Ainscough Works on Innovative Energy Project

Ainscough Crane Hire has worked with innovative housing provider Melius Homes on a ground-breaking project in Nottingham.

Following a successful pilot scheme on ten properties, Melius Homes was appointed by Nottingham City Homes to deliver a whole-house retrofit to a further 155 homes using the net-zero energy Energiesprong approach, which has significantly improved the energy efficiency of thousands of homes in the Netherlands.

The homes, in the Sneinton area of Nottingham, are receiving the makeover as a result of the EU’s European Regional Development Fund awarding the local authority £5m to undertake the work.

The works include installing a completely new, highly insulated, external envelope using offsite fabricated advanced timber panels, along with efficient renewable energy systems to deliver assured performance low energy homes. All the required structures were built offsite by Melius Homes in order to ensure quality and reduce the impact on householders and neighbours from works on site.

Ainscough was appointed by Melius Homes on a contract lift basis to lift the energy-efficient cladding into place and utilised a 40t crane, which has seen the team working on one row of houses at a time.

Works are progressing well on site with the first panels manufactured and successfully installed.

James Needham, Ainscough Crane Hire’s Nottingham depot manager, said: “We are all increasingly aware of the need to be more energy conscious in our day to day lives, and this Melius Homes development is a great example of the positive steps that can be taken in order to help reduce domestic bills while helping to preserve the world around us.

“This job has been a pleasure for our Nottingham team to work on, and a real privilege to collaborate alongside such forward-thinking companies that are bringing real innovation to Nottingham City Homes’ housing stock.”