Technological improvements are helping manufacturers to create insulation and acoustic products that meet the strictest requirements.
The desire to improve energy efficiency and create user-friendly environments has arguably never been greater. From new-build residential projects to large-scale commercial developments, new technology is having a major influence on what products are specified.
PIR insulation from Recticel has been specified for a ground-breaking Passivhaus project for its cost effectiveness and performance characteristics.
Recticel's premium Eurothane GP insulation was specified for the floors of Lime Tree Lodge in Swaffham, Norfolk, by the town's Parsons + Whittley Architects and was installed by award-winning Norfolk contractors Grocott & Murfit on their first Passivhaus project.
The two-bedroomed bungalow is curved on plan to accommodate the dominant lime tree it is named after. The Recticel Eurothane GP insulation has been used throughout under an oak engineered timber floor or porcelain tiles and 22cm chipboard deck with vapour control layer.
The £250,000 home was constructed in eight months of traditional cavity wall on a mini-piled raft with mono-pitch zinc roof in the garden of a private client who was downsizing. Faced with both brick and timber it has an external U-value of 0.096 W/ m2K for the timber-faced walls and 0.098 W/ m2K for the brick-faced ones.
Eurothane GP is lightweight and easy to cut, handle and install. Available in a variety of thicknesses, 40m2 of two layers of 150mm were used at Lime Tree Lodge.
Architect Chris Parsons said the Eurothane GP was specified because it was "cost effective insulation". He added: "Passivhaus requires high levels of insulation and the avoidance of thermal bridging which the Recticel product helped to achieve."
A unique project for the rehearsal space of rock band Kaiser Chiefs has seen SIG Insulation's technical experts provide an acoustic solution for the refurbishment of the music studio in Leeds.
The SIG360 team, a specialist offering by SIG providing energy efficiency guidance on new and retrofit projects, was tasked with improving sound attenuation between the rooms of the Old Chapel, a music studio which is also used to hold a number of workshops for people with learning disabilities.
Results of the testing enabled SIG360 to specify the most suitable products for the new studio, including SuperPhon wall panels and Regupol acoustic underlays from acoustic experts CMS Danskin, as well as acoustic insulation and flooring products, all supplied by SIG Insulation.
The refurbishment was also supported with products provided by British Gypsum. The high ceilings and exposed brickwork of the building, which was formerly a church, meant specialist systems were required to improve its acoustic performance.
As well as isolating noise within the individual studios, one of the main criteria of the refurbishment was to maximise the sound quality for the musicians, while also controlling reverberation for the comfort of the occupants in the office above.
To improve the level of sound insulation within separate spaces, British Gypsum’s SoundBloc – which boasts a reinforced core and greater density when compared with standard plasterboard – was specified for the walls. For the ceilings, Eurocoustic ceiling tiles were chosen for their Class A sound absorption classification, the highest possible grading. This ensured reverberation was kept to a minimum.
Steve Thompson is MD of EOS Facades, specialists in the design, manufacture and supply of a wide range of steel sections for panelised or volumetric offsite solutions. He believes light steel framing is proving increasingly important in creating a variety of different living environments.
"The benefits of offsite manufacture and of light steel framing in particular come to the fore in urban residential projects that often involve a mixture of apartments and commercial buildings," he said. "As a rapid, reliable and predictable form of offsite construction, the advantages that are sought by the client and contractor are delivered in one structural solution.
"Light steel framing comprises galvanised cold rolled C-sections of 70 to 100mm depth in the wall panels, and 150 to 300mm deep C-sections or lattice joists in the floors. Spans of up to 6m can be achieved which can eliminate internal load-bearing walls and therefore leads to flexibility in internal space planning.
“Sections can be supplied in ‘loose’ bundles to make up in-situ or as walling, base or roof elements, and manufactured offsite as prefabricated cassettes.
The prefabricated elements can also be fitted with insulation, lining boards and decking boards or even assembled in to volumetric modular space frames if required.” Other technological advancements include the latest generation of high performance sealing solutions.
ISO-CHEMIE, one of Europe’s leading suppliers of foam sealant tapes, recently launched ISOBLOCO WIN2WALL multi-level sealing tape, which combines excellent performance with competitive cost and is designed for sealing the perimeter joint between windows, doors and walls in most UK buildings.
This tape can be used to seal gaps from 2 mm to 8 mm, accommodating the vast majority of UK window installations, and comes in two widths to provide extra thermal insulation equivalent to A Rated (40mm tape) or A+ and A++ windows (65 mm tape).
It joins other solutions, such as ISOBLOCO ONE and ISO-BLOCO 600 foam sealant tapes alongside ISO-BLOCO FILLER, which provides a fast and cost effective solution for sealing the cavity wall and weatherproofing the window in a check reveal situation. ISO-CHEMIE’s VARIO SD and XD humidity regulating foils will also feature.
