State of Art Headquarters Employs State of Art Building

Published by Angela May for McVeigh Insulations in Education and also in Local Government

A £12m state-of-art building for dance is set to achieve ‘excellent’ ratings, in part due to its innovative construction…..

The new centre of excellence for dance in Leeds is a six-storey headquarters for two of the UK’s leading dance companies, Northern Ballet Theatre and Phoenix Dance Theatre, and will include seven dance studios including a 230 seater studio theatre, office space, a health suite and costume workshop. Key elements of the brief were to optimize space and sustainability within the restrictions of the compact site in Leeds’ Quarry Hill area, with a view to attaining an ‘excellent’ rating under the BREEAM scheme.

Architects Strategic Design Alliance and contractor Wates worked closely with the UK’s leading manufacturer of large format structural insulated panels (SIPs)
McVeigh Insulations to develop a ‘state of art’ build process that overcame the limitations imposed by the site’s location, whilst achieving the objectives for the building.

McVeigh’s solution was the invention of a ‘tight fix’ system: a roof-mounted crane hoists the factory-produced specifically detailed SIPs each measuring up to 4.5m x 3.8m to the appropriate floor level on the steel structure. McVeigh’s in-house team of site engineers securely fix each of the panels into position from the inside, whereas conventionally the panels would be fixed from the outside, via scaffolding.

Each of the 120 SIPs panels had been specifically fabricated in McVeigh’s workshop to incorporate appropriate window/ door penetrations without requiring any secondary reinforcement once in situ. As a result, the structure was created, and made weathertight, quicker than with alternative materials and techniques, allowing internal works to begin sooner, and the length of time- and thus cost- of scaffolding on site is reduced.

Wates Construction design manager David Lingard elaborated, “Using SIPs panels from McVeigh gave us better quality control through the off-site, factory fabrication. The SIPs themselves provide enhanced thermal performance over alternative techniques, with a reduction in loading on the steel frame. The fixing system the company developed for the project reduced installation time, giving further benefits to the programme. As a result, we have a more economic structure, with reduced long term running costs.”

SIPs panels from McVeigh can achieve U values as low as 0.1W/m2K with reduced air leakage over similar panel systems. The large format technology employed by the company enables construction up to four storeys high without any additional structural reinforcement or tying: the company maintains it is unique in the UK to have the ability to fabricate and supply SIPs as large as 7m x 3.8m.

McVeigh Insulations has over 40 years’ experience in creation of insulated structures with low air leakage and high thermal performance, working for organisations including retailers Tesco and Sainsbury’s, hotel chains including Travelodge, leisure companies such as Xscape- building all of its indoor real snow ski slopes in the UK, and most major contractors. Its projects range from one of the first 1million ft2 cold stores in the UK through schools to housing.