A newly-constituted primary school in South Wales is benefiting from the installation of aluminium curtain-walling and window system from leading building-envelope specialist Schueco International.

The systems have been installed in a new building purpose-designed by Caerphilly Borough Council Architects Department. The building, necessitated by the merger of two existing schools onto one site, contains an Assembly Hall, 11 new classrooms, a staff room, an IT/library resource, sports changing rooms and shower facilities and cloakrooms and toilets.

The design of the building includes extensive glazed areas that flood the interior with light. The front entrance has a curved – in fact, faceted – full-height facade that employs Schueco’s proven FW50⁺ system. This was specified because of the need to combine the convex curvature of the facade with the requirement that it be angled at its apex to accommodate the double slope of the roof.

Discussions between the Authority’s Project Officer, Fred Lewis, the fabricator, White Brothers & Speed and the main contractor, Midas Construction, led them to the conclusion that no other system could deal effectively with the resultant complexity of detailing.

The highly-insulated Schueco RS 65 system has been used for all the main doors and windows, while the high-level windows are formed from Schueco RS 50, an attractively-priced system combining cost efficiency with minimum basic depths. To obviate excessive thermal gain, Suncool glass was used on all south-facing elevations.

Phased over a 12-month contract period, the installation was completed on time and on budget and both pupils and staff are delighted with their new building.