Full House for Kingspan

A stylish multimillion-pound residential development in Middlesbrough benefits from a building envelope provided entirely by Kingspan Insulated Panels. The first of several new apartment blocks to be built at the Douglas House site, contains forty flats and features Kingspan KS1000 ZIP Kingzip standing seam, Kingspan Thermabrick and Kingspan Thermatile complete wall and facade systems.

It was important to developer McInerney Homes for the project to finish on time and on budget, and to have an appealing visual impact with a modern feel and clean, crisp lines. Paul Hetherington from Harkin Associates explains further: “Specifying the entire building envelope from the same manufacturer helped us to get the job done more efficiently and also made it easier to get the detailing between materials right; we considered other options but found this to be the best. Aesthetically, the combination of Thermabrick and Thermatile helped to achieve an attractive contemporary look.”

Kingspan Thermatile and Kingspan Thermabrick offer a ceramic tile and a mortarless brick finish respectively and are part of the complete wall and facade systems. All complete wall and facade products provide the proven performance benefits of composite panel construction and can be easily integrated with each other to offer a wide range of different visual options. They all use Kingspan architectural wall panel’s which act as a carrier for the system. The panels have an A+ rating in the BRE Green Guide to Specification.

On the technical side, the high thermal performance and low air leakage rate provided by Kingspan products helped the building to easily comply with Approved Document L1A (ADL1A) to the Building Regulations. Kingzip can provide U-values down to 0.20 W/m^²K and airtightness of 5m^³/hr/m^² or better, significantly below current minimum requirements.

Important to the success of the project was the advice provided by Kingspan’s envirocare Technical Services team, which helped with smooth integration between the different products on issues such as fixings, and to ensure ADL1A was complied with. envirocare Technical Services provide guidance on regulatory and sustainability issues to all customers. They can provide crucial help in meeting Building Regulations, as well as advice on initiatives such as BREEAM and best practice standards including BS EN ISO:14001.

All the Kingspan products used on Douglas House have an ECOsafe insulation core, containing no CFC’s or HCFC’s with a low Global Warming Potential, achieve an A or A+ rating according to the Green Guide to Specification and are available in FIREsafe LPCB insurer-approved form for assured fire performance. They are also fibre-free, removing the risk of loose fibres being released and causing irritation.

Kingspan Insulated Panels have recently won a ROSPA Gold Award for Safety for the second year running, recognising well developed occupational health and safety management systems and culture, outstanding control of risk and very low levels of error, harm and loss.