Philip Carney, Technical & Innovation Director, oversees all NTS technical and product development. He has over 30 years’ experience in construction product manufacturing, research and certification. We asked him about the NTS approach, and future NTS Solutions.
Q How do you go about developing new products?
PC We work closely with our customers to identify how to achieve what they need, and from that whether there’s a case for designing a new product or adapting an existing one as we have done for NTSROOF® SUPER-SPAN®. We want our customers to ask us questions so we can find solutions for them to reduce build times and save on labour on site. We also stay up-to-date with changing regulations to anticipate customer requirements.
Q How has NTS responded to the changes in regulations and standards?
PC We responded early to help customers meet the Part L requirement via the energy efficiency of NTSROOF®.
There’s no one way for a builder to achieve Part L so a house design could involve a variety of measures from more insulation in floor, wall and roof cassettes, to an asymmetric roof to take more PVs on the south facing side of the home. The inclusion of products that assist in achieving a satisfactory Part L solution complements the fabric first approach.
For Part O on overheating, this is an opportunity for the industry to engage with the new designs housebuilders are working on and extend the use of engineered timber solutions.
Q NTSROOF® has been in production for almost 10 years. How has the range expanded?
PC NTSROOF® now offers several innovative versions, all based on our original NTSROOF® system to meet current and future regulatory requirements. The enhanced core NTSROOF® system is designed to adapt seamlessly to evolving standards.
NTSROOM® is delivered complete with floor cassettes, enabling the entire room-in-the-roof to be installed at once – significantly reducing on-site build times.
SUPER-SPAN® boasts industry-leading unsupported spans of over 9 metres and has been a proven solution for large detached houses and dormer bungalows, in production for three years.
SUPER-CHARGED® integrates PV technology directly into the design.
Q GreenBox® floor-cassette system is a collaboration with international engineering, design and technology firm Thornton Tomasetti. What does this mean for NTS?
PC The collaboration allows us a route into a market that we have not pursued before, that is the large multistorey market. With our ability to supply large numbers of cassettes to customers today, we see this as an important and natural progression for NTS. We’re extremely proud to be working with Thornton Tomasetti.
GreenBox® is especially suited to the construction of large commercial buildings and multi-occupancy residential developments. It uses lightweight, low-embodied-carbon engineered-timber and performs as an alternative to a concrete floor, with less mass and a fraction of the embodied carbon. The potential for designing buildings using more timber and less concrete and steel is very exciting.
Q How do you think NTS products will change over the next 5 years?
PC I think that we will have more collaborationswith other companies, particularly to create integrated multifunctional products delivered ready to install on-site.
For the builder, the benefits of confirming the items to be integrated at an early stage include streamlining work on-site as cabling and pipework routes will already have been designed into the product. The product information we supply to a home builder will become more specific to the overall solution, incorporating key changes such as MVHR systems, and other integrated items.
We’re already looking at the need to consider the inclusion of services and other items into the floor or roof voids. This will bring new challenges and potentially new solutions. The detail could change the design principles and method for how we design floors and roofs in the future, and having a good relationship with the builder will be even more crucial than it is today.
We remain committed to the NTS product philosophy: creating products that enhance our customers’ build processes. Our focus is on ensuring ease of installation, reducing time on-site, and supporting compliance with building regulations. While we strive for genuine innovation, our ultimate goal is to simplify on-site work for our customers, our aim is always that our customers have to do ‘less on site’.
For more information contact: ntsenquiries@nationaltimbersystems.co.uk
