LnP

Frame Technologies are still in business, but with only two employees, Simon Orrells and his wife. Everything is sub-contracted out, including manufacture of the frames, albeit to a manufacturer who I believe is STA Gold. I think a previous incarnation got into trouble when a large order with a developer customer went bad. The consequence was that he had to sell the factory and let go all his employees. I'm sure it must have been a traumatic experience and he must have considered finding an easier way to spend his time, but he decided to get back into the business with this company structure - no fixed assets and no employees. He's a tremendous guy with huge experience which would be an asset to any project. I'm sure he has happy customers and could deliver a service as good as any other frame supplier and maybe better than some. But you need to do your financial due diligence and satisfy yourself you're happy doing business with a supplier with this rather unorthodox structure.

As I said I would, I made an enquiry on the Jackon Atlas website. I got a call from them and they referred me to ICF Bondmor for installation in the UK. I was also contacted by a very helpful builder via this forum who uses the Jackon system for ICF and insulated raft foundations. I'm also finding that you need to find a structural engineer who's familiar with insulated rafts. I'm making progress with that.

@JohnMo and @Beelbeebub, all fair points but I recommend you read the piece by Dieter Helm I linked to and I'll be interested in your thoughts about his arguments.

@IanR My criteria are cost, speed of installation and simplicity. Energy efficiency performance is interesting but won't be a deal breaker. I was speaking to AFT recently, before their decision to cease trading, and they were not interested in installing, a change from the past. They did however provide some very useful information about expected installation costs, and the name of a local ground works company they had had good experience with. I was definitely interested in going further with them, but sadly that won't now be possible. That's a useful list in the post you linked to, thanks.

Interesting. I've not come across these people before. Their website gives the impression they don't have a presence in the UK, although it's all nicely presented in English. I'll drop them a line. Thanks

Would you be happy with your electricity supplier cutting you off 4% of the time? I doubt it. Filling the last few % of the intermittency gap is expensive and the renewables generators are getting it for free. If they were required to deliver firm power, they would have to back up their wind farms with CCGT or batteries. Amortising that capital cost over 4% utilisation is expensive. At the moment they don't pick up the cost. Well, yes, all generators need to pay a share, but if money has to be spent on the grid to accommodate newly connected renewables, their share should reflect that. At the moment, renewable electricity which we've all committed to pay for with CfDs is being curtailed because the grid can't take it. The grid was completely fit for purpose before renewables came along. Dieter Helm explains it very well. Current peak demand: 45 GW Before renewables, capacity installed to meet the peak with a security margin: 60 GW Current installed capacity: 120 GW requiring a much larger grid for the same demand. And we have to add the cost of the batteries, storage, CCGT etc. to fill the intermittency gaps. I'm fully in favour of decarbonisation, but we need to be clear about the costs and how we mitigate them.

Since it keeps coming up, and I got no response when I made these points before, I'll briefly repeat them: 1. Renewables aren't cheap. They appear cheap because the generators sell their electricity without having to be accountable for the system costs they incur, which are intermittency and grid capacity. A kWh of electricity from a firm power generator (nuclear, CCGT) which is connected to the grid close to consumers is worth more than a kWh from an intermittent generator in the North Sea off Scotland. 2. The issue of North Sea oil and gas prices peaking with global prices at the whim of geopolitics could be easily solved. The government could issue licences to the oil companies which would work similar to CfDs for renewables, fixed price for a fixed period and conditional on being landed in the UK for UK consumption. It's been done before. That's how it was in the early days of North Sea oil and gas production.

Which others do you think came close? I'd like to know who I should add to my shopping list. Thanks

I'm shopping round for insulated raft suppliers and had been talking to AFT. I just got this email. I wonder where this leaves any customers who have orders placed with them. Dear Customer / supplier, It is with regret that we at AFT have decided to cease trading with immediate effect. AFT was formed to bring to the UK the considerable benefits of Swedish style insulated raft foundations. To a large extent we achieved this successfully, and for the completed foundation we are confident in saying we achieved a 100% customer satisfaction. Whilst the EcoRaft (and Groundshield) remain in our opinion the very best product for constructing structurally robust and energy efficient foundations, the uptake in the UK has been disappointing. Due to this, and the general economic climate in which we find ourselves, we have decided that we shall no longer trade in the UK and close our books, as it were, with immediate effect. We would like to thank all of our valued customers, particularly those who chose EcoRaft for repeated projects, and those who helped AFT promote EcoRaft to a wider market. We would also like to thank our suppliers and partners for the last 10 years, and wish you every success in the future. Olof Christiansen Managing Director AFT Ltd.

Climate change is due to the changing chemical composition of the atmosphere, which causes heat from the sun to be trapped and the planet to heat up. It's not due to the heat which is released from human activity.

There are a couple of exhibitors at the NSBRC who do external blinds, for example, this one.

Congratulations on your metal bashing skills. Is it a normal part of an install to have to fabricate distribution boxes? What is it about the off the shelf ones which makes them not suitable, like these Ubbink ones?

No doubt you're Welsh and the jury's out on the good looks 😉.... but I imagine you need to be an olympic wrestler to manipulate all that ducting into place. I recall your preference for radial systems but don't recall the reason. Might a branched system have been easier to accommodate in the building structure and to install? Or is it down to performance? Grateful for a reminder why you prefer radial systems. Thanks

If you go for the semi rigid radial ducting as recommended by @Nickfromwales, in a timber frame with metal web joists, what do you need to do regarding planning the duct runs. Assuming you're going to buy the kit and organise the installation yourself. Can you get duct layouts done? Who does that? Thanks

It's a nice idea but my computer doesn't seem to like it. I downloaded the file into Excel but can't type into the input cells. I get a message saying the spreadsheet is protected. An alternative for anybody having the same problems as me, is to use a psychrometric chart. I'm attaching one here and have marked it up with an example: Relative humidity 70%, Temperature 20o C Start at the top and follow the 70% line down to where it intersects 20o C on the x axis. Gives a dew point (wet bulb or saturation temperature) of 16.5o C. Unlike @SteamyTea's spreadsheet, it doesn't account for different atmospheric pressures though. I'm not sure how much difference that makes. psychrometric-chart-en-uk.pdf