A leading UK supplier of timber frame and SIP building kits for providers of top end lodges and garden rooms is employing SterlingOSB Zero, from the West Fraser range, due to the panel product’s outstanding accuracy, performance benefits and all-round sustainability credentials.
Established in 2018, Outerspace moved into a new purpose-built facility in 2022 following a significant investment from Redrow founder, Steve Morgan, facilitating a 10-fold increase in capacity and is now taking its rapid supply service offering to new levels of efficiency and sophistication.
At the core of the flexible, flat-pack kits is the use of West Fraser’s 11mm thick SterlingOSB Zero for the production of Structurally Insulated Panels, or SIPs, able to meet the full spectrum of build standards for lodges, pods, home offices and house extensions complying with the latest Part L of the Building Regulations.
The founder and CEO of Outerspace, Phil Jackson, commented, “ We have in the past trialled every single make of OSB on the market and West Fraser’s SterlingOSB Zero is the only one which is a consistent size in terms of length, width, thickness and also of a high enough quality to meet the demands of our forming process.
“The steel moulds in which the SIPs are assembled and injected with polyurethane foam require very high tolerances of 1.0 mm or less while we apply pressures of 180 tonnes on the stack. With other brands, we were having to reject 10- 50% of the OSB boards supplied to us. If the boards are not perfectly aligned, when you stand the SIPs panel up at the end of the process, you will get a very visible gap on one side, where we are looking for pristine appearance and excellent acoustics as well as airtightness.”
The 11mm SterlingOSB Zero is used to make different thicknesses of SIPs rising from 72 to 97, 122, 147 and 200mm; which are utilised in delivering Outerspace’s Space One, Space, Two, Space Three and Space Four variants.
Phil Jackson concluded: “We praise SterlingOSB Zero very highly for its 100% accuracy; companies in the leisure industry are increasingly recognising that SIPs offer a far faster and technically superior method of construction. Also, our company is all about sustainability so West Fraser’s offer of a formaldehyde free, FSC product which comes from responsibly managed forests is very definitely appealing.
“Then in terms of our own production, we have gone from turning out two or three buildings a day to producing up to 30 a day, and we are in the process of setting up a training academy where client installation teams will come and learn about assembling SIPs.”
SterlingOSB Zero is available in a range of sizes and thicknesses up to 22mm as well as a T&G version ideal for flooring and decking applications. The high performance, panel product has also earned BBA approval and meets the requirements of NHBC Technical.
As is always the case, West Fraser’s experienced technical team is available to provide assistance with product specification, while downloadable data sheets are available at https://uk.westfraser.com
