Client: Kier Construction

Architect: RMJM

Sector: Higher Education

Type: Cladding Panel

Location: Luton

PROJECT BRIEF

As part of University of Bedfordshire’s on going development, the University invested in a new Postgraduate centre to be located on the Vicarage Street Campus. The 5 storey development will provide a state of the art learning facility for students attending the University of Bedfordshire.

Due to open in 2013 this new learning centre represents a significant step forward in sustainable building on a large scale with elements of PassivHaus and BREEAM level design combined to produce a building structure with outstanding thermal performance and air tightness.

UNIVERSITY OF BEDFORDSHIRE £16m Postgraduate Centre at University of Bedfordshire, Luton Campus

K-Panels Ltd, Brailwood Road, Bilsthorpe, Newark, Notts NG22 8UA T: 0845 2260 214 E: info@k-panels.co.uk W: www.k-panels.co.uk

PROJECT EVALUATION

The University of Bedfordshire Postgraduate centre represents a significant step forward for SIPs cladding design. The benefits of structural insulated panels as a whole build solution are widely accepted and in many cases proven. However this ground breaking project shows that in a cladding application, SIPs panels provide equal if not improved performance over more widely accepted cladding products, whilst offering in some cases a reduction in wall thickness and additional insulation requirements.

The University of Bedfordshire is a project has over come significant hurdles in design, manufacture and on site, with the SIPs phase of the work reaching completion in July 2012.

The reduced requirement for additional insulations and fixing systems provided a significant reduction in labour requirements and the number of trades on site, allowing the main SIPs works to be completed in little over 12 weeks.

With the build on track for completion in 2013, it is hoped that the iconic new learning centre will combine innovation and design to form a highly successful learning hub for the Vicarage Street Campus.

KEY STATISTICS

• Bespoke fittings

• PassivHaus requirements

• Thermally efficient building

• BREEAM requirements

PROJECT SOLUTION

The University of Bedfordshire is one of the first Higher Education sites in the UK to utilise SIPs panel cladding on such a large scale. To accelerate the project programme, panels were supplied in long lengths which enabled the site team to install the building two stories at a time. This provided a significant reduction in both labour and lifting requirement as well improving the building fabric performance by reducing timber junctions and joins.

As the design evolved it became clear that small changes in the shifting concrete frame, which can contract or expand according to temperatures, would mean that the SIPs panels would need to be fixed in such away to allow the entire building shell to shift with the natural movement of the concrete frame.

An innovative “diaphragm” was developed by K-Panels, with bespoke fixings which secured the panels to the concrete frame safely whilst allowing for the panels to flex and move without impacting the thermal performance or allowing air leakage.

Internally, air tightness tapes and additional insulation brought the building envelope U-Value down further to an estimated 0.15 W/Km2, with the external walls being carefully covered in a non branded breather membrane selected to ensure that no branding would be visible through the complex rain screen cladding.

Site access posed a significant challenge with the North elevation of the five storey structure being flanked by an existing structure leaving less than 3 meters space around two sides of the building. A combination of carefully planned tower crane lifts and mechanical working platforms were employed to service all areas of the build safely.

K-Panels Ltd, Brailwood Road, Bilsthorpe, Newark, Notts NG22 8UA T: 0845 2260 214 E: info@k-panels.co.uk W: www.k-panels.co.uk

UNIVERSITY OF BEDFORDSHIRE