Multi-occupancy residential
For years, the construction industry has been building low-medium rise multi-occupancy residential projects using conventional construction methods. By embracing MMC combined with an DfMA approach and high precision manufacturing, our clients can benefit from faster, safer builds.
Couple that with the steel we use being 100% recyclable, and our manufacturing and fabrication methods meaning we get the most out of the materials we use, building using the U-Roof system is also a completely sustainable solution.
Or see our previous projects for multi-occupancy residential
Facilitating faster, safer builds for our clients
Light gauge steel for multi-occupancy residential
Multi-occupancy residential covers a wide range of building types — apartment blocks, student accommodation, key worker housing, HMOs, extra care and supported living, hotels and modular residential schemes. What they have in common is repetition, tight programmes, and fire and acoustic requirements that are far more demanding than a single dwelling.
U-Roof manufactures galvanised light gauge steel frames engineered for these schemes, roll-formed in the UK to millimetre tolerances and delivered as numbered, pre-fabricated panels.
Why the sector has moved to light gauge steel
- Non-combustible structure. Since the changes to Approved Document B restricting combustible materials in the external walls of relevant buildings, a non-combustible primary structure is a straightforward way to satisfy the requirement rather than argue around it.
- Dimensional repeatability. Unit 1 and unit 200 are identical. That matters enormously when bathroom pods, windows, doors and kitchens are procured in bulk.
- Speed and programme certainty. Panels arrive numbered with a fixing schedule. Erection is predictable and does not depend on the availability of skilled carpenters.
- Reduced foundation loads. A lighter superstructure than masonry or concrete means smaller foundations — particularly valuable on brownfield and poor ground.
- No shrinkage or settlement. Timber platform frames shrink vertically as they dry, which is a recurring source of defects in tall residential. Steel does not.
- Off-site manufacture with on-site flexibility. A panelised system gives most of the benefit of volumetric modular without the transport and craneage constraints.
Fire performance
Light gauge steel is non-combustible and does not contribute to fire load or flame spread. In a multi-occupancy building that has three practical consequences:
- The structural frame itself does not require the fire-engineering justification that a combustible frame does
- Compartmentation between units is achieved with lining and cavity barrier design rather than by protecting a combustible structure
- External wall build-ups can be specified entirely from non-combustible materials where the building height requires it
Fire-resisting periods for the frame are achieved through the lining specification, which we will detail alongside the structural design.
Acoustic separation
Approved Document E sets airborne and impact sound requirements between dwellings, and these are tested on completion — getting it wrong is an expensive discovery.
A light gauge steel separating wall or floor achieves the required performance through mass, isolation and cavity design: independent panel leaves with a clear cavity, resilient bars or an isolated ceiling grid, mineral wool in the void, and a floating floor build-up over the structural deck.
Because the frame is manufactured to exact dimensions, the cavity between the two leaves is genuinely the dimension the acoustic design assumed — which is not always the case on site with a stick-built structure.
Thermal performance
Steel conducts heat far more readily than timber, so a steel frame residential wall must not be insulated only between the studs. The correct approach is a warm frame or hybrid build-up with a continuous layer of insulation outboard of the frame, which removes the bridge entirely and delivers the U-values current Building Regulations require.
We will provide the build-up alongside the structural design. It is not a detail to value-engineer out — it is the difference between hitting the target and failing it.
Programme and delivery
For a multi-unit scheme we phase manufacture and delivery against the build programme rather than dropping the entire superstructure on site at once. Panels are banded and labelled by plot and elevation so they can be distributed in erection sequence with minimal double handling — which matters on a constrained urban site with no laydown area.
Every scheme comes with a complete drawing set: general arrangements, panel layouts, panel details, floor cassette and roof drawings, foundation setting-out and a fixings schedule. See construction drawings.
Sustainability and end of life
Steel is recycled indefinitely without any loss of structural properties, and UK structural steel already contains a high recycled content. Precision manufacture means very little site waste compared with a cut-on-site structure, and at end of life the frame is a recoverable material rather than landfill or incineration.
See our sustainability page for more detail.
Talk to us at design stage
The value we add is greatest before anything is committed. Send us your GAs at concept or Stage 3 and we will advise on structural depths, spans, achievable floor-to-floor heights and the separating wall and floor build-ups.
Contact U-Roof, or see how we work with developers and contractors on our partners page and in our case studies.