Knauf Insulation’s Perimeter Plus™
Blow-in-Blanket® System, successfully
met the stringent U-values and environmental standards required by
Essex Disability Adult Community College in Rochford. A pioneering
eco-building built to the Passivhaus Standard that is predicted to
operate on approximately 5 per cent of a traditional building’s
energy costs.
Originally a competitor’s cellulose blown system was specified, but
following a need to further reduce the heat losses from walls and
roofs to keep the building safely within the parameters of the
Passivhaus Standard and without increasing the thickness of the
walls, the specification was switched to Knauf Insulation’s unique
and innovative offering - Perimeter Plus. This system provided the
excellent R values (thermal resistance values) required - 10.00 in
the walls and 12.85 in the roof.
The fully BBA approved product was installed by Miller Pattison, who
regularly use Knauf Insulation’s products. The project required
240m2 of Perimeter Plus blown into 350mm void areas between Larsen
Truss Walls, which had previously been sheeted up as per the
specification. In addition, 755m2 of Perimeter Plus was blown into a
450mm void area between the roof’s I beams on the two blocks of the
disability centre.
Richard Boyd, CEO at Essex Disability comments: “We wanted to ensure
the building’s energy consumption was extremely low, wasting as
little energy as possible. Utility and energy bills can be a drain
on a charity’s resources, so we wanted to have a building that had
minimal associated costs and created 95 per cent less CO2 than a
similar ‘average UK stock’ building - performing at the top rating
for the Government’s new Code for Sustainable Homes.” The project
also drew on strategic and detailed ‘CarbonLite’ guidance provided
by the AECB – the sustainable building association.
Perimeter Plus is a patented specialist high performance loose glass
mineral wool that is designed to be blown into timber frame walls
from the interior during construction. Perimeter Plus has optimal
thermal properties and excellent coverage and blowing
characteristics. The product is blown in behind translucent netting,
which gives visual assurance of a quality installation in every
area.
The advantage of Perimeter Plus is its ability to compress around
pipes, wiring and other services and fittings, ensuring a complete
fill, thereby maximising thermal and acoustic performance as well as
fast installation of wide cavities. Unlike other blown insulation
systems, Perimeter Plus does not require adhesives or additional
moisture meaning that working even in a cluttered internal
environment does not present a problem, and there is are no
associated settlement problems. Plus, there is zero waste and no
need to allow additional time for cleaning up of the working area.
“The high performance of Perimeter Plus made Knauf Insulation’s
blow-in system the ideal choice for this particular project due to
the stringent criteria. Being quick and clean to install with
excellent coverage further supported the specification,” comments
Andy Simmonds, Partner at Simmonds.Mills.
The build for the charitable disability centre was for ‘Exceptional
Energy Performance and Sustainability’, which required the building
to be constructed using locally sourced and sustainable resources
including recycled materials. In addition to the fundamental and
more cost effective measures, such as dramatically minimised heat
loss, high levels of passive solar gain and design to minimise
overheating risks, the project also made use of of renewable energy,
through the installation of a solar pholtaic system mounted on the
large ‘solar pergola’ and solar thermal tubes on the building’s
roof.
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