Kalzip Falzinc raised seam roofing for school

Kalzip Falzinc raised seam roofing used in construction of King's Oak primary learning centre in Barnsley.

When Carillion and PFI partner HLM Architects were looking for materials for 13 new build primary schools in Barnsley they knew they had to be robust, low maintenance and sustainable ...

and at King's Oak, Kalzip's Falzinc raised seam roofing met all those criteria.

King's Oak primary learning centre in the Wombwell area of Barnsley, which has now achieved a Class A SEAM (Schools Environmental Assessment Method), was one of the first schools to be delivered in the GBP50 million Barnsley Grouped Schools PFI project by the then Mowlem consortia.

The project was designed to create, for the metropolitan borough council, a new generation of single phase primary education facilities including nursery, reception, and key stage one and two, which also allowed for social inclusion and lifelong learning.

The objectives of Carillion/Mowlem and their PF partners Aqumen were to create robust, easily maintained schools that had elements of repetition to make procurement efficiencies, for example in the classroom and cloakroom pods.

Access for maintenance was a key issue, with a requirement to avoid pitched roof access for routine maintenance.

King's Oak amalgamates two former primary schools - Oakfield junior (on whose site it was built) and King's Road infants - into a GBP3.6 million primary learning centre for 360 pupils comprising traditional primary school with an integrated foundation stage and a children's centre with 26 nursery places.

HLM's design solution across the primary schools was an elemental approach to the accommodation, with administration and staff areas grouped.

Community use rooms are grouped around the main entrance to enable out of hours or extended use without compromising the secuirytb of the whole school.

Their design for King's Oak enables excellent levels of natural daylight and ventilation, with most of the classroom spaces facing south over the playground and playing field and vehicular access from the north to give good separation between pupils and vehicles as well as giving students and teachers a summery aspect.

To combat solar gains and glare, they designed a large roof overhang which also has the advantage of providing shade and shelter to an outdoor teaching space.

Zinc was originally specified to complement the elevational palate of timber, masonry and render, but the foldable Falzinc made better use of the "very limited budget".

HLM's project leader Alan J Taylor said: "The environmental design is an aspect we are particularly proud of".

Kalzip's Falzinc uses a patented Pegal process to encase the aluminium core of the raised seam with a pre-weathered zinc layer that has a lower weather erosion rate than zinc and is long living due to the saline resistant substrate.

The weathering treatment gives the zinc surface a mid grey shading - the appearance of approximately three year old natural zinc.

At King's Oak, the Falzinc sheets were fixed by approved installer Varla (UK) with associated flashings and fascias as well as gutters to prevent runoff from cedar boarding above roof level affecting the zinc.

David Russell, who was principal architect at the council at the time of the bid, said: "The use of the materials stretched the norm for what we had seen in PFI schemes but most of all, the designs showed quality but also deliverability".

Adrian Mole of Carillion thought the roof design particularly distinctive.

"Unusually, the roof was a combination of Falzinc and cedar board".

"Cedar board rain runoff attacks the surface of zinc so special care was needed throughout the construction period and secret gutters were constructed to prevent future damage," he said.

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