A high performance joint sealant from Sika is providing critical weatherproofing whilst retaining the striking aesthetic of a new stone cladding façade at Southmead Hospital – Bristol’s new £430 million super hospital.
Currently being built by support services and construction company Carillion for the North Bristol NHS Trust, when complete in 2014 the new 800 bed facility will provide state-of-the-art facilities to a local population of around half a million residents.
As part of the building’s stylish aesthetic, Weston-super-Mare based The Marble Mosaic Company has supplied reconstructed stone cladding to 50% of the exterior face of the building. To ensure a virtually invisible seal was achieved to the 20mm joints between each precast concrete panel, specialist sealant applicator MHD Group applied some 7,500 linear metres of the Sika joint sealant.
Limited access due to the number of trades on site led MHD to utilise abseil access for the majority of the sealant application. The one component, ready to use system provided exceptional ease of use – making it ideal for the roped access solution.
Available in a range of colours, the joint sealant was supplied in Light Ivory to blend seamlessly with the sand coloured cladding panels to the ward block ensuring the seal was not only watertight, but virtually invisible.
With high workability, this ensured the application process was smooth. Its low modulus and yet durable finish, comes from the use of polyurethane technology and provides a movement capability of 25% in accordance with the highest level of sealant standards, ISO 11600. It has been further tested to + / - 70% in accordance with BS EN 9047 – the standard for determination of adhesion / cohesion properties of sealants at variable temperatures.
Although representing just 1% of a typical build cost, sealants are crucial to structural integrity and their specification and application is a crucial stage in the build process. Sika sealants provide specifiers with the reassurance of longevity and cost effectiveness – outperforming other inferior grades of sealants, which are prone to failure and result in costly building maintenance.
