Client: University of Sussex
System Builder: GML Construction
Type of works: Rainscreen cladding panels and antislip flooring.

Rainscreen cladding panels and antislip flooring from Steni UK have been used by GML Construction on their largest modular project to date for a quadruplicate of reasons – sustainability, low maintenance, aesthetics and durability.

Some 1,000m² of Steni’s Stoneflex Class 0 fire rated glass fibre reinforced polyester resin cladding panels, that are built up to provide a surface finish of natural stone, have been employed on a 2,800m2 temporary building at the University of Sussex. The main wall and mid-band panels were supplied in the colours French Rouget and the fascias in Java Grey to blend in with neighbouring structures. They are complemented at entrances and on exit ramps by 30m² of Steni’s white and 25m² of Steni’s beige antislip flooring – a composite of glass fibre polyester resin and stone whose fine aggregate surface is over-bonded with clear resin to give a longlasting surface for ramps, step covers, walkways, pontoons, bridges and deckings.

The temporary two-storey “Friston” building in the university’s science complex represents £1.5 million of a £100 million capital projects and development programme for the 1960s Falmer campus in Brighton that incorporates both new build and refurbishment.

GML Construction took a total of just five months to erect it. The university’s brief to design and build contractor GML was to provide a temporary (approximately atwo-yearhire)buildingfor staffand students to decant into while major reconstruction and modernisation work took place elsewhere on the campus within a 20-week contract period and withminimal disruption.

GML Construction,who have used Steni materials regularly over the past 19 years,met this by providing a modular building where most of the floor, roof and wall cassettes were manufactured off-site, minimising site construction time.

Steni’s lightweight Stoneflex panels, which took less than a month to install, were fixed to all external elevations, fascia details, mid-band cover panels. The antislip flooring, which is also low-maintenance and durable, can be walked on immediately after installation, instantly improving safety.

GML Construction’s sales manager Mike Maynard said: “Steni’s Stoneflex panels offer a robust and cost-effective cladding solution for our modular buildings. They are extremely low-maintenance, visually appealing and have a durable external finish

“They also contribute to the sustainability of the building due to their long life span as when the building is removed, all the Stoneflex panels and claddings can and will bereused on a variety of other buildings projects, resulting in a very low carbon footprint.”

He added: “The client is very pleased with the overall finish of this temporary building and the speed of construction which was in part due to the off-site prefabrication of the wall panels.”