Steni improves performance in Bristol homes

Steni improves performance in Bristol homes

Project: Refurbishment of local authority housing
Product: Steni Nature (70,000m2)
Contractor: Alfred Bagnall & Sons (West) and Yewtree Fascias for Bristol City Council

Improved aesthetics, weather resistance and up to seven times more thermally-efficient; that is the beauty of over-cladding with Steni Nature, according to Bristol City Council.

Bristol City Council had 2,000 precast reinforced concrete homes built between the wars to alleviate a chronic housing shortage, but which were now considered defective under the Housing Defects Act 1985. To refurbish them in line with the Decent Homes Act, these properties – including Cornish, Wates and Reema houses – needed to be made more energy-efficient, maintenance-free and comfortable.

These homes were generally built with no cavity walls or insulation, so the designers had to look for a method of improving the building’s thermal efficiency without encroaching on the already tight living space. Steni Nature rainscreen cladding panels combined with insulation were able to improve U-values from the
outside, thus proving the ideal solution.

An eight-year, £15 million project, the refurbishment began with Airey homes, with the original concrete panels tied in to concrete posts to give them rigidity and strength. Here Steni panels were specified for their racking strength, in effect making the concrete posts redundant.

The project’s later phases saw the over-cladding of the Cornish, Wates and Reema houses coupled with mineral wool insulation between the fixing system – a grid of timber battens – helping to improve U-values seven-fold, from 2.0W/m2K to 0.3W/m2K.

In all some 70,000m2 of Steni Nature has been fitted, in four colours: Nordic Spar, Ivory, Pink and Grey. The lightweight fibreglass reinforced polymer composite panels feature a surface of crushed natural stone, and as well as improving aesthetic appearance they are resistant to fire (Class O), weather, rot and
aggressive environments.

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Rainscreen cladding