Prater, the UK's leading specialist envelope contractor, has played a crucial role in three projects for the education sector in Scotland: Eastwood High School, Aviemore Primary School and the University of West Scotland’s new Paisley Campus student residence.
Construction of Eastwood High School is currently underway and the school is part of the Scottish Government’s £1.25bn Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme. The school will be used to pilot and establish best practice models as local authorities look to achieve maximum value for money. The new facility is being built alongside the existing school.
Prater is supplying and installing the specially designed roof at Eastwood High School using a hot melt roofing system to a concrete base onto which a green roof will be installed and a single ply membrane roof including a metal deck. The distinctive facades – central to the attractive design of the building – are made up of flat composite cladding, a PPC rainscreen system and a Corten rainscreen system onto a propriety carrier system. A soffit cladding system is also being installed.
At Aviemore Primary School, Prater has completed works and installed a Kalzip aluminium roof system. It was selected primarily for its thermal and acoustic performance, helping to minimise energy consumption across a project designed to a high standard of sustainability. Overall, Aviemore Community Primary School has been awarded a BREEAM rating of ‘very good’.
However, the geographical location of the school meant that the roof had to meet critical load and aesthetic requirements too.
“Aviemore is situated in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park,” says Andy Newman, Business Development Director at Prater. “This means the roof design has to be able to withstand heavy snow loads. Equally important is the impact the building has in what is an area of outstanding natural beauty. The roof was therefore specified with a patina finish that minimises reflection from the sun.”
Finally, Prater has also delivered the roof, render and rainscreen cladding for the University of West Scotland’s new £13.2m Paisley Campus student residence. The halls, part of a £250m investment programme by the university, saw Prater deliver the entire external envelope with the exception of the windows. The roof is Kalzip standing seam, combining the practicality of total weather protection and excellent thermal/acoustic properties with visual appeal.
A Dryvit render system uses 180mm thick EPS insulation fixed to the structure, with a 7mm coat of render applied. The render incorporates a reinforcing mesh to deliver excellent strength, while the EPS insulation provides the desired thermal properties.
In addition, Prater installed two rainscreen cladding systems that worked together to give the buildings their distinctive and attractive architectural styling.
The brown sections of the façade are made up of Petrarch panels by CEP Claddings. These provide the look of natural stone in a large panel form that is durable, maintenance free and highly resistant to impact. The dark grey sections have been created using a pre-weathered titanium zinc Rainscreen system by metal façade specialists CGL Systems.