While much of the physical construction industry has all but ground to a halt during the coronavirus pandemic, there is still a lot of work to be done at the planning and technical stage
The Actis technical team is still working (from home), with meetings and support advice available through various platforms.
Actis is among the growing band of organisations stressing that now is a good time for architects and specifiers to get ahead with the technical side of projects, to ensure they are ready to go once we reach the other side of the crisis.
Online technical advice
Access to much of the technical advice Actis offers has not changed, as many of its tools have been available online for years, including its U-value simulator and suite of how-to videos.
UK and Ireland sales director, Mark Cooper, said: “Obviously we’ve adapted our working practices, as our top priority is the safety of our staff, customers and wider network.
“We will continue to adapt as required to ensure we combine safety by offering a helpful technical service.”
UK and Ireland technical director, architect Thomas Wiedmer, will be able to answer specific queries so that specifiers and builders planning projects will be ready to deliver them once it’s safe and appropriate to start building again.
Additionally, many of its systems are available from the NBS National BIM Library.
The wall and roof systems come in HH, HB and HY variants, shorthand for all three Hybrid products or just Hybris and BoostR Hybrid, or Hybris and HControl Hybrid. They offer a complete, ready to use build up for easy inclusion into the Revit software platform.
The library also features individual product files covering every thickness of CE marked insulation Hybris, vapour control layer HControl Hybrid and breather membrane BoostR Hybrid.
These should be invaluable to specifiers wanting to create highly insulated, airtight buildings which will meet the most onerous energy performance requirements.
In addition to enabling 3D ‘real-life’ representations of the finished project and its intervening stages, the integrated BIM system enables specifiers to anticipate errors, design issues and clashes long before they would have occurred using older Computer Aided Design technology.
Registered Construction Details
A recently created set of Registered Construction Details created in partnership with LABC is another powerful, online tool.
The RCD provides construction details and checklists of points to look out for during design and on-site and offers instant access to online tutorials to help specifiers reduce heat leakage through weak junctions and thus design out thermal bridging.
The RCD drawings and documents can be fed into specifications for new projects and are also accessible on the go. Builders can link to installation videos while out on site for example, ensuring the tool is useful at all stages of the process from specification to installation.
