A timber frame manufacturer in South West Wales is reprogramming its factory floor to mass-produce roof cassettes that can make a home net zero in a single installation. The problem is that these Power-Roof® cassettes—prefabricated roof panels containing insulation, solar panels, and heat recovery—are currently designed one house at a time. That is too slow and expensive for the volume needed across social housing in Wales and the UK. This project applies parametric design and CNC-controlled timber engineering tools, linked to robotics and mechatronics, so that each cassette is automatically designed and manufactured for a specific house without manual rework. If successful, the factory will produce cassettes faster and at lower cost, while creating skilled jobs in planning, design, and on-site installation. Social housing providers such as ateb Group have already lined up homes to retrofit. The wider effect is a streamlined supply chain that could accelerate the rollout of net-zero housing at scale—turning a bespoke product into a repeatable, factory-driven process.
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**Fforest Timber Engineering (FTE)** A manufacturer of timber frame buildings, roof trusses and composite timber joists, has recently produced roof cassettes for the "Power-Roof(R) for implementing Net Zero project" (PRINZ) led by Advanced Construction Technologies Ltd (ACTL) **Need** Organisations as ACTL need a streamlined, sustainable and efficient production facility for their Power-Roof(r) products as these begin to be used in quantity across social housing in South West Wales and the UK generally. (Power-Roof(r), recently installed in SW Wales under the PRINZ project, is a structural roof cassette which contains insulation to a 0.1 U-value is fitted with PV and a heat recovery system such that when applied to most houses renders them Net Zero). **Parametric Design** Power-Roof(r) is currently designed individually for each house. This call is an opportunity to apply parametric design to timber production technologies and deliver perfectly designed/manufactured products for rapid on-site install directly from the factory floor. In particular, this is an opportunity to specify the latest in CNC controlled timber engineering tools with mechatronics/automation in the factory to massively improve productivity, increase output and eliminate costs. **Productivity and Employment** While we expect greater productivity, it is seen that this will also increase the number of skilled workers in the factory, for planning, design and on-site install where we expect new highly-trained teams to deliver products to market especially for rapid net zero. Because FTE already produces timber products in quantity, this project is seen as a complementary extension to the company's capabilities and the new technologies will allow productivity gains in all our products. **Sub-contractors** We expect to employ a number of local subcontractors for this project: * ACTL has helped with the application and will advise on the project. * Graitec will advise on advanced software and provide links to machinery, CNC systems and deliver the software required. * Lean Aspirations will assist with specialist machinery together with robotics, mechatronics and automation to speed manufacture and productivity. * We'll need an RTO/university to help with implementing the mechatronics aspect to the project **Wider benefits** Downstream we'll work with trained teams of roofing to expedite the installation process (in the first instance with WBGriffiths of Haverfordwest). Towards the end of the project, various social housing providers (eg. ateb Group) will provide a steady stream of houses to render net zero with Power-Roof(R). This project will create jobs both in the factory and on-site.
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