An education in energy efficiency with Kingspan Kooltherm

The Pines Primary School in Red Lodge has been constructed to provide a flexible, adaptable and sustainable space for education, with the help of Kingspan Kooltherm K15 Rainscreen Board.

The purpose-built structure, designed by Concertus Design & Property Consultants, has been carefully planned to meet today’s educational demands, cope with changes in the future and reduce the environmental impact of the school. The new building has been constructed by contractors, Morgan Sindall Construction, and offers specialist classrooms, practical areas and administration facilities, with the flexibility for growth as the school’s pupil intake increases. To ensure the new building achieved a premium level of thermal performance, 1600 m2 of Kingspan Kooltherm K15 Rainscreen Board was installed in a 50 mm thickness, helping to create a more comfortable learning environment, which can inspire and stimulate.

All new school developments in Suffolk require adoption of a sustainable building approach and, to this end, building materials were carefully chosen to both meet the design requirements and ensure maximum efficiency for the building’s life cycle. The school was designed to target a wall U-value of 0.19 W/m.2K, meeting best practice requirements. Concertus Design & Property Consultants commented:

“Sustainability needed to be considered early in the design so best practice could be embraced before, during and beyond the construction phases to reduce the immediate and long-term environmental impact of the new school.”

Utilising Kingspan Kooltherm K15 Rainscreen Board within the façade system allowed flexibility in the design process, as it is suitable for use behind a range of cladding options, including the timber façades chosen for the school, whilst maintaining the high levels of insulation required for the project.

The Kingspan Kooltherm K15 Rainscreen Board features a fibre-free rigid thermoset phenolic core and offers thermal conductivities as low as 0.020 W/m·K. This allowed the U-value to be met with a slim external wall construction.

In addition, all Kooltherm, Therma and KoolDuct insulation products and cavity closers manufactured at Kingspan Insulation’s facilities in Pembridge and Selby are certified to BES 6001 (Framework Standard for the Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products) ‘Excellent’. They are also manufactured with a blowing agent that has zero Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) and low Global Warming Potential (GWP).

Photography courtesy of Morgan Sindall Construction