Case Study:
Newport Leisure Centre
Overview
When any renovation or overhaul of a public building is on the cards, the need to beef up the thermal performance of the building forms a major part of the overall contract.
Newport Leisure Centre near Telford was no exception to this rule and the local council awarded £1 Million of funding as part of a Carbon Reduction Scheme. When originally constructed in the 1990’s, insulation and energy efficiency wasn’t a high priority. Fast forward three decades and not only does energy cost management form a major part of any business strategy, the environmental impact and aim to reduce carbon emissions is equally as important. The architects for the project had specified a 0.14 W/m2K U-Value, yet, it was difficult to install additional insulation to the pre-insulated roof panels without major consideration for structural loading and a possible complete re-roof. This is where spray foam insulation came to the rescue.
Installers
Vectis Insulation Solutions
Location
Telford
Project Type
Swimming Pool
Product Used
Nexseal LE Closed Cell & ThermoShield VCL Coating
Install Date
April 2022
Install Size
750m2
Install Duration
7 Days
The Project
Brief
A low U-Value target of 0.14 W/m2K would help to future-proof the swimming pool and leisure centre against the potential for future energy price rises whilst vastly reducing the carbon emissions from the building. With the refurbishment project completed just before the 2022/2023 energy crisis, the thermal specification would in some parts help to mitigate the risks of rising costs. Working as part of a major overhaul of the building, the insulation works were a time critical part of the project that needed to work in conjunction with other energy upgrades, including a new heat pump. With the plan to implement a new ceiling below the insulation, our brief was to specify and provide a system that would meet fire, thermal and moisture management regulations.
Specification
The existing roof sheet was formed of a pre-insulated panel with 100mm of rigid PIR sandwiched between the metal outer and inner skin. This system achieved a 0.22 W/m2K U-Value which meant an additional 90mm of our Nexseal Closed Cell Spray Foam was required to meet the new thermal target. Although there are two variants of spray foam, open-cell and closed-cell, we opted for closed-cell as the best solution for preventing moisture from entering the insulation due to its high-density and rigidity. In addition to the insulation, we provisioned a liquid, spray-applied vapour barrier coating, ThermoShield, to ensure that the humid air from the swimming pool would not penetrate and damage the insulation and roof substrate. The combined system was approved by the appointed architect and we were delighted to commence works in April 2022.
Results
The 750m2 roof substrate was ready for us to install in Spring 2022 and we ensured that we mobilised at a time critical stage to deliver the completed insulation and vapour control layer coating within a 7 day window. Working long days, evenings and weekends, our teams delivered a neat and tidy layer of 90mm Nexseal Closed Cell foam that bonded to the metal roof surface to strengthen the entire substrate. Once fully cured, our paint coatings operative followed along behind with the ThermoShield product, installing the 750m2 surface area in just one day. The end results left the building future-proofed against rising energy costs and meant that the target of eliminating carbon emissions by 2030 was well on the way to being achieved.