May 2 2007
Presenter Kevin McCloud staged a dramatic demonstration on a recent Grand Designs programme on Channel 4 to show that aircrete blocks are not just lighter in weight than dense aggregate blocks, but that their eco footprint is also lighter on the planet.
Improvised scales were created on a live building site to show that three lightweight aircrete blocks weigh the same as one dense aggregate block of the same size.
Why? Because aircrete uses much less raw material, due to its aerated structure, and this in turn means that aircrete offers far better thermal insulation than conventional blocks.
Celcon aircrete also contains a high proportion of recycled material, and Grand Designs showed the blocks being made at H+H Celcon’s Borough Green factory, where pulverised fuel ash, a by-product of coal-fired power stations accounts for around 70% of the raw materials used in each block.
The project featured in the Grand Designs programme was a stunning art deco house in Surrey, built for owners Andrew and Helen Berry. The architect is Trevor Adams. By using the very best of 21st century technology, Andrew and Helen’s dream home is far better insulated than the original art deco houses built in the 1920s and 1930s.