SS Great Britian, Bristol

Client: ss Great Britain
Type of works: supply of the Schöck Isokorb^® type KS.

When launched in 1843, the 98m long SS Great Britain was the largest vessel afloat and, after many years of service, an ambitious salvage effort brought the ship home to Bristol in 1970, to be conserved in the same dry dock in which she was originally built. Today, the ss Great Britain Trust is redeveloping the dockyard buildings alongside the ship, recreating the character of the original Victorian dockyard. The £30m scheme manages to combine 145 one- and two-bedroom apartments with a ground floor area, which has been taken up by the Brunel Institute to house a library and archive, in addition to an academic teaching and research unit. It is all part of a proposed partnership with the University of Bristol, and the Trust’s schools learning centre.

The sophisticted combination of the new instiitute and modern apartments features steel balconies throughout, along with lengthy walkways – all connected to reinforced concrete. One of the potential consequences of this connectivity is local heat loss, resulting in more energy being required to maintain the internal temperature of the building.

To prevent the risk of thermal bridging, the thermal break module used throughout the development is the Schöck Isokorb^® type KS, designed specially for connecting reinforced concrete and steel construction components. The KS module transfers load and maintains full structural integrity, while at the same time enabling inner surface area temperatures to remain well in excess of those likely to cause mould formation and condensation – both of which are completely eliminated in room areas adjacent to the balconies

The units are also designed to help meet compliance with the UK building regulations. These state that the temperature factor used to indicate condensation risk (fRSI), as described in BRE IP1/06 – a document cited in Building Regulations Approved Documents Part L1 and L2 and Section 6 in Scotland – must be greater than, or equal, to 0.75 for dwellings and 0.5 for commercial buildings.