BPD Building Product Design Ltd

A range of trusted product solutions from leading manufacturer Glidevale Protect has been specified and installed to help create energy-efficient and healthy homes by property development specialists Castell Group, for use on a new affordable housing scheme constructed in Llansamlet, Swansea.

DG Timber Solutions, specialist designers and manufacturers of timber frame construction were awarded the contract to build the structure’s wall panels in the factory and install on-site, with the objective of achieving an overall wall U-value of 0.20W/m²K.

The design of the house specified an airtight and thermal efficient solution to meet Building Regulations. The brief for DGTS was to provide a highly insulated (U-Values for walls/0.11 and floors/0.13) envelope to the main steel frame structure and concrete beam and block floors to both ground and first floor level. The dwelling floor area was approx 700m² broken up into twelve rooms including a wet room, gym, media room and library.

Timber frame specialist Seven Oaks Modular Ltd was awarded the contract to construct wall panels in their factory for this development, followed by delivery and installation on-site with the need to ensure the client met the target U-value of 0.19W/m²K for the wall.

The £18.6m Bert Williams Leisure Centre was a key element of the regeneration of Bilston and formed a focal point of the new Urban Village. The building featured Kingfisher’s KW75Z louvres in pastel turquoise making them a prominent architectural feature.The centre was named after former Wolverhampton Wanderers and England goalkeeper Bert Williams and includes a 25m eight-lane swimming pool, studio pool, dance/aerobic studio, badminton courts, sports hall, squash courts, crèche and a 100 station health and fitness area.Craig Fletcher, Shepherd Construction’s project manager commented, “We had to make sure each blade was in the right place so that a perfect abutment was achieved. Kingfisher fabricated each blade to exact measurements and within tolerance.”The solutionThe louvres not only enhanced the incredible aesthetics of this 5600m2 three-storey building but they also provided effective screening and ventilation to the plant equipment located behind the façade.Installed by Roofdec for main contractor Shepherd Construction, Kingfisher’s KW75Z louvres provide a 58% free area delivering a combination of good airflow and weather protection. Over 700 aluminium blades, ranging from 900mm to 3000mm long, were individually engineered, and where appropriate mitred, to create a seamless join between the louvres and curved façade cladding and glazing.

Birmingham City Council built a new £38m office block on Woodcock Street, the council’s biggest office construction for over 100 years. The development, which included Kingfisher’s KC120 screening louvres and KW75HPG high performance single-bank louvres, achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating.The four-storey building was built on a derelict site being used as a car park next to Aston Science Park and was designed to be a key element of the Council’s business transformation and Working for the Future programmes. It also provided an improved working environment for over 2000 staff, aiming to deliver better services to Birmingham residents.Alan Village, Apex Roofing project manager, explains, “Kingfisher were not only the most competitive company we approached for the louvres, but were also the most helpful, giving us all the information we needed to ensure they would integrate discretely into the overall design and meet the performance objectives required.”The solutionAchieving a BREEAM ‘excellent’ rating, the development was built by Thomas Vale Construction and included various sustainable strategies such as a brown roof, photovoltaic panels, rainwater harvesting and a combined heating and power system. To ensure the building’s roof-mounted plant room was effectively ventilated, Kingfisher supplied sub-contractor Apex Roofing & Cladding with almost £100,000 of aluminium KW ventilation and KC screening louvres.Mounted on a counter-balance system on the roof and integrated into the façade cladding, the louvres will ensure optimum airflow into the plant room which will help to maintain ambient conditions, optimise equipment efficiency whilst also preventing the ingress of rain. They also add to the aesthetics of the building, creating a more attractive feature on the roof around the plant room.The project consisted of over 3600m of KC120 screening louvres at a mixture of 100mm and 105mm pitch. Areas were also inverted to shield the equipment situated behind the louvres from being viewed from below. In addition to the screening louvres, almost 7000m of KW75HPG louvres were also used on the project. The KW75HPG louvres offer up to Class A performance for rain rejection as well as an impressive Class 2 for airflow. The louvres across the project ranged in height, using the Kingfisher M1 mullions to support the blades. Kingfisher also supplied eight double doors and seven single doors across the building.

When Circle Health Group opened their new £60m Circle Reading Hospital, it was constructed with the brief to combine clinical excellence and five star hospitality in a ‘healing’ environment, full of natural materials and natural daylight. To shield the vital plant equipment Kingfisher supplied their screening louvres for this project.The hospital includes five state of-the-art operating theatres and 50 patient beds. To ensure a high quality finish and performance, the sub-contractor, ASTEC Projects turned to Kingfisher Louvres to devise and supply screening louvres which ensured adequate fresh air was provided to the plant for the main hospital and ‘back of house’ areas, whilst also complementing the building aesthetics.Dan Griffin, ASTEC Projects’ project manager, explained, “We know from experience that Kingfisher Louvres will deliver what we need, when we need it, and to the quality and budget, whilst also providing significant technical support.”The solutionMultiple sets of Kingfisher KW100Z louvres were tailor-made for the project, ranging in size from 0.8m x 0.6m up to 10.4m x 3.0m and incorporated five doors to enable access to the plant equipment for routine maintenance. The aluminium louvres supplied provide up to 61% free area to deliver optimum airflow with weather protection.They also met specific wind loading, span and opening detail, and screening requirements. The doors enable access and meet the same requirements whilst continuing the screening aesthetics.

The Hilton Garden Inn is on the Hamilton Straight at Silverstone, the home of British motor racing and venue for the British Grand Prix. It is a must visit for any motor racing fans in search of exhilarating views of the legendary starting grid and pit lane adjoining the racetrack.This £30m hotel development has been a high-profile project for Kingfisher who worked closely with contractor Metclad to supply screening louvres for the ground floor area which housed the plant equipment.The six-storey hotel has 197 rooms, some of which are track side with a balcony. There are hospitality suites, restaurants and private dining with track-facing terraces. The roof space has a large open-air sheltered roof terrace for spectators and a fitness suite. An atrium area on the top floor connects to a footbridge which spans the track leading to the Silverstone Wing Conference Centre.The solutionThis was a complex louvre project which took two and a half years from the initial tender and sampling stage through to the final supply of louvres. The louvres formed three parallelogram shapes on the ground floor of the hotel providing screening and ventilation to plant equipment whilst also being part of a design which reflected its inspiring ‘racetrack’ surroundings.Kingfisher supplied 1800m of KW75Z single bank louvre blades, 170 mullions and 5 double door sets, all powder coated to RAL 7047 matt. The KW75Z louvre is the Kingfisher mid-range system which provides a good level of weather protection and ventilation with a 58% free area.During the production process Kingfisher carefully labelled the components to assist with installation once the goods were delivered. Metclad did a fantastic job of the complex installation which involved cutting blades on site to suit the unique shape. They also used a number of “flying” mullions which capture the ends of cut blades ensuring that a high finish is achieved.Josh Gardner, purchasing manager at Metclad commented “We have used Kingfisher for several years now and are constantly impressed with their quality of service and products.”

Holiday Inn Express can be assured of optimum performance from its plant equipment through the installation of Kingfisher high performance weather louvres on the roof of its four-storey, 120 bedroom Dunstable hotel.The hotel features KW75HPG louvres, plus ancillary mullions, supplied by Kingfisher Louvres. The installation has a single bank of louvres offering maximum weather resistance with a high airflow rate, performing better than most double-bank systems. These louvres can be used in any application requiring permanent large-scale ventilation as well as providing screening.The solutionThe single bank of aluminium louvres, colour matched to RAL7015 (slate grey), was strategically positioned on the roof to protect and ventilate the plant equipment whilst adding an aesthetic dimension to the building. A double door of louvres to the same specification ensures continuous protection whilst allowing access for plant engineers.The Kingfisher louvres are BSRIA tested with an A2 classification up to 0.5m/s. They deliver up to 99% effectiveness of water rejection to minimise risk of any damp or moisture penetrating to the plant behind. By achieving a Cd value of 0.311 – a class B aerodynamic coefficient – they have improved airflow resistance when compared to virtually all double-bank louvre systems, and also many single-bank systems.

Opened in 2022, the University of Salford’s new School of Science, Engineering and Environment (SEE) has a striking, modern design. This four-storey building, which forms part of a wider campus masterplan, is a multi-disciplinary hub for teaching, research and industry collaboration.Kingfisher Louvres have taken pride of place on the roof of the university’s flagship science building. The unique design of this £65m development, covering 15,300m² over four storeys was completed by Sheppard Robson and developed by Morgan Sindall Construction.Louvres were needed to screen the plant equipment on the roof whilst also complementing the aesthetics of this eye-catching building.The solutionOver two hundred metres of five-metre high KC120 screening louvres were supplied to our customer, Metclad, to provide a screen for the rooftop plant equipment without compromising the building’s unique design.The louvre blades were supplied inverted, meaning that the plant equipment behind the screen would be concealed when viewed from below. It is common practice for blades to be inverted in rooftop applications given that ‘line of sight’ is essential when designing plant screens. This differs from typical weather louvre applications, where the orientation will always be standard downward-facing blades, as this will offer better weathering performance and is the orientation weather systems would be tested with.This screen on the SEE building also includes a number of mitred corners which further enhances the continuous appearance of the louvres around the perimeter of the plant equipment. Kingfisher supply fully mitred corners as standard for their louvres, for both internal and external corner applications, for a range of angles, not just standard 90° corners.In addition to mitred corners, Kingfisher door sets were used to promote the continuous appearance of the louvre system. In total, Kingfisher supplied nine door sets for this project, which were installed within the louvre screens for access purposes, and included at least one door set on each elevation.Josh Gardner, purchasing manager at Metclad commented “We have used Kingfisher for several years now and are constantly impressed with their quality of service and products.”

The Westfield Derby Shopping centre (now known as Derbion) was a £340m development by Westfield and Hermes in Derby city centre, a development which included Kingfisher’s KW100Z aluminium louvres.The development was part of the town centre’s regeneration plan with the site occupying 1 million square feet in the heart of the town centre. When sub-contractor Roofdec was tasked with providing car park and plant screening for the shopping centre, Kingfisher Louvres was the natural choice to provide a quality product which matched the architectural vision of the project.Kelly Phipps of Kingfisher commented “The main architectural feature, particularly along the London Road elevation was to create a clean inviting appearance. Not only were we able to achieve this objective, we also ensured the louvres performed to the highest level.”The solutionKingfisher supplied their KW100Z aluminium louvres to screen off the entrance and exit area of the car park and the rooftop plant area. The louvres allow air to pass naturally through the structure and reduce the ingress of rain, dirt and debris from outside. The louvres also allow comfortable temperatures to be maintained by allowing excess heat to escape.The louvres were finished in RAL9006 metallic to complement the building’s colour scheme. Kingfisher has access to a wide range of colours and finishes through its powder coating supply chain, meaning that providing the right colour was easy and ensured continuity throughout the louvres and the other trades on the project. 

The proposed developments followed traditional timber kit design, consisting of an outer brick skin 50mm cavity, with an internal 140mm stud frame, and using mineral wool insulation minimum 20mm service void, finished with a plasterboard lining. The brief was to achieve air permeability less than 6m3/h/m².

With Heysham being a large coastal village facing the Irish Sea, any project undertaken requires an underlay that will withstand extreme weather conditions that can prevail especially in the winter and be able to absorb the wind loads generated by the unique topography of the location.

This historic property is being converted into luxury apartments and in the grounds of the palace some twenty six new houses are being constructed to be architecturally in keeping with the historic main building. Taking cues from the complex roof layout of the original palace, the new houses have numerous hips, valleys, box gutters, monoridges and even turrets. The increased levels of thermal insulation required within the roof space meant that the risk of condensation occurring out of sight in the loft voids increased dramatically.

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Social housing provider One Manchester highlighted this flagship development, located on Blackrock Street in Beswick, Manchester as a scheme in construction that featured the first true net zero carbon social homes in the UK. Glidevale Protect’s wall construction membranes are used in every property across the scheme, ensuring a high level of airtightness and contributing significantly to the homes’ energy efficiency and achievement of Passivhaus standards.

With 50 years’ experience in the modular build industry, the challenge for Tingdene Homes was to deliver a cutting edge solution for a new two-storey holiday home construction which was to be built entirely offsite in a controlled factory environment, with the objective of delivering speedier construction, factory engineered quality and cost-effective design.

The visitor centre roof has been set at 6 degrees to form an exact replica of two spitfire wings. This unique construction meant the need for superior materials, such as Protect 5000 Façade, TF200® and BarriAir, that could cope with the challenges of the design. The materials also needed to be resilient to cope with the harsh coastal conditions in the South of England.

VICTORIA VIEWS - ARUNDEL CRESCENT DEVELOPMENTS, PLYMOUTH CLIENT: TIMBER PAK (SW) LTD PRODUCTS USED: PROTECT TF200 THERMO PROTECT TF INTERFOIL PROTECT VC FOIL ULTRA THE CHALLENGE Timber PAK (SW) Ltd, a specialist in closed panel timber frame manufacture from a dedicated factory in Ivybridge, Devon, was given the contract to construct the apartments in structural timber. This involved the production of closed and insulated wall panels, followed by delivery and installation on-site, ensuring strict build tolerances and timescales were met.

The project has embraced the use of offsite construction, with closed timber frame panels manufactured in the factory at Oregon Timber Frame Ltd, part of Barratt Developments. This reduced build time by half, and with the home incorporating a number of cutting edge technologies and building materials, not only have carbon emissions been reduced but the design has been future proofed by substantially surpassing the Future Homes Standard.