Project Brief. When LSI Architects produced a brief of exacting standards for slenderness and high thermal resistance for the walls of a new study building for the University of East Anglia, Unidek’s Condor SIPS panels stepped forward to offer a first class solution with many additional benefits. The 3 storey Academic East building was a design and build contract by Kier Construction with White Young also being the Structural Engineers involved. In addition to the thin space saving wall structure with very high U values, the brief also required a very fast build programme and highly efficient follow on trade application. Panel lengths of over 7 metres were also required to achieve the spans and provision for factory produced apertures for the daylight requirements. In fact the brief just kept getting more onerous as the true benefits of Unidek’s SIPS became more apparent to the design team.
Project Type/Application. A total of just 13 Condor 195mm thick panels were required to complete each floor, with nine installed across the main elevation and the remainder making the returns along the side walls. The bespoke panels were delivered to site with the various window openings already formed in the factory. Additional timber sections provide extra strength for trimming around openings as the panels arrived totally bespoke for the project at varying dimensions up to 7m in height and 6m long. Additional strength was required externally to receive the Rheinzink cladding so panels were designed with an internal 10mm OSB, EPS foam insulation and 20mm external board to carry the load of the cladding and fixings for extreme weather conditions on the exposed site. Unidek carried out the design and installation of the panels and also provided bespoke heavy duty fixings supplied by Unidek’s sister company Ancon.
Outcome/Result/Success Factors. The outcome of the project was a fast track solution offering the highest performance for structural, thermal, acoustic and fire resistance. The speed at which panels were installed was no surprise to Unidek, but to the site personnel it was impressive to see such a modern method of construction seem so simple. The air leakage resistance and thermal bridge reduction was also a major hit with the team on site. Chris Stolworthy of LSI Architects comments: “The UEA’s insulation standards are far more demanding than Building Regulations, and Kier construction have been a regular customer of Unidek’s since this project and this is a great example of how a truly innovative product can create major benefits for all by continual improvements on each and every project. Product development continuity is therefore achievable even with MMC products benefiting manufacturer, design team and client.
employing SIPS panels was the only way we could achieve the U-values at a realistic cost and without increasing the width of the wall zone.”
Information Updated on: 7 September 2011
