Creating a community with Kingspan TEK

Kingspan TEK Cladding Panels have provided an offsite wall solution for a unique school and leisure campus in Littleport, helping the project to achieve excellent thermal performance within a tight construction deadline.

The £37.5 million development, designed by SNC-Lavalin’s Atkins business, co-locates a pre-school, Littleport and East Cambridgeshire Academy (LECA), Highfield Littleport Academy Special Education Needs (SEN) school and a public leisure centre. It has helped to create an inclusive community where children of all ages and abilities can develop together. To ensure the ambitious plan would be delivered in time for the new school year without compromising on the facilities’ energy performance, 142 mm-thick Kingspan TEK Cladding Panels were specified for many of the external walls.

Kingspan TEK Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) were designed and factory cut to the project’s unique specifications by Kingspan Timber Solutions. This offsite production process minimised site waste and enabled the panels to be quickly installed onto the steel frame, ready for main contractors, Morgan Sindall Construction, to apply the final external finishes.

The highly-insulated core of the Kingspan TEK Cladding Panels allowed the project to meet its thermal performance targets. Meanwhile, the OSB/3 facing and unique jointing system minimised air-leakage through the building envelope, helping the scheme achieve a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating. In addition to supporting a fabric first approach and limiting the heating demand, the product’s excellent thermal performance also helped to keep wall constructions to a minimum depth, maximising the useable space within.

This was Morgan Sindall Construction’s first project implementing BIM design methods up to level 2 compliance. Utilising BIM can help with project planning, clash detection, wastage reduction, and costings. Both the 142 mm and 172 mm Kingspan TEK Cladding panels are available as BIM objects in Revit and IFC formats.

www.kingspaninsulation.co.uk/BIM