Testimonials

David Watkins, Director, Pack Developments:

“The main drivers for using TALO for this project were speed and to achieve superior quality. We are really proud that these new family homes have been built to such an exceptional standard and with low running costs that are unparalleled in the Bromley area.

The TALO superstructure solution reduced our build programme by around two months and the time saving could be as much as three months on future projects. This required earlier specification and decision making and that gave us the benefit of fixed costs, greater cost certainty and reduced risk.

We estimate that these finished homes could have energy bills reduced by at least 50 per cent compared to an existing property of similar size. This has definitely added value to our selling proposition.

We visited the TALO factory in Finland as it was important for us to understand what is behind the company. Seeing the efficiency of factory production at first hand and from start to finish, gave us excellent insight into the level of detailing, the dry timber processes and robust quality control required to make outstanding, energy efficient homes.

We are committed to delivering low or zero energy homes and are really keen to champion this approach through our collaboration with TALO. The need for more sustainable homes to reduce the impact of housebuilding and heating homes on the environment, is clear.”

Malcolm Clarke MCIOB, Managing Director, Baxall Construction:

“The visit to TALO’s offsite manufacturing centre in Finland was really useful and insightful. I have been involved in MMC for around 15 years and in that time have visited multiple factories. TALO’s set up was very impressive and it was interesting to see each process including the timber milling.

Sustainability is the biggest driver for MMC – reducing transport to site and material waste and helping us to deliver healthier buildings with significant improvements to energy efficiency and whole life carbon. Timber systems also have less impact on the environment.

I believe there is a really good fit between TALO’s offer and Baxall’s approach as a solutions provider to the built environment. We are keen to expand into the housing sector and are now positively looking at collaborations with TALO and our clients.”

Philip Quinn, Director of Surveying Services, ICW: 
 
“TALO’s commitment to quality is clear, as attested by their comprehensive technical design and robust manufacturing processes. Working with TALO has been refreshing and their approach to sustainability is impressive.

We found TALO’s team to be responsive, technically minded and engaging professionals. We are thrilled to be working in partnership together as we look ahead to future MMC projects.”

Doug Johnson, Director, Mesh Energy:
 
“TALO’s timber superstructure solutions for low rise housing are the very best we have seen in the UK in terms of energy efficiency, cost and quality. Their latest projects are achieving a 30 per cent improvement on Passivhaus energy standards and at no cost premium. We don’t believe there is anything like this on the market today and yet it is very needed.

The biggest issues facing housebuilders and developers are managing risk and addressing skills shortages. TALO’s system addresses both of these challenges extremely well.

New regulation is coming which will make it increasingly difficult for developers to balance the rising cost of building new homes to the required energy and air tightness standards and the risk of non-compliance.
 
New homes simply need to perform better. And yet the risk for developers is in the fabric and performance of each home.

TALO’s system is an extremely efficient way of building new homes to reduce risk for residential property developers. Their approach gives housebuilders the benefit of much greater certainty of delivery to the required quality and energy and air tightness standards from the inception of a project.”

Matthew Parkes, Architect:

"I collaborated with TALO, attempting to implement their system in the Southwest to address the social housing and care home needs of various local authorities.

The system itself is outstanding and unparalleled in quality. Additionally, the technical support provided by TALO is impressive. During my visit to one of their  developments in the North of England, I was struck by the high standard of construction.

As a practising architect at the time, the TALO system provided a valuable opportunity. It would allow me to focus on designing new homes that meet the future occupants' needs while enhancing aesthetics and placemaking within a sustainable development context.

With the TALO system, I could avoid the typical time spent on the complexities of RIBA Stage 3 and Stage 4, such as detail design versus cost negotiations and the back-and-forth often seen in D&B contracts.

The TALO system is fully resolved, from the external face to the internal face, triple-glazed doors and windows arrive on site complete and certified. TALO ensures design detailing, quality, energy performance, and cost certainty are all met effectively.

Unfortunately the schemes never moved beyond concept stage. For TALO to achieve real success and for the Government to meet its housing targets, a transformation in mindset and approach to construction is essential. This change must involve not only developer/clients but also design consultants and contractors.

I wish TALO continued success."

Paul Senior, Senior Business Analyst, Mitsubishi HC Capital UK PLC:

“I had the incredible privilege of working alongside Bengt Magnussen and TALO on the partnership, define, and design stages of the 360 housing development in Chesterfield for Strata Homes, and I cannot overstate the impact Bengt had and how much knowledge he was able to share.
 
TALO’s vision and expertise are truly transforming how we approach housing design and delivery to meet our communities' needs.
 
If you are passionate about the future of construction and housing, I highly recommend connecting with Bengt and the TALO team. Their insights are invaluable, and their dedication to sustainable solutions is inspiring.
 
Let's all support visionaries like TALO who are building a greener, more sustainable future for us all. Reach out, follow their journey, and join the conversation on revolutionising housing!”

James Everest, Director, The Balma Group:

“We estimate that the overall programme saving from using TALO’s advanced offsite superstructure system was around six months, enabling us to bring these new family homes to market much sooner. This simply means we can build more homes in line with the Government’s objectives and to higher standards.

What TALO achieved in just four months from receipt of order to watertight homes would have taken 12 months using traditional brick and block construction. Instead, we were able to start fitting out straight away and in a totally clean environment. We didn’t expect to have such spotless structures to work in and from a developer perspective, this is a really significant benefit to building higher quality homes.

The time saving of using TALO could even be as much as eight months on our next projects which has massive financial advantages. The shorter programme is more cost efficient, helps us to attract new investment and generates faster ROI.

Following the success of Crofton Mews, we are now appraising every site with the TALO system in mind.”

Oliver Morse, Director, Frankham Developments:

“We have seen many offsite and MMC solutions at Frankham and have found this to be the best in terms of quality of build.”

“The biggest benefit of the TALO approach for us is programme certainty and how this system can minimise the impact of the British weather. Rain and low winter temperatures cause quality issues, delays on site and make it very difficult to schedule the internal fitout phases, which adds to programme delays and costs.”

“Another major benefit is that we can replicate the design of the structure and roll it out on to other sites with cost certainty and reduced design fees. We also anticipate that the much lower energy costs for each home will be an important selling point in a competitive housing market.”

Warren McMurray, Director, C7 Architects: 

“More housebuilders and developers should be looking at TALO to reduce their build programmes and in turn deliver more homes. To meet the Government’s 1.5m housing target, as an industry, we collectively need to speed up the build process wherever possible.

The time saving that TALO’s system can achieve is quite remarkable. On our latest new build project to use this system, it took just four days to go from foundations to a watertight home – which would normally take six months using traditional brick and block construction. The quality of the build is also excellent as is the overall look and feel of the finished home.

This is a fantastic system!”  

Alex Taylor, Director, Supervene Architects:

“We were fortunate to be invited to visit a fantastic new housing development, under construction using the TALO offsite superstructure system. We were seriously impressed by the speed of construction, the attention to detail in their processes and importantly, the significantly improved levels of energy performance that this advanced timber system is able to deliver.

Not targeting Building Regulations as a standard, but pointedly better. This isn’t because they can, but because they choose to and is part of their company ethos – ‘we want to make a difference’.

Currently having delivered circa 70 homes in the UK, the timber superstructure system was delivered on a Monday complete with glazing, insulation and plasterboarding pre-installed in the factory. This means new homes are water and weather tight just three days later. We hope to see this solution more frequently installed throughout the UK.”

Joss Eynon, Director, MJE Properties:

“TALO is helping us to create ultra-heat efficient housing, which will match or exceed Passivhaus energy standards.”

It will have Scandinavian-standard insulation and triple glazing to reduce heat loss and achieve ultimate air tightness. Energy bills are predicted to be negative and house assembly will be rapid, allowing us to take our time focusing on high specification internal and external finishing.

This is all helping us to look beyond the status quo of UK housebuilding.”

Ian Blake, Director, iB Architects:

“Our experience of working with the TALO system is very positive. Having looked at other factory-built systems, we have been unable to find another that is comparable.

The TALO ethos of sustainable forest to factory in a single day and then just a week on site, whilst mitigating against the ingress of moisture during construction, and delivering a high performance zero snag product is admirable and hugely aspirational.

This is a completely flexible and bespoke product that enables a wide variety of architectural designs to be delivered, with few of the compromises that other offsite manufactured housebuilding systems are challenged by. This makes TALO’s solutions an incredibly attractive proposition.”

Joseph Edwards, Project Architect, Edwards Wilson Architects:

“We don’t believe you can build to this level of specification and performance traditionally, without a vastly increased budget. The fact that this system is manufactured using robust, proven processes in a controlled factory environment, means heat loss is significantly reduced. The system also has a higher level of insulation for improved thermal efficiency.

As a result, these homes comfortably exceed Building Regulations requirements for energy performance and air tightness by a considerable margin, giving occupants the benefit of much lower running costs.”