The Schöck Isokorb is widely recognised for its performance as an adaptable heat-insulating load-bearing element for the thermal partitioning of practically any cantilever connectivity requirement.

The conversion project at Kellogg Tower at Sudbury Hill, North West London demonstrates this adaptability in helping to facilitate a solution for applications that are a little unconventional.

The Kellogg Tower, previously the London headquarters of the international turnkey projects contractor M.W Kellogg, is being converted and transformed into a contemporary residential scheme known as Atrium Point.

The existing buildings are being sustainably refurbished, with solar panels, air source pumps and heat recovery units, all contributing to meet CO2 reductions.

It is currently one of the largest office-to-residential schemes in the capital and will realise a mix of a 290 residential units. Many of the new units benefit from a cantilevered steel balcony, connected to the existing reinforced concrete slab.

Structural thermal performance is a key consideration and the Schöck Isokorb type RKS for refurbishment applications offers the ideal solution.

First introduced into the German, Austrian and Swiss markets, primarily as a retrofit product, the type RKS has a 120mm insulation element thickness and is a load-bearing thermal break that allows the replacement, or addition, of balconies to an existing building, by connecting cantilevered steel balconies to the reinforced concrete slab.

This is achieved by chemically anchoring the Isokorb to the exterior of the building via the structural floor slab edge, which is not only a practical solution, but also avoids any damage to the internal structure or finishes.

It minimises thermal bridges at concrete-to-steel connections on cantilever balconies and transfers negative moments and positive shear forces. This offers a number of different options for integrated, energy-efficient building renovation and guarantees enormous scope for design.

An additional feature is that the product has been fully certified as an “Energy saving component” by the Passivhaus Institute in Darmstadt, Germany, which highlights the importance of thermal performance, even for refurbishment projects of this type.