24 June 2009 08:05am

Leicesters New Sustainable College

college, passive fire protection, recycle, stone wool composite panel, sustainable

Leicester College has achieved a sustainable building solution with our help in its recently completed £25 million Abbey Park campus. The new 10,500sq Abbey Park campus has utilised a variety of green construction elements to maximise the sustainability of the building and help reduce its impact on the environment.

Leicester College’s £44 million accommodation project represent a significant investment for the universities 26,000 students and is set to become an integral part of the growing educational community. Employing build methods normally associated with small scale construction projects, contractors Mansell have successfully established a large scale sustainable building that provides the Leicester College with the optimum position in environmentally responsible construction.

Utilising our stone wool composite panel systems, passive solar building design methods such as calculated placement of thermal mass were applied throughout the building to reduce the need for artificial heating or cooling, instead using the cycle of the sun to regulate the building temperature. Our Rockspan Lite composite panel at 75mm and 150mm thick, were specified for the construction of the external building envelope, with panels positioned strategically to assist in the regulation of internal heat into areas of the building exposed to less sunlight than others.

Expanding the environmental ethos further, our panel systems have been engineered using locally sourced, sustainable materials that emit zero ozone depleting and zero global warming potential. The simple combination of steel and stone wool, not only allowed contractors to quickly erect a strong weather tight building with minimal secondary steelwork, but its simple construction allows the main elements of panel to be recycled into undiminished materials at the end of their useful life and entered back into the manufacturing process.

Chris Moxham, of contractors Mansell, said: “Rockspan Lite was our first choice for this project. We required a product that combined the highest level of fire performance with excellent structural ability, Eurobond’s external panel systems can span in excess of 6 metres and their environmentally responsible manufacture helped to contribute to the sustainable theme running throughout this project.”

The specification of Rockspan Lite in such a forward-thinking project demonstrates the products standing in the field of sustainability and education. Its stone core provides excellent thermal insulation to prevent heat loss in a building, and its inclusion in this project further enhances its reputation for outstanding environmental and fire performance credentials, providing built in passive fire protection essential in the construction of highly populated public building.