McVeigh SIPs deliver excellence in sustainability

Structural insulated panels (SIPs) from McVeigh Insulations are being used in a way that will help a new school project achieve excellence in sustainability.

Hope Academy, a joint Catholic and Church of England, and Hope University secondary school, Merseyside, has already won the award for Innovation in Sustainability at the Excellence in Building Schools for the Future Awards.

The project is on target to achieve an 'outstanding' rating under BREEAM, and, when complete, will provide an improved environment for both pupils and the wider community.

The three-storey scheme is being built by Willmott Dixon, primarily using some 6,000m2 of large format SIPs manufactured by McVeigh Insulations.

Each measuring up to 7x3.8m, the SIPs were delivered to site with window and door openings pre-formed.

As a result, supplementary support for those penetrations was eliminated, while creating an envelope with enhanced structural integrity and thermal performance - as low as 0.1W/m2K - against conventional construction techniques.

In addition to using SIPs for its main structure, the Academy features some 20 per cent by value of recycled materials in its building, with 70 per cent by value of the external landscaping also from recycle materials.

Once complete, the scheme will have 100 per cent of its off-peak electricity and 100 per cent of heating and hot water generated by renewable sources on site.

The two-phase project is due for completion in December 2011, phase I being construction of the new Academy, phase II demolition of the existing Newton Community High School and construction of new sports pitches.

McVeigh Insulations has over 40 years' experience in creation of insulated structures with low air leakage.

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