Actis’ new regional specification manager and U-value Simulator

A newly appointed regional specification manager for insulation specialist Actis has already managed to save a customer more than £2,000 thanks to using a combination of his technical expertise and the firm’s online U-value simulator.

Jason Docherty, who has managed branches of B & Q and Jewson in his 25-year career, recently took on the newly created role of regional specification manager for London and the South East.

And he is already proving a hit with customers having recently saved money for director Tim Evans, who runs a building drawings and technical services business in Sussex, TJ Evans Ltd.

Evans enthusiastically specified a combination of honeycomb insulation Hybris and insulating vapour control layer HControl Hybrid for a detached 500 sq ft annexe he was designing for a Sussex family. His initial assessment suggested he needed 90mm Hybris in the walls to achieve a U-value of 0.24 and 125mm Hybris with HControl Hybrid in the roof to obtain a U-value of 0.17.

However, before he submitted the details for Building Control approval, Docherty offered to carry out Actis specific calculations and found he needed less product, potentially saving his client around £2,200 in material costs alone.

Docherty’s calculations – carried out by using the Actis online U-value simulator and verified by the Actis technical team – showed he actually needed only 50mm Hybris in the walls and 105mm in the roof, along with the HControl Hybrid.

This meets the current thermal regulations of 0.28 in the walls and 0.18 in the roof.

Docherty provided Evans with the entire detailed build up for the walls and roof including studs, OSB, cladding and plasterboard, saying “Hybris is a cleaner, faster and easier to install alternative to traditional mineral wool and PIR. It is also more cost effective, which is always a surprise to people.”

He provided links to installation videos, tables showing build up combinations and the useful U-value simulator for future projects.

Evans said: “The information is very clear and helpful.”