Specialist roofing and cladding manufacturer and installer, CA Group, has announced that it has achieved an airtightness rating of 0.98m³/hr/m@50Pa, for its latest Waitrose distribution centre in Chorley – a record result for the company which consistently delivers ratings of between 1.0 and 2.0 m³/hr/m².
Air leakage has been widely identified as the major source of heat-loss in buildings and chilled air in chill stores, resulting in higher running costs and costly CO2 emissions. With the Government’s commitment to a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020, the issue of airtightness - the resistance of the building envelope to inward or outward air leakage - in commercial developments has become a priority.
Neil Alderson, Commercial Director for CA Group, explained: “Increased airtightness levels are not only good for the environment, they are good for business. A superior level of airtightness can improve the thermal performance of the building envelope by as much as 34%, delivering both tangible savings, through reduced energy bills, and intangible ones, such as increased comfort for building users.
“The notable airtightness levels were achieved for Waitrose through a combination of our building envelope and the quality installation carried out by Yorkshire Sheeting & Insulation Services. The levels are particularly interesting as the premises houses a chill-store of considerable size, by reducing the air leakage we can maximize the efficiency of the building and keep the considerable running costs of the chill-store down.”
He continued: “We have delivered a number of projects on or around the 1.03m³/hr/m² figure, including a Bosch warehouse for ProLogis in Kettering. This figure is considerably below the Part L minimum requirement of 10.0m³/hr/m² and demonstrates the efficency of the systems we have developed and upon which we continue to improve.”
According to Alderson, such notable levels of airtightness are possible due to the flexible nature of the company’s Twin-Therm® built up roof and wall cladding system. This flexibility enables the cladding to accommodate variances in steelwork tolerances which cannot be achieved with a rigid solution.
Twin-Therm® is a non-combustible, carbon neutral solution, which has successfully addressed the issue of water ingress, one of the biggest hidden costs for building owners, by eliminating fastener penetrations which go directly from the outside to the inside of the building. As a result the company is able to offer a 25-year guarantee which means that, other than unforeseen damage, there are no extra hidden costs associated with the building envelope.
Alderson concluded: “We are committed to ensuring that every building we work on achieves the best airtightness rating possible through this cost effective solution which can be applied to 99.9% of all retail, distribution and industrial properties.”
CA Group worked with Tata Steel on the project to provide Colorcoat HPS200 Ultra® roof and walls in Goosewing Grey, Merlin Grey and Albatross. Exclusively manufactured by Tata Steel, the pre-finished steel product has the unique Galvalloy® metallic coating optimised to provide maximum corrosion resistance and cut edge protection, resulting in a Confidex® Guarantee of up to 40 years.
The project team included: main contractor, Winvic Construction, cladding contractor, Yorkshire Sheeting & Insulation Services and AJA Architects.