Morley Street Mill Looks to Offsite

Fusion Building Systems, the offsite manufacturer of light gauge steel frames has been awarded a contract by Solus Homes to provide a two-storey superstructure for the renovation of Morley Street Mill in Loughborough, Leicestershire.

The former home of the Morley hosiery factory is being sympathetically redeveloped by the Loughborough housebuilder to provide luxury apartment accommodation across six storeys, for sale on the open market. Northampton-based Fusion Building Systems' contract is to design and manufacture offsite, the light gauge steel superstructure which will form the upper two floors of the development, to be positioned on top of the existing 18th century structure.

The low weight of Fusion's light gauge steel panelised system was one of the primary reasons it was chosen by Solus Homes, enabling the developer to retain as much of the original building construction without compromise. With individual exterior wall panels weighing up to 80% less than the same area in traditional building materials, the benefits of using a light gauge steel system are significant.

This will be the first time the two companies have worked together and Solus Homes Managing Director Mark Hornsall, said: "I was aware of Fusion through industry connections and had seen some of their work locally. We discussed a similar mill restoration project they'd worked on in Leeds and after touring their manufacturing facility and reviewing their design and engineering capabilities, I was eager to see how their system could work for us. While lightweight materials are a driving factor in this project, I'm interested to see how offsite construction might speed up our site process - ultimately influencing the build quality of our developments and their commercial viability."

Stewart Hackney, Fusion Building Systems Business Development Manager, added: "It's been a pleasure to work through the plans for Morley Street with Solus Homes and as this project progresses, we hope they'll see the benefits of working with our offsite system for themselves - through the predictability of cost, timelines and accuracy of construction."

Demolition works at Morley Street started back in July 2018, followed by construction work in November. Fusion has an eight week build programme planned for the site and will shortly start on the design element of its work, before moving to production and then on to site in May 2019. Solus Homes plans to reach completion by April 2020.

www.fusionbuild.com