KFC, one of the world’s best known fast-food outlets, has successfully used the revolutionary modified wood Accoya for a range of high quality restaurant projects across New Zealand.
In a drive for greater sustainability and a higher quality build and finish for its global restaurant brand, Accoya wood was specified and used for two new build KFC outlets in New Zealand.
Manufactured by Accsys Technologies, Accoya is one of the most advanced wood products on the market today, using wood modification technology to deliver outstanding levels of performance, stability and durability. It is created by using a proprietary process called acetylation on sustainably sourced woods. This results in a non-toxic, attractive wood which matches or exceeds the properties of tropical hardwood, which is perfect for a variety of uses from windows to doors to external cladding.
Supplied by Timspec in New Zealand, the KFC restaurants feature extensive Accoya cladding which is used over a 20mm cavity. Additionally Accoya was used as louver sun shades to the restaurant windows. A further seven refurbishments featuring Accoya cladding have subsequently been undertaken at KFC outlets across New Zealand.
For the KFC projects, Accoya was specified by Mortlock McElroy Architects. Ray McElroy from the architects’ practice said: “Accoya is perfect for the KFC new builds being aesthetically pleasing from a design perspective and having outstanding dimensionally stability, which means the timber will not cup, bow or twist.
“The other huge advantage of Accoya was that its class 1 durability properties will protect the wood from New Zealand’s changing weather and wet climate.”
It is envisaged that throughout 2013, Accoya wood will be specified for a number of KFC sites which are due for refurbishment or for rebuild. This is part of an overall upgrade program for the fast-food restaurant chain.
Bryan Crennell, Director of Sales and Marketing at Accsys Technologies added: “Using Accoya for a globally recognised brand like KFC demonstrates Accoya’s potential to make a significant long-term statement about sustainability and quality.
Thanks to the acetylation process, Accoya has the strength and durability to meet even the most challenging architectural demands; enabling projects to create outstanding looks but also industry leading performance with unrivalled sustainability, which has resulted in a range of high quality buildings and refurbishments”.
Accoya is FSC certified and is a high performance sustainable wood solution which matches and exceeds many of the properties of most unsustainable tropical hardwoods.