcased by the Nationwide Building Society as a potential national blueprint for housebuilders on how to create-energy efficient homes and communities for the future. The brainchild of the Society, the Oakfield scheme aims to be one of Britain’s largest energy-efficient communities – a development where homes are built to leading environmental standards and future-proofed with a host of green innovations to help people live sustainably. Nationwide, the world’s biggest building society, pledged to share all of its learnings and plans from the development in order to help create positive change and has called on Government, housebuilders and lenders to outline a roadmap which will help deliver homes that are more sustainable. Mi-space, part of the Midas Group, one of the UK’s largest independent construction and property services providers, started work in 2020 on the project, which will create a thriving new community at the brownfield site, with 239 new homes to be developed, including 71 available for affordable housing. Steve Hart, Divisional Director at Midas, said: “We are incredibly proud to be part of this trailblazing scheme and to be partnering with Nationwide as it looks to re-write the rule book on how to create sustainable homes and communities for the future. “Every aspect of the Oakfield project is being considered in the finest detail and as a project team we are continually challenging ourselves as to how we can do things differently and better. It is a unique and exciting process which is drawing on our and our project partners’ experience of good practice, driving innovation and creating a knowledge base from which the wider industry can benefit,” From the outset, Nationwide set out for Oakfield to be an exemplar scheme and to challenge the way housebuilding has traditionally been done. It will see all 239 homes hitting the EPC-A rating, the top level of energy efficiency, compared to a just a fraction of new properties built nationally currently meeting these standards. It is also set to be one of Britain’s biggest off-gas housing developments, with all properties, including affordable housing, having photovoltaic solar panels and air source heat pumps, instead of a traditional gas boiler. And the project is designed with future green innovations in mind too, enabling residents to further green their homes, for example with batteries for surplus energy storage. The development will also be ready for electric cars – charging points will be provided on the street, and homes with on-plot parking will be wired to allow residents to install their own charging points. Sara Bennison, Chief Product and Marketing Officer, Nationwide Building Society, said the Society hoped this new approach to creating community-focused, more environmentally-friendly homes would be the start of a blueprint for newbuild homes across the UK. She said: “Just a fraction of new homes in the UK are built to an EPC-A rated standard. Creating homes today which aren’t fit for the future and will need to be retrofitted in a matter of years is simply not right. We will be calling for Government, house builders and lenders to work together to tackle any remaining barriers to improving the environmental standards of new homes. “Buildings are the second largest source of emissions in the UK. Creating sustainable communities is possible and we are demonstrating this through our Oakfield development – delivering one of the greenest communities in the UK at scale. We all need to play our part in delivering high quality homes that are fit for the future. We will be sharing all our learnings and plans helping developers commit to a clear roadmap for more a sustainable future.  “In addition, with more than 1.5 million homes on our mortgage balance sheet, we are also developing new products to help our members make a real difference to the environment by making improvements to existing properties. Together we can tackle the climate crisis and we are committed to helping our members to create greener and more sustainable homes.” Work on the Oakfield development began on site in April 2020. Construction is expected to take about three and a half years, with the first phase of new homes being completed in Spring 2022.

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Midas Group has Selected UK’s Largest Roofing Company to Fit a Durable Watertight Surface

Midas Group has selected the UK’s largest roofing company to fit a durable, watertight surface for a three storey roof-top car park in Solihull near Birmingham. The 3,500 square meters of mastic asphalt was laid by BriggsAmasco’s City and Guild-trained installers. The surface was put on the car parks concrete upper decks. The project required up to 54-tonnes of asphalt being used every day on the machine led sections of the roof. This required an expert level of management in order to make sure there was a steady supply of the materials. One particularly complex section of the project required contractors to close some sections of the car park in order to bring in cranes with tanks full of the asphalt on to the roof. This required a great deal of coordination and planning with the local authorities as well as the clients in order to see that the task was carried out with minimum delay and disruption as well as ensuring the lowest possible safety risk for the public. Mastic Asphalt is an effectively durable and waterproof surface that can endure heavy volumes of traffic as well as being successful in terms of sustainability. The Mastic Asphalt is recyclable and carbon-zero. It is also a system that offers a 100% co2 neutral solution for surfaces such as the car park project. However, it requires a great deal of skill and training in order to make sure it is installed correctly. Therefore, it is understandable that Midas gave this contract to the UK’s largest roofing company. Awarding the contract to BriggsAmasco seems obvious when the logistics and scale of the Solihull project are laid out. The Mastic Asphalt is the perfect surface covering for asphalt paving such as that used on the Solihull car park. The installation took place over the winter, giving the installers the weather to contend with, and there had to be a temporary stop put on the project because of this. The Mastic Asphalt needs dry weather in order to be laid correctly but due to the good management of the project, the product was installed successfully.

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