22 May 2009 09:16am

Eurobond Fly in Formation with RAF Northolt

environmental performance, fire performance

RAF Northolt has enlisted our help to overhaul its facilities near Heathrow airport. The site serves as a port for corporate and private jets and accommodation for the ‘Queen’s Flight’ squadron, whose main duty aside from military operations is to transport royalty and other dignitaries. RAF Northolt utilised Europanel Extra^TM, with its fire safety credentials and excellent spanning capabilities, for the development of maintenance units, offices and storage houses.

RAF Northolt is part of an ongoing project named ‘Project MoDEL’, undertaken by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), involving the sale and development of MoD properties around London. The majority of facilities will move to RAF Northolt, with the new consolidated site featuring offices, squadron accommodation, catering facilities and recreational areas. Contractors Northwest Holst Ltd were heavily involved in the project, choosing Europanel Extra^TM thanks to its reputation for fire safety and unrivalled acoustic performance.

Housing large quantities of goods, such as food and valuable military equipment, the use of a product within the maintenance and storage units with the ability to provide an exceptional level of fire protection and minimise the risk of smoke damage was imperative. RAF Northolt’s offices also house the finance, engineering and administrative departments - vital additions to the entire site operations. Europanel Extra^TM provided the contractors with the ability to create durable, fire-resistant structures quickly, creating a weather tight building envelop that allowed for the early commencement of internal works.

Europanel Extra^TM enabled sub-contractor Gale Construction to meet the stringent fire performance demanded by Crown Standards (previously known as the MoD Fire Standards), a collection of more than 40 individual fire standards relating to construction, and the MoD’s strict DREAM (Defence Related Environmental Assessment Method) criteria. Europanel Extra^TM was able to achieve both thanks to its high density Rockwool core which in turn enabled the building to establish excellent acoustic and thermal performance properties.

David Poynz at sub-contractors Gale Construction has worked with our products in the past and was confident its specification for this project would meet their needs. He said: “When working with the Ministry of Defence, it is a must that any construction achieves a high standard of safety in all aspects of the project, and therefore the correct specification of products is essential.

“RAF Northolt is an important part of the MoD’s activities, with its use set to increase when work is completed at the end of 2009. The use of a product which is consistent, strong, and dependable such as Europanel Extra^TM meant we were able to satisfy all of these requirements with ease.”

Europanel Extra^TM is renowned for its fire safety and environmental credentials, creating an incomparable architectural panel system.Designed to enhance a building’s features with secret joint fixing and window integration, it also offers total fire resistance of up to four hours from both internal and external sources of flame. Fully recyclable all steel and stone wool used within the construction of Eurobond panel system can be fully recycled enabling a ‘Cradle to Cradle’ approach to manufacture helping to minimise the impact on the environment.