The Paragon Case Study
 |
| Products Used |
Rocksilk RainScreen Slab |
| Project |
The Paragon |
| Client |
Thames Valley University |
| Main Contractor |
Deepdale Solutions |
| Sub Contractor |
Berkeley First |
| Knauf Insulation Manager |
Andrew Tichy |
| Estimated Completion Date |
Mar-07 |
| “The Paragon development brought an
under-utilised site back into positive use. Knauf Insulation’s
Rocksilk RainScreen Slab was the obvious choice for our development
as it’s easy to handle and install, with the Supakube packaging
system enabling us to easily store and move it about on-site.”
- Robert Lackey, from Berkeley First |
Challenge
Eight separate buildings within a 4.7 acre site. The residential
buildings had to meet Thames Valley University's needs of up to
1,000 rooms for nursing and midwifery students delivered by Sept
2006, whilst the teaching accommodation will become the new home
for the University’s Faculty of Health and Human Sciences – the
largest healthcare facility in the UK.
A 15 storey tower block, triangular in shape required a
combination of glazed and ceramic cladding whilst terracotta
cladding was requested for the other accommodation blocks. A
rainscreen cladding system was requested to ensure adequate
protection against rain penetration and to provide the building
with excellent thermal insulation.
The project was to cause minimal disruption to the local area,
whilst health and safety was key due to the sites prominence to the
M4 motorway.
Solution
Knauf Insulation supplied 2,100 m2 of 115mm Rocksilk
RainScreen Slab to the outside of the development, as part of the
rainscreen cladding system.
The lightweight and rigid properties of Rocksilk RainScreen Slab
allows ease of fixing to the exterior wall while the water
repellent nature of the product helps to defend the buildings
structure against rain penetration.
Rainscreen cladding solutions can also offer savings on building
insurance - thanks to their fire protection properties – and energy
bills by creating a complete insulation envelope around the
structure.
What’s more, individual packs of Rocksilk RainScreen Slabs are
compression packed together in Knauf Insulation’s innovative
packaging method, Supakube, which uses advanced compression
technology and strong packaging materials ensuring the product is
easy to transport and store, causing minimal disruption on site and
the surrounding area.
Andrew Tichy, Divisional Specification Manager at Knauf
Insulation, said: “Rocksilk RainScreen Slab is a very popular
product within our Rocksilk range as it provides great thermal
performance, noise absorption and is fire safe, all important
considerations on urban, high rise developments. Contractors also
enjoy working with the product as it’s easy to fit around the
cladding support brackets and there’s no need to tape the
insulation joints.”
