Firefly® Phoenix Continues To Protect Home Bargains Chain

As value for money makes the Home Bargains brand an increasingly popular choice with price conscious shoppers, the national retailer is continuing to increase its coverage by building new stores in locations such as Camborne in Cornwall, with products from the FIREFLY® range repeatedly being included in the specification to help ensure the safety of staff and customers.  As with many of its outlets, the existing 9,150sq ft warehouse and sales floor on the Camborne Retail Park is being refurbished by Oakhurst (Southport) Ltd. with WPL Consulting filling the role of project architect. 

The Phoenix Vertical, Collaroll and ancillary FIREFLY® products have been used to create a semi-permanent fire barrier that is suspended from the underside of the pitched, metal decked roof. Installation of the 60- minute rated fire curtain and smoke barrier was carried out by sub-contractor S R Shopfitting over a period of just a couple of days in early July, with the new Home Bargains outlet scheduled for its official opening on August 22nd. Working from hydraulic platforms, the lightweight Phoenix fire barrier was fixed to sections of steel angle bolted onto the roof members, with all overlaps sealed using FIREFLY® High Temperature Adhesive, while butt joints were fixed using stainless steel staples. 

While the Collaroll was used to wrap the high-level steel beams, the manufacturer’s ablative batts – introduced into the range last year to assist with tasks like creating protected zones – fill voids beneath the soffit level. The Site Manager for Oakhurst, Kerry Humphrey’s, commented: “Along with a number of S R Shopfitting’s operatives, I have been on the FIREFLY® training course at its Rochdale premises and consider the systems to be far easier to install than the previous solution, which involved installing quite bulky sections of rock mineral wool which, even for those not directly involved with the work, tended to make you itch quite badly.  The Phoenix and other products, by contrast are light to handle and easy to fix.  It’s a brilliant system.”

“In respect of the Home Bargains stores we’ve been involved on, the fire requirements vary slightly between England and Scotland, where the regulation is for a full fire and smoke barrier and we know FIREFLY® will provide any special details we need for new jobs.  With the barrier now installed by SR Shopfitting, the internal construction will continue so that the Phoenix terminates on top of the ceiling structure.  Everything is going well and we are on schedule to handover the building on the 21st.” 

Manufactured from woven and non-woven glass, the FIREFLY® range is designed to optimise resistance to flame and smoke as well as offer heat protection in a wide range of scenarios. The barriers are easy to install horizontally or vertically using a full selection of FIREFLY® ancillary products to ensure a fully tested and certified installed system.  www.tbafirefly.com 

Ultra-Fin UFH Assists Quest For Net Zero With Supporting Role In The Actors’ Church

A recently completed contract for an underfloor heating company has demonstrated how a Grade I listed landmark building can undergo a transformation, in terms of its energy efficiency, without any traces being left on the existing historic internal fabric: while also future-proofing it for a switch to a fully renewable heating source in the coming years. 

St. Paul’s Church in Covent Garden is not only known for its architecture - prominent from the famous Piazza - but also as the ‘Actors’ Church’, hosting memorials to film and stage stars from Charlie Chaplin to Sir Noel Coward.  Working with the Diocese of London and under the Church of England Net Zero Carbon programme the Church has achieved what might have seemed impossible less than a year ago. Established in 2024, Ultra-Fin UK Ltd. already has a strong presence in the heritage sector and was exhibiting at this year’s Listed Property Owner’s Club show at Olympia.

The team met Westminster Churches Net Zero Forum Officer, Alison Moulden, who made the introduction to the Parish priest, Revd. Simon Grigg, and Parish Administrator, Phil Hunt, who took a keen interest in the potential of the underfloor heating system which is designed for joisted floors.  

Director Tom Dixon-Smith explains the contractual relationship on the project, saying: “Our business model normally involves supply and training but the nature of this project inspired us to take on the role of manufacturer, supplier and installer, using our own team of engineers.  The Church is so important we weren’t prepared to let anyone else complete the project”. 

Tom went on to say “Phil Hunt did a fantastic job of steering the project application through all the Grade I listing and other compliance issues and we supported that by producing what became a 250-page document detailing not just the system but also the installation method.  For example, we had to calculate how many notches we would have to take out of the existing joists once the historic floorboards were lifted and also specify the insulation solution over which the system would run.”

All buildings lose heat through the ground floor and St. Paul’s Church is no exception. Tom explained “we specify insulation beneath our pipework to avoid downward heat losses. In this case the 50mm of fully non-combustible Rockwool insulation maximises the heat from our system whilst making the Church building more energy efficient through restricting building heat loss."

The support for the insulation is provided by a super tough, A1 fire rated breathable PhotonWrap barrier, which also enhances the heat delivery from the Ultra-Fin diffusers by being heat reflective. The membrane was lapped over the joists, held in place with staples and painted black along the top of where it sits on the joists to prevent a shiny glare from between the floorboards. The composite PEX Aluminium pipe and the Ultrafins were installed during a thirteen-day period in mid-August 2025, before the Company’s engineers completed the connections to the existing boiler and undertook the commissioning. The new underfloor heating extends across the whole of the nave from in front of the Altar to the main entrance, leaving the chancel/choir’s flagstone flooring in place. 

The joisted floors cover 2,900 sq.m in 10 bays and they are split into a dozen separate heating zones, prioritising the coldest space towards the Altar, while the pair of eight-port Ultra-Fin Cross manifolds retain spare connections to facilitate the replacement of the boiler with air source heat pumps in the future.  There are hard-wired sensors to ensure the flooring will not rise above 270 C degrees to safeguard the timber. Having overseen much of the work, the Parish Administrator for St. Paul’s,

Phil Hunt observed: “The nave of the Church was previously heated by five radiators which took a long time to heat up (even though we were running the boiler at 80o C). We will be carrying out monitoring, but anecdotally, the times we have turned on the heating it has warmed up far quicker, even though the boiler is running at just 45o C.  The Ultra-Fin system was also ideal for the project because it proved to cause far less harm to the fabric of the building than the alternatives being considered – not requiring the floor height to be built up or screeded, while it remains demountable and – valuably – it was also significantly cheaper than the other systems which would have required far more work.”        www.ultra-fin.co.uk 

IG Masonry Support Plays Key Role In Contemporary New Build Family Home

The Glade House is a bespoke five-bedroom home situated in a secluded woodland clearing in Surrey. Designed by award-winning AR Design Studio, this contemporary new-build redefines the family home with a clear architectural intent: to create seamless connections between the built form and the natural landscape through structure, material, and light.

Replacing an outdated property that no longer met modern standards, the new home was shaped through close collaboration between architect and client to deliver a highly tailored space, where refined construction detailing supports both lifestyle and design ambition. The architectural form is defined by four slender linear brick walls that extend from the building out into the surrounding landscape.

These brick elements divide the garden into distinct outdoor spaces and define generous, open-plan interiors at ground level. IG Masonry Support partnered with EH Smith to ensure that its prefabricated masonry systems aligned seamlessly with this challenging and highly bespoke brick format. The project utilised Product 14013711, a unique 40 mm-high brick, the minimum height achievable for a brick unit. 

This specialist product was fundamental to achieving the fine linear expression central to the design. IG Masonry Support's collaboration ensured full compatibility between support systems and brick coursing, maintaining the architectural clarity envisioned by AR Design Studio. To support the delivery of this architecturally ambitious build, IG Masonry Support was proud to supply a combination of advanced solutions, including B.O.S.S. A1 (Brick on Soffit System) units, welded masonry support, and brick slip lintels, all tailored to achieve the precise detailing demanded by the design. 

In total, IG Masonry Support supplied 17.33 linear metres of brick slip lintels across the project, including six units used both internally and externally. The largest lintel is installed inside, forming a key transition between the dramatic double-height entrance void and the open-plan kitchen/living area — a focal point of the home’s interior layout. They also supplied two B.O.S.S. A1 units, designed to deliver seamless deep soffit brickwork in key areas: one installed over the 5.2-metre garage opening, and another spanning a 7-metre opening into the main residence. 

These prefabricated, A1 fire-rated units provided crisp, uninterrupted brick detailing while offering major time savings during installation. In total, 12.2 linear metres of B.O.S.S. were used on the project. Due to the unique dimensions of the 40mm-high brick, the soffit areas couldn’t achieve a traditional stretcher bond throughout. Smaller cuts had to be introduced at random intervals to accommodate the soffit geometry. This adjustment was necessary to maintain the clean aesthetic and ensure accurate alignment with the bespoke support systems, without compromising the visual intent of the design.  

These masonry support solutions enabled the successful execution of the floating soffits and brick-lined walls that define the visual rhythm of the building, both structurally and architecturally. The Glade House is a carefully crafted home that celebrates architectural clarity and natural context. IG Masonry Support is proud to have played a key role in its successful realisation.  https://igmasonrysupport.com