About

The Thir13en team is directed by a motivation to provide cost effective low-carbon building fabric solutions to assist in the avoidance of creating adverse effects of global warming through the construction of residential/commercial developments.

Tor was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to study many different building systems and learn from some of the brightest minds such as industry-leading multidisciplinary groups of thought leaders, operators and experts with experience across architecture, construction, robotics and software engineering in the production industry.

This education enabled him to take the best tips and techniques from other experts and systems, create some of his own with members of the Thir13en Team, and adapt the result to the changing technology of the twenty-first century. bringing forth low-carbon, energy efficient building material solutions for clients.

Having spent spent decades researching materials to reduce environmental impact, Tor and his colleagues through varied project-related companies and manufacturing solutions have also done an extensive evaluation of the environmental impact of not only ordinary building materials but other factors as well, such as the capital equipment brought in through new regulatory requirements to make buildings more energy efficient.

It is not just the raw materials that have undergone intense scrutiny… Every step in the design process has been through a calculated evaluation of the potential environmental impact.

Our collaborative Leadership Team

Stephen Westlake – our Chairman is an international board level chief executive project manager, a Mechanical Engineer with a flair for overseeing manufacturing capital projects of any size, with thousands of employees, to completion while overseeing the increase of enterprise values in organisations and IPR’s, while meeting client expectations. Kvaerner in its heyday as the world’s largest C&E construction company, Davey Engineering, Voest-Alpine, Gulf Investment Corp etc, comes to mind.

Zoltán Dobó – a Chemical Engineer who runs the NISIO Group which specialises in technological processes and project management. NISIO ensure capital equipment production to specifications and quality control of off-site component manufacture, paying special attention to expansion and optimisation of production lines. NISIO regularly undertake technology development studies, production planning, capacity expansion and utilisation optimisation tasks, while solving on-site problems on behalf of clients.

Tor Helmich Høie – an award-winning patent inventor, a synthesist innovator, architectural technician, grants recipient, material and building system creator, critical thinker concentrating on specific material science for the construction industry. Tor oversees institutional and regulatory structural and material testing culminating in approved certifications and IPRs while motivating and driving the whole team to frustration, yet the team gets admirable results. Tor’s experience in low-carbon construction and materials is vast and unique, having lobbied governments for decades for improvements in the sector, while surprising major institutional testing establishments on the behaviour of materials and structural engineering solutions.

Ernest Nagy de Nagybaçzon – arguably Europe’s most prolific inventor in products that have made its way into our daily lives. A self-taught architect, patent inventor, material scientist, innovator, research specialist, non-traditional composite developer, mentor, and an expert in observational studies with a flair for spotting anomalies that may be removed, pursued or enhanced, while exploring relationships between variables that may become experimental studies with unexpected results, such as proving that a thin coating can be stronger than a thick coating, depending upon applications, amongst many. Ernest has been sponsored by Governments, Educational Institutions and the private sector, introducing new methods and materials in applicability’s, opening new market opportunities and research opportunities.

Kathleen Elisabeth Veerle Ridderhof – a Propaedeuse Fiscal Law degree holder, Veerle is a successful business development consultant, having worked with American Express, Gartner and others, teaching the strategically launching of new products and scalable business models with the intention to grow beyond the initial scope with Strategic plan development: LCM, PPM, Enterprise Architecture, I&T Operating Models, Governance, Change management, Data and Analytics and many more. Working at Board Level, Veerle assists and drives on mission critical priorities, ensuring compliance to investors’ satisfaction.

Christina Jane Hadfield – our in-house Architect visualises a client’s desire while embodying that rare blend of artistry and pragmatism, proving ‘A good design just simply works!’ Delivering a highly practical environment which makes every process simpler; finding the sweet spot where the space influences the behaviour. It’s often invisible, as good design can be. Christina’s intuitive understanding of spatial behaviour aligns seamlessly with our drive to make sustainability the default, not the exception.

Tomas Skiba – educated as a structural engineer, a builder, developer and large-scale event organiser, with experience of most innovative building systems, from concrete applications, brick and mortar, timber construction to structural insulated panels (SIPs), with emphasis on Health & Safety and contractor liability.

Environmental impacts includes a thorough examination of the mining and manufacturing processes, transport and logistics, with consideration given to where the product is made, what it is made of, how far it has to travel and whether it will pollute the internal or external environment.

Having travelled and learned throughout the world and entering the UK in the spring of ’93, Tor was at first shocked and dismayed at housing stock and other structures being built to below-par levels of insulation and energy efficiencies compared to the rest of the northern EU housing stock.

Tor lobbied varied UK Government parties towards effecting change within the industry, passing along experience and informational data supporting his ‘dramatic‘ revelations which he considered ‘just common sense‘ considering many of the solutions proffered were being extensively and efficiently used elsewhere.

Way before this was recognised as a requirement for future-proofing housing and building stock against CO₂ emissions, fuel poverty et al, Tor arguably was the first to coin the terms ‘fabric-first‘ and ‘build tight, insulate right‘ before it became commonly used within the construction industry.

Initially the construction industry believed that all they had to do was business as usual by just adding some insulation and/or solar panels to projects, but the industry rose to the challenge and slowly yet surely started to realise that there were more assumptions that needed to be realised.

In the UK with the advent of a ‘recognised’ Climate Change finally spurring various governmental actions which led to the industry taking action towards proper efficiencies, regardless of whether someone agreed with the arguments in regards to Climate Change. As one wouldn’t throw thrash on one’s own floor, one shouldn’t do this with Nature either and Tor and his colleagues managed to convince most that in the end ‘It’s just the right thing to do!‘

It became understood that just adding insulation and/or solar panels wasn’t enough, as just adding insulation may engender other problems such as overheating in the summer, condensation issues when proper mechanical ventilation heat recovery units were not adopted, pay back periods for adopted solutions were too long and not practical for much of existing building stock and space may not be available for new solutions in the design of old or new projects.

It is basically within the past decade that Tor and his colleagues have been able to introduce documented and approved environmentally responsible material science into the production of low-carbon building materials for the construction industry around the world that have proven financial benefits to all concerned.

Coming from a material science perception in the construction industry and having invented and created ‘the lowest carbon footprint building system in the world’ under different company structures (winning Shell Springboard Awards; BCE Environmental Awards), Tor and his great team at Thir13en continue to work in conjunction with top experts in Chemical, Mechanical, Structural Engineering and Architecture to provide solutions for an assortment of client’s requirements.

Functioning as an Architectural Technician with manufacturing capacities, Thir13en specialise in the materials and cost effective solutions for a client’s designs or provide alternative designs within the client’s brief.

Normally we consult with clients through SPV’s that desire that their designs are comprehensively underpinned by sustainable design principles.

Our design solutions focus a great deal of attention on ensuring that our development proposals will meet high standards of sustainable design and construction – minimising any potential impact they may have on the environment. 

Depending on design, complexity and volumes, clients find to their surprise that they can actually save money by building environmentally responsibly.

Mission Statement: Build Tight, Insulate Right, and by using our Integrated Design Process using competitive sustainable low-carbon solutions in relation to client benefits, by Building Better, For Less.

"Limits are an inherent part of raw material supply reality, so let's do something about it!"

-Tor H. Høie, testing at Building Research Establishment (BRE), London 1999

So, we obviously have to be aware and do something about it, right? So along comes EV (electric vehicles) with the best of intentions, yet…? The graph below provided by ScienceDirect (Volume 191, March 2024, 114176) shows the true sustainable economic and environmental issues/cost of mining electric-car-battery metals (just the batteries) for those that are interested:

Sustainability challenges throughout the electric vehicle battery value chain – ScienceDirect

Ok, from the grim advisory to the visionary here is a futuristic vision put together by Nissan electric car manufacturer and supported by Foster + Partners, a global studio for architecture, engineering, urban and landscape design, rooted in their version of sustainability.

Fuel Station of the Future puts paid to the pumps

NEOM: Made to Change (just click on the words) is another recent perspective of what can be envisioned to be done with sustainability at it’s core, whether you approve of their politics and work conditions or not. There are a multitude of futuristic dreams out there, and the fulfillment of ideas start with dreams, vision and perseverance in all walks of life, from raw material supply to end-products, and the people that make it so. Time will tell, and history will judge.

From Thir13en’s perspective, the design of buildings now requires the integration of many kinds of information into an elegant, useful and durable whole entity. An Integrated Design Process includes the active and continuing participation of users and community members, planning officials, building regulations oversight, building technologists (raw materials to manufactured solutions), contractors, cost consultants, civil engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers, structural engineers, specification specialists and lately consultants from many specialised fields, dealing with issues that have resulted from new building regulatory requirements or desired outcomes. As stated by our inhouse Architect Christina Maude “When done correctly from a client’s and/or an occupier’s perspective, the end result just simply works.”

_{Please remember, we may not agree with everything stated in the above films and intentions, but they partially show the problems and some potential applications when the visualisations can work out economically and environmentally.}