Carbon reduction with Kawneer curtain walling

Kawneer’s AA100 curtain walling, in SSG (structurally silicone glazed) and capped versions, plus AA601 fixed light casement windows and series 190 heavy-duty commercial entrance doors feature on Yare House on Thorpe Road, one of the principal routes into Norwich city centre.

The GBP3 million refurbishment executed by main contractor Morgan Sindall for client Highlight Consultancy has transformed the 1970s four-storey brick and glass building both aesthetically and in terms of its performance.

Previously solely occupied by Anglian Water, this refurbishment will now provide sustainable flexible office space in the heart of Norwich for up to 10 businesses.

The front, south-facing facade formerly experienced excessive levels of solar gain which was inefficiently controlled by internal manual blinds.

This has been replaced with Kawneer’s AA100SSG curtain walling incorporating solar double glazing.

The Kawneer curtain walling extends up to incorporate an additional 475m storey that provides an oversailing roofline sun buffer under which a series of louvres are hung from curved vertical columns, offset from the building line.

Such measures have helped this 3,040m Grade A office building achieve an Energy Performance Certificate ’B’ rating and also a BREEAM rating of ’Excellent’, both of which are exceptional achievements for an existing building.

Project architects Ingleton Wood carried out a carbon emission comparison over a building with equivalent standard gas boilers and cooling system which showed a 28.69 percent improvement.

The high performance facade contributes to this with reduced pressure on the MandE system to perform.

The new south facade of silicone jointed Kawneer AA100 curtain wall , capped AA100 curtain walling to the new floor west facade, AA601 windows to the new floor north facade, series 190 manual and automatic doors and a simple glazed canopy over the main entrance, were installed over 10 months by approved specialist sub-contractor Drayton Windows.

Ingleton Wood associate architect James Evans said: ’Kawneer’s silicone glazed curtain wall system has delivered the exact visual requirements sought at a competitive price and without the cost of resorting to a frameless glass system.

’The exposed silicone joints provide a very slick aesthetic with little evidence of it being a curtain wall due to the solar glass reflectance hiding the aluminium structure behind.

The technical performance of the system surpasses that of the previous 50:50 glass:brick facade which has allowed us to go for a full-height glazed solution, to the delight of the client.

It plays a key role in the building’s facelift’.

’It was important to select materials on the merits of life cycle and recyclability as opposed to solely on cost grounds and the selection of aluminium has positively contributed to the BREEAM achievement.

Aluminium is a highly sustainable product that can be recycled over and over again.

The re-melting of aluminium requires little energy - only 5 percent of that used for primary aluminium production - and 85 percent of aluminium used in the UK construction industry is recycled’.