Ultraframe’s marketing director, Alex Hewitt, discusses the newly launched capability of the hup! building system that can now be used on top of existing dwarf walls – one of a series of new innovations on the system that is revolutionising home extensions and conservatory transformations.

We have started 2025 by announcing some exciting innovations on our hup! building system. While hup! already offered incredible benefits for those building home extensions or transforming old conservatories, this is Ultraframe – and nothing ever stands still!

We have listened carefully to feedback from our customers and our R&D team has worked hard to deliver what we think are really transformational product updates.

As a result of that R&D, hup! can now be used on top of existing dwarf walls when transforming an old conservatory. Whether you are replacing a window with a small hup! wall or removing all the frames and creating a home extension, this feature offers new options to conservatory owners who are working to a budget.

Not only this but using hup! on top of existing dwarf walls also saves on demolition mess, reduces time on site, and lowers skip costs. Of course, the system is already five times faster to build than bricks and mortar and creates minimal mess, so these benefits are an add-on to an already impressive list.

For the homeowner, retaining their existing dwarf walls allows them to keep their existing flooring if required, which saves money and allows them to move in quicker.

There are various situations where hup! might be used on top of dwarf walls, dependent on the project spec and budget:

  • Replacing one or two windows with hup! to increase privacy on a boundary.
  • Upgrading all the frames and adding hup! walls on a cill, maintaining the dwarf wall finish.
  • A premium aesthetic of changing the frames and adding hup! walls that are fully clad on the exterior so it looks like a new wall.

By offering a range of options we have tried to ensure that this latest enhancement can be selected for any hup! transformation project, no matter what the design or budget

We have also launched a new hup! base solution. This makes a hup! extension build even faster and is suitable for most site conditions, bringing speed, certainty and simplicity to the base element of any hup! project. The new base also means that mess and waste are reduced and hup! projects become even easier to manage.

While the hup! walls and roof can already be built in any weather, the base element is something that until now has been out of our control, and had the potential to cause weather delays, unforeseen costs and other issues.

The new hup! base offers:

  • Confidence for customers in their hup! quote and build scheduling, knowing there will not be weather delays from any element of the project.
  • Far less mess on site compared to a traditional build.
  • No need for specialist bricklayers.
  • The hassle of building a traditional base is reduced as pads or ground screws can be used instead of full foundations which may require diggers.
  • A U-Value of just 0.18 w/m2K
  • Building Regulation compliance

Perhaps the best innovation for hup! this year is our new brick slip rails. Coming soon, this is a fantastic product which offers a real brick aesthetic along with a brick matching service for homeowners.

And the best part? Installation of brick slips using this system takes only a few hours more to install vs brick mesh and is almost twice as fast as brick slipping onto a board. The hup! brick slip rails are simple to install with carriers affixed to the wall in panels and the brick slips simply pushed into place along the length of each carrier with a 10mm spacer between bricks. Even the corners are simple to do, and once pointed, the wall is indistinguishable from a real brick wall.

As you can see, we are still continuing to pour huge resource into hup! to ensure it offers the best possible solution for installers building extensions and transforming old conservatories. The system was revolutionary when it was launched, and we intend to ensure that it continues to offer incredible benefits to our customers.