Product category:
Window Systems
News Release from: Kawneer UK | Subject: Dry-jointed curtain walling
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 26 September 2006
Kawneer helps EWS learn a library lesson
Kawneer's dry-jointed curtain walling, AA603 tilt slide, 190 narrow-style doors and AA601 casement windows were selected for the project.
Oldham Library and Lifelong Learning Centre may have been phase 2 in the development of the town's cultural quarter but it was a unique project and a memorable learning experience for the curtain walling contractors The £12million PFI project by Kier Northwest sits alongside the first phase of Oldham's cultural quarter, Gallery Oldham, and uses the same palette of materials - terracotta planking, exposed concrete frame and cast glass
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 1 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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Architects Pringle Richards Sharratt (PRS) had specified that the curtain walling that comprised 99% of the building be hung from the face of the concrete frame as opposed to within it, with all detailing matching that of the adjacent Gallery Oldham.
And when it came to using cradles as well as scaffolding to lift it into place and fix it, Kawneer-approved installers Extruded Window Systems (EWS) found they were often battling on moving ground.
"At £285,000 it was the most difficult and challenging job I have been involved in".
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"I learned a lot in the time we were there," said EWS' contracts director Derek Howarth, who has worked in curtain walling design for more than 15 years.
PRS, who supplied the performance specification, required the chosen glazing system to lie in the same plane as the terracotta panels and to have 50mm sightlines to match Gallery Oldham, in addition to meeting thermal, acoustic and solar criteria.
Kawneer's dry-jointed curtain walling as well as AA603 tilt slide and 190 narrow-style doors and AA601 casement windows were selected for the project, with EWS being appointed as the specialist sub-contractor.
The practice's design had originally specified reasonably large areas of glazing but EWS was concerned about the wind loading on the east elevation specifically and extra mullions were inserted to reduce the size of the panels, some of which were so heavy - 250kg double-glazed - they had to be craned into place.
"They were the largest modules we had ever worked with," said Derek Howarth.
"That, coupled with the unusual method of installation, meant it took us 50% longer than normal but we were very pleased with the end result." Spread over 6,500m2 on two and a half levels, the library is linked to the gallery through a double-height foyer that acts as an access hub at the heart of the cultural quarter.
But the link is only at ground level, since art and learning are separately administered in Oldham.
Built on the site of former mine workings and gas works, much decontamination and rehabilitation was required but like the gallery, the use of natural energy has been maximised, with natural daylight, thermal mass, natural ventilation and solar shading employed to minimise running costs.
The brief had asked for a high degree of environmental control and specified very tight temperature bands that would have required full air conditioning to achieve.
However, Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council agreed more flexible standards that permitted a more energy-efficient solution.
The final ventilation design allows for natural ventilation of a number of spaces and mechanical displacement ventilation elsewhere.
Air distribution is via a raised slab that allows the soffit to be kept as exposed concrete and provide significant passive cooling.
Night ventilation and solar glazing/brise soleil help to reduce the cooling requirement.
Features such as this helped the building achieve a "very good" Breeam rating.
"I think the curtain walling contributes significantly to this in terms of thermal and acoustic insulation," said Derek Howarth of EWS who although they were not involved in Gallery Oldham, were called in to dismantle a large, glazed screen to make way for the linked foyer.
EWS has itself had to make way for progress - the business recently outgrew its former home - a Victorian mill it had occupied since 1975 - and is now happily ensconced in a refurbished industrial unit in Bolton.
The £500,000 move has enabled it to invest in machinery to increase production by up to 25% and concentrate all of its manufacturing processes on 10,000ft2 of ground floor. Request a free brochure from Kawneer UK ...
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