The Thir13en team is founded upon Tor Hoie’s lifelong experience in low-carbon construction in response to continued requests for assistance in the modern build industry.  An innovator and consultant, Tor has worked within the Construction Industry around the world for 35 years specialising in innovative raw materials product development, environmental effects and controls and energy efficiencies for buildings.  In that time he has assembled and refined what we believe to be the most universally useful process for managing the details of constructing efficiently, through the Integrated Design Process©.  Tor has been very fortunate to have the opportunity to study many different building systems and learn from some of the brightest minds in the productivity industry. This education has enabled him to take the best tips and techniques from other experts and systems, create some of his own, and adapt the result to the changing technology of the twenty-first century, bringing forth low-carbon, energy efficient solutions for clients.

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Having spent decades researching materials to reduce environmental impact, Tor has 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. This includes a thorough examination of the mining and manufacturing processes, transport and logistics, with consideration given to where the product is made, how far it has to travel and whether it will pollute the internal or external environment.

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Entering the UK in ’93, Tor was at first shocked and dismayed at housing stock 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.’  Way before this was recognised as a requirement for future-proofing housing stock against CO2 emissions, fuel poverty et al, Tor arguably was the first to coin the term ‘fabric-first’ before it became commonly used within the industry.

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Climate Change spurred various governmental actions that led to the industry taking action towards proper efficiencies regardless of whether someone agreed with the arguments in regards to Climate Change; Tor managed to convince most that in the end ‘It’s just the right thing to do!’