Eurobond Laminates Europanel F5 wall panel system is featured in the Harbourside’s R&D Village development in Port Talbot that has won the top Regeneration Award at the RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) Wales Awards ceremony in Cardiff. This award celebrates the most inspirational regional initiatives and developments in land, property, construction and the environment.
The three, two storey BREEAM 'Excellent' buildings were designed by Cardiff based, Rio Architects and are primarily devised to accommodate companies operating within the manufacturing, engineering and material sectors, sharing a 'state of the art' complex to help pioneer research and development The new £6.3m R&D village at Harbourside Park provides a new centre for innovation, research and development. This 42,000 sq ft BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rated office and laboratory space has the potential to accommodate up to 170 high-tech new jobs.
The development was aimed primarily to appeal to companies operating within the manufacturing, engineering and material sectors. This appears to have been successful as two major manufacturing businesses, Tata Steel UK Ltd and TWI Ltd, occupy two of the three buildings, which will comprise research labs, meeting and conference rooms as well as quasi industrial areas for research testing.
The Europanel F5 panel system specified is 200mm thick and finished with TATA Colorcoat Prisma in black and mellow yellow. This combination delivers a striking visual impact and individuality to the design.
Europanel F5 is Eurobond Laminates premium architectural panel system, available with an architecturally flat profile and suited to either horizontal or vertical installation. It has a high density non-combustible stone wool core to further enhance fire performance structural and acoustic properties.
BREEAM is the ‘Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology’ is the world's foremost environmental assessment method and rating system for buildings
The use of Eurobond panels at Harbourside supported the target for an ‘excellent rating’ by making a positive contribution to the assessment.. The environmental credentials of Eurobond product's ensure that within the materials section of a BREEAM assessment, buildings are given an excellent chance of achieving a high rating. In particular Responsible sourcing is becoming more important and this is also reflected in the latest version of BREEAM, which now awards extra credits for products that have been assessed to BES 6001 Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products. and Eurobond Laminates is the first UK composite panel manufacturer to achieve this prestigious standard that demonstrates a building material has been produced in a way that has minimised its environmental impact and is sustainable.
The three two-storey buildings were developed by Deryn Properties, in conjunction with main contractor Sir Robert McAlpine with Severn Insulation responsible for the Europanel F5 wall claddingsystem. The design team included NYTC Consult Ltd, CD Gray Associates and Hoare Lea. The project was part financed by the Welsh Government via the European Regional Development Fund and Principality Commercial.
Harbourside will now be entered in to the UK national RICS awards held in October 2014 in London, where it will compete against other projects from the UK.