Kingspan Kooltherm secures and insulates waterfront student accommodation

A £42 million student accommodation development in Portsmouth has achieved “outstanding thermal performance” due to the specification and installation of Kingspan Kooltherm K15 Rainscreen Board. 

Master planned by CGMS and designed by Cooley Architects’, the on-going Unite Students development will provide accommodation for 836 students. The building design incorporates Alpolic ACM coloured cladding to form a cube at the top of the building, which stands 240ft tall.

To achieve the energy efficient design requirements whilst also meeting the stringent fire safety regulations, Metclad Contracts installed Kingspan Kooltherm K15 Rainscreen Board as part of the rainscreen façade system.

The K15 Rainscreen Board has been successfully tested in a variety of thicknesses with a range of cladding materials to BS 8414-1:2002 and BS 8414-2:2005 and is Class 0 as defined by the Building Regulations.

The rainscreen board has proven thermal performance, with thermal conductivities as low as 0.020 W/m.K, and is backed up by a professional technical support service. 

Fire protection

Under the Desktop Study route to compliance, a fire specialist drew up a report on the façade system specific to the Unite Students project.  The report was based upon specifically referenced test data for the rain screen components and planning documents including cross-sections, elevations and fire-stop details. It concluded that the entire rainscreen solution would be compliant under BR 135. 

The building also benefited from a 75mm thickness Kingspan Kooltherm K3 Floorboard fitted on the ground floor. Both the K3 and K15 products feature a fibre-free insulation core and have been assigned a BRE Green Guide A+ rating. 

The building envelope was completed with a layer of Kingspan Thermaroof TR27 LPC/FM on the roof of the structure.

Kingspan Insulation,
Pembridge,
Leominster,
Herefordshire,
United Kingdom,
HR6 9LA

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