New life for an un-mortgageable home
This major renovation project in Stevenage sees an uninhabitable home brought up to date. The existing property was a 1950-1960s ‘system Cornish Type 2’ which is a precast reinforced concrete (PRC) construction dwelling. These properties are poorly insulated and are known to suffer from structural damage due to inadequate protection of the embedded steel reinforcements and chemical changes to the surrounding concrete. After a review was undertaken in the 1980s by the BRE these building types were deemed as ‘inherently defective’ and un-mortgageable. A government scheme was introduced in the 1980s to enable compensation to be given to owners who had purchased these properties under the Right to Buy Scheme.
Mr P Parr of Taurus Building Services UK Ltd made a cash purchase (since the property was un-mortgageable) and fully upgraded the property using a PRC Homes Ltd licensed system and also added on a two-storey rear extension and a single-story front extension with off road parking for two cars.
The works to upgrade the dwelling included removing the outer walls to reveal the skeleton of the building but keeping the floors and roof in position by using numerous support sections.
Once the new foundations were cast, they were then able to reconstruct the outer walls as traditional brick and block, cavity insulated walls.
Taurus Building Services had luckily undertaken previous projects of the same type in the area. So they were already knowledgeable on unexpected problems that may have arisen. The team has worked together with Hertfordshire Building Control for a long time and a great working relationship has been established. We were delighted that this particular project went onto win a ‘Highly Commended’ at the Central Region LABC Awards 2021!
