Duripanel provides impact resistance

Marley Eternit's cement-bonded particle building board, Duripanel, has recently been installed on the walls and ceilings of a sports hall at St Bede's School in Eastbourne.

The sports hall provides pupils with a range of facilities, including basketball and tennis courts along with cricket nets.

After careful consideration, the school's specialist in-house project team, working alongside architects CH Design Partnership, specified Marley Eternit's Duripanel because it offered 'excellent impact resistance and outstanding acoustic properties' - two key requirements for busy sporting venues.

The density of the board and the fibres within it provide the enhanced acoustic performance, which was vital on this project as the main hall will be used for examinations and music events at the same time as other areas are being used for sports.

In most cases Duripanel is hidden from view, but on this project it was exposed, with a paint finish applied on site.

The boards in the main hall were finished in white to provide a definite contrast to the lower section of the walls, which are constructed using fair-faced concrete block.

For the spectator gallery, Duripanel boards were painted in two shades of blue to create an impression of depth to the atrium.

The Duripanel boards were screwed onto timber grounds fixed onto an 18mm-thick plywood backboard.

As well as withstanding impact from sports activity, Duripanel will reduce scuffing from balls, helping the walls maintain their finish.

'Duripanel was easy to fit and will provide an excellent impact-resistant wall, which is certainly required with the amount of ball sports that will be played in this hall,' said Adrian White, project manager at St Bede's School.

Duripanel was fitted diagonally across the ceilings within the changing rooms, assembly entrance and corridors using a 'shadow-gap' to create an aesthetic design feature.

Panels on the wall were fitted in portrait format, again continuing the shadow-gap from the ceiling.

Back to top