A
stunning new retirement village which is due to open in the summer of 2019 has
benefitted from a series of rooflight solutions from leading manufacturer
Xtralite.
Wixams
Retirement Village near Bedford, is owned and
operated by Extracare the same company who’s Lark Hill Retirement Village was
featured in the 2018 Channel 4 series of ‘Old People’s Homes for 4 year old’.
The purpose built village will provide 230, one and two bedroom apartments for
the over 55’s in its six acre green field setting.
“This is
an exciting project that we were delighted to work on as it provides
alternative lifestyles for those approaching or nearing retirement age whilst
encouraging community and social engagement,” said Jim Lowther sales director
Xtralite.
“Great
thought has gone into the design of the building and the inclusion of extensive
rooflights ensures areas of the building are flooded with natural light which
has been proven to improve wellbeing, especially during the darker months.”
Three
sections of the construction project benefitted from Xtralite roofing solutions
and its X-Span range of product. One area being the Winter Garden residential
area which is a single glazed atrium over a five storey building and includes
louvered ventilation.
The
Village Centre roof itself benefitted from argon filled double glazed panels
and was thermally enhanced to elevate the comfort of users in the central
atrium of the village, the location of health spa, bar, gym and other communal
facilities. Its design is visually striking creating a focal point merging
visual aesthetics and practicality. This area also had smoke vents fitted to
meet smoke ventilation building regulations.
Both were
sizeable installations measuring over 40m in length and up to 12m in width
highlighting how X-Span is entirely versatile and can encompass varieties of
style, design and ventilation to fulfil both aesthetic, safety and ventilation
demands and legal requirements.
Finally,
the self-supporting trapezium styled entrance canopy had single glazed panels
from the X-Span range creating a striking visual effect upon arrival at the
village.
Mark
Jarman Senior Project Manager at Galliford Try commented; “Xtralite has a good
reputation in the industry for quality products and reliability and this was
important to us when choosing our structural glazing specialist . Pleasingly,
the process concerning Xtralite was seamless and we are very pleased with the
finished elements of the project.”
X-Span
remains a popular choice of glazing system. Capable of utilising glass, or
lightweight lumira and polycarbonate. In the case of Wixams, glass was used for
its clarity and far superior sound attenuation.
“X-Span
is a great looking and very practical choice for atria, canopies and entrance
ways and was ideally suited to the situations in this particular project,” said
Jim. “In addition to practicality and the visual aspect it also complies with
BS6399 system Part 1 (Code of Practice for dead and imposed loads), Part 2
(Code of Practice for wind loads) and Part 3 (Code of Practice for imposed/snow
loads) delivering a premium solution of aesthetics and practicality.”
