Application of circular economy practices to external façade systems for Irish timber frame homes

Keenan Timber Frame (KTF) is a family building company based in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland founded in 1999 with the intention of providing sustainable timber frame homes. KTF manufacture high performance timber frame buildings that surpass current requirements in energy efficiency and airtightness for the Irish and UK market.

KTF manufacture timber frame homes and supply airtight and insulated units to site. However at the moment, the external cladding for these homes is mainly brick or concrete and these materials are both time consuming and expensive to install. Furthermore the delays on site can mean that the timber frames are exposed to the elements for some considerable time. KTF want to investigate other materials for external cladding which they can incorporate into their building system and which include aspects of materials recovery or reuse and possibly using recycled or glass reinforced plastic materials for an external leaf which incorporates insulation properties which are comparable to or exceed that of brick or concrete renders.