Over the past year Knauf Insulation has donated enough insulation materials to cover just over 8 Wimbledon Tennis Courts, to a number of homelessness projects around the country in partnership with the construction and property industry’s charity for the homeless, CRASH.
From Newcastle to Norfolk, CRASH has helped homelessness projects refurbish buildings providing a safe shelter for homeless people.
In Newcastle, a Grade II listed former city centre priory was transformed into self-contained flats with new kitchen, shower and toilet facilities.
An upgrade to the building was vital in order to meet building standards. Here, Knauf Insulation donated over 520m2 of 100m Earthwool Loft Roll Insulation. The insulation contributed to more comfortable surroundings for the occupants and greatly improved the thermal performance of the building.
Knauf Insulation also supplied a selection of its loft, floor and external wall insulation products to a renovation project in Bristol. This project saw the conversion of a building into six self-contained bedsits with a brief to make the building as energy efficient as possible. To help fulfil this part of the project brief, Knauf Insulation donated 24 rolls of Earthwool FrameTherm Roll 34, 240 slabs of Earthwool Universal Slab RS33 and 11 rolls of Earthwool Acoustic Roll 75mm.
Furthermore, Knauf Insulation delivered its products to a refurbishment project consisting of a number of flats in Bootle, Liverpool. The property owners, Bosco Society, a charitable organisation who provide supported accommodation to homeless men, turned to CRASH for assistance with the refurbishment. The main objective of the project was to provide warmth to the clients living in the flats and help dampen noise pollution, therefore CRASH knew exactly who to turn to. Knauf Insulation supplied a total of 19 rolls of its Earthwool Loft Roll 100mm and 32 rolls of Earthwool Loft Roll 170mm, providing exceptional thermal, acoustic and fire performance to the building.
In Norfolk CRASH assisted The Benjamin Foundation - a social enterprise that works to create homes, training and employment opportunities to vulnerable people. Working together they developed four self-contained accommodation units for homeless young people to have a safe and secure place to live. Knauf Insulation donated 24 rolls of 150mm Earthwool Loft Roll insulation, 48 rolls of 140mm Earthwool Rafter Roll 40 and 72 rolls of 110mm FrameTherm 32 for the project.
All of the mineral wool products donated by Knauf Insulation are enhanced with the revolutionary ECOSE® Technology – which delivers impressive environmental credentials without affecting the thermal, acoustic and fire performance of the products. Products manufactured with ECOSE Technology are bonded using a bio-based technology, which is up to 70 per cent less energy intensive, and is free from formaldehyde, phenols, acrylics, artificial colours, bleach and dyes.
In addition to Knauf Insulation’s product donations, employees at the Company have raised a large amount of money to help CRASH. Various charity events have taken place over the year such as the ‘Tour de Knauf Insulation’, where a budding team of cyclists peddled 365 miles during the Queens Jubilee weekend, raising over £8,000 - with more donations still coming in, as well as dress down days, raffles, quizzes and cake sales.
Emma Brophy of CRASH explains: “Knauf Insulation has had a huge impact on our projects, by donating the materials that we need to optimise the energy efficiency of the buildings as well as ensure outstanding thermal and acoustic performance in our buildings. In addition to this, staff have raised an impressive amount of money through various charity events. We can’t thank Knauf Insulation enough for their support, and we look forward to continuing the great relationship we have with them.”
Lydia Sharples Head of Communications at Knauf Insulation concludes: “We have been working with CRASH for a number of years, and are delighted to support them as it is such a great cause. We are looking forward to continue to work this them on many more projects in the future.”
