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Work is well underway on the
construction of a new visitors’ centre at the world-famous
Giant’s Causeway – and 2,200m2 of 200mm thick STYROFOAM
material ROOFMATE SL-A is playing a crucial role. |
picture courtesy of heneghan.peng.architects |
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The material – manufactured by
Dow Building Solutions and supplied by Tennants Building
Products in Northern Ireland – has been installed on the
flat roof of the heneghan.peng.architects-designed building,
not only to provide insulation but to support a wildflower
meadow being planted as a vast, green roof. |
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It was the first time 200mm
thick ROOFMATE SL-A has been installed on a job site in
Ireland. The enhanced ‘A-foam’ insulation – recently
introduced to the Irish market - is blown with CO2, giving
it a Global Warning Potential (GWP) of less than five.
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The Giant’s Causeway Visitors’
Centre has been designed to merge into the landscape.
Locally-quarried black basalt will clad exterior walls to
echo the beauty of the Causeway and the green roof will help
ensure it’s the landscape itself that will catch the eye. |
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ROOFMATE SL-A is ideally suited
to such green roof developments. Along with excellent
insulating properties, low water absorption and ease of
installation, it offers good compressive strength, rot
resistance and long term durability, and is unaffected by
wide fluctuations in temperature and repeated freeze/thaw
cycles. |
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The insulation protects
waterproof coverings from penetration of roots, UV damage
and mechanical damage during construction, use and
maintenance and also offers support for the weight of soil
necessary for the planted layer. |
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“This job is very much in the
public eye and it was important that we could offer
insulation that would not only meet energy efficiency and
environmental targets but also perform effectively in tough,
external conditions,” said Paul Mullan of Tennants, which
supplied roofing contractor Grainger Building Services with
the STYROFOAM-A material. |
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“With an EU Directive that all
public sector buildings should be ‘nearly zero’ energy by
the end of 2018, we believe offering a range of CO2-blown
insulation in different thicknesses will help architects
meet such increasingly stringent thermal efficiency targets
without compromising on the creativity of their designs.” |
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Work began on the Giant’s
Causeway Visitors’ Centre in November 2010. The building is
due to open this summer, twelve years after the original
building burned down. Funded by the National Trust, along
with assistance from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and
Heritage Lottery Fund, the £18.5 million development was
given planning approval in January 2009. The main contractor
is Gilbert-Ash and it was designed by
heneghan.peng.architects. |
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For more information on Dow
Building Solutions see
www.roofinfo.co.uk/dow |
