The New Way to Build Healthier, More Energy Efficient Homes

At Location Homes, we’re always open to better ways to build affordable luxury homes for our clients. So when we discovered the advantages of a new construction process – Formance Structural Insulated Panels – we couldn’t have been more excited. Here’s why.

If you watch Grand Designs New Zealand you may have seen an episode in Season 3 featuring George and Yvonne’s amazing home build in Tasman using a revolutionary new construction process – Formance Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs).

Formance SIPs can be used for walls, roofs and floors and are a high performance building material for the ultimate sustainable home. They provide high levels of insulation, high strength and a low eco footprint for your new home.

The panels combine superior insulation properties with near-zero air leakage to maximise the performance of the building envelope, ensuring:

• Reduced energy consumption
• Lower energy bills
• Up to 90 per cent less energy leakage when compared to stick-framed structures
• No thermal bridging or convection looping

As well as providing a wealth of design possibilities, being low waste and allowing efficient, faster construction, Formance SIPs provide significant improvements when compared to traditional construction methods in several ways.

Thermal performance

The thermal performance of a home has two components: Airtightness and Thermal conductivity. Airtightness is measured in Air Changes Per Hour at 50pa of pressure and Thermal Conductivity is measured in R Value.

When used in roof and walls, Formance panels easily achieve the highest standards of airtightness possible today. For New Zealand conditions, a truly airtight building with an envelope R Value of more than four is more than sufficient to slash heating and cooling energy usage when compared to traditional construction methods.

Reduced energy costs

Nobody could help but have noticed that energy costs have doubled here in New Zealand over the past 13 years. When you’re building a new home, therefore, it’s worth considering that 40 per cent of a home’s energy consumption is related to heating and cooling.

With drastically reduced heating and cooling requirements in a Formance house, you can enjoy ongoing energy savings from the moment you move in. It’s worth noting that traditional methods of insulating homes deteriorate over time, a Formance-built home maintains high insulation performance over the long term.

A healthier home

The high airtightness of a home built using Formance SIPs allows unprecedented control over the interior environment, meaning a reduction in allergans and airborne pollutants. With no air in the walls, there is no condensation and so no mould growth, creating a healthier indoor environment.

A stronger build

Formance SIPs are incredibly strong, effectively providing double bracing capacity to the wall. Besides bracing, the panels have huge impact resistance both inside and out and, because they’re nailed and bonded at the joints, they are creak-free forever.

In New Zealand, where we are subject to earthquakes, this strength is invaluable. Not only do Formance SIPs have huge strength, they also have great ductability. So not only do they withstand the force of an earthquake well, they also allow some flex in the structure to take the shock.

Building with Formance SIPs

While building with Formance SIPs offers many advantages, it’s an entirely new way to construct a home that most builders in New Zealand are not yet up to speed with. At Location Homes, we have the experience with constructing homes using this innovative new construction method and can ensure that your new affordable luxury home is perfectly built to schedule and for more Inspiration please click here

Missed the episode of Grand DesignsNew Zealand featuring Formance SIPs? Watch it here.