Jablite’s factory floor, where the majority of the U.K.’s insulation panels are made. The panels are placed underneath buildings during the construction process. “They’re very soft and allow for clay heave—which is water swelling in the clay underneath the structure—to come up and not crack the building,” says Wanless. As she walked me through the factory, Aparicio laughed as she recalled their early days in residence there, when the factory workers used to tease her about her unmarried status and how she had the women’s bathroom all to herself.