Saint-Gobain Weber's Low Carbon Footprint For New Luton School

Published by Jackie Biggin for Weber in Local Government

Cutting the miles over which materials are transported to a construction site contributes toward the reduction of the carbon footprint of a building and the target to reducing overall carbon emissions.  This was an influencing factor in selecting Saint-Gobain Weber render products for the new Challney High School for Girls in Luton as Weber manufactures render products in the UK and the company’s Head Office is based at Flitwick, Bedfordshire, just 10 miles away from the application site in Luton. This supply line, preferred to imports from continentalEurope, helps substantially in lowering the carbon footprint of this building.

The main external walls of the sparkling new ChallneyHigh Schooluse the weber.therm XM External Wall Insulation and render system. As a flagship project in theBuilding Schools for the Future programme, theChallneyHigh School provides accommodation for up to 1,000 pupils ranging from 11 to 16 years of age. The mainly two-storey buildings have concrete frames and the substantial glass facades produce a light, bright and airy education environment. Main contractor Wates commenced work on site in May 2009 for handover just a few months ago.

More than 4000m² of weber.therm XM high performance External Wall Insulation system, protected by meshcloth reinforced polymer-render finishes, has been used throughout to achieve highest possible levels of thermal efficiency.  The U-values achieved atChallneyHigh School are 0.25 W/m².K or better.

This BBA approved system simplifies and speeds new build wall construction and gives the option of varied textures or coloured final surface coatings. Up to 140mm of medium density mineral fibre insulation slab has been mechanically fixed to the wall structure panels and expanded polystyrene insulation used on the curved rotunda façade structure.

The fiberglass meshcloth reinforcing is bedded onto the insulation and totally encapsulated in a 5-6mm coat of weber.rend LAC. When dry a further layer of render is applied. On this school project the lowest two metres of wall render has a metal mesh imbedded to add “armour” protection against damage from footballs and bikes! When thoroughly dry, and the correct weather conditions prevail, a coat of weber PR310 primer is applied by roller, and when completely dry the decorative, synthetic, weather resistant finish coat of weber.sil.TF is applied.

At ChallneyHigh Schoolfor Girls four colour finishes have been selected to maintain the bright, welcoming aesthetics of this modern school. The blue, green and white panels are complimented by striking purple panels that have been created using an additional weber.plast finish coat.

weber.therm XM External Wall Insulation incorporates all major insulation types with acrylic, dry dash aggregate, brick-effect or mineral finish.  It has full BBA certification with excellent fire, windloading and impact resistance properties and is also EST Recommended.  The system is quick and economical to install with application of the finish coat by hand or pump machine saving on-site labour and scaffold costs to achieve a maintenance free finish.

More information about the innovative weber.therm External Wall Insulation systems is available on www.netweber.co.uk, or call 08703 330070 and request a copy of the Weber Render Solutions handbook in hard copy or CD.