Energy efficient to the core
As part of the Inside Offsite factory tour programme, timber building specialists Kingspan invited delegates from across the built environment to its North Yorkshire manufacturing facility to showcase its innovative Kingspan TEK® Building System and Passivhaus.
With a focus on the offsite and construction arm of the business, Kingspan hosted a two-day, factory tour explaining to delegates from across the construction industry the background to the TEK® panel and the production process and how SIPS fits into low carbon, energy efficient, sustainable construction. The TEK® panels have been produced at the Selby site since 2011, where the facility is also home to the largest refurbishment rooftop solar PV array in the UK, further boosting the low carbon aspects of the panel production.
SIP technology has long been the quiet success story of timber construction, coupling an easily managed building method with high levels of thermal efficiency. The TEK® composite panels produced at Selby are 142mm or 172mm thick, with a high-performance fibre-free rigid urethane insulation core. This is all sandwiched between two layers of Oriented Strand Board Type 3. Highly energy efficient and with superb U-values, the panels can be used for walls, roofs and intermediate floors using I-beams or open web joists and are suitable for buildings up to four storeys. The 142mm thick panels can achieve whole wall and roof U–values of 0.20 W/m2.K or better with no additional insulation, with the 172mm thick panels able to achieve whole wall and roof U–values of 0.17 W/m2.K or better with no additional insulation.
TEK® panels are suitable for use with most façade systems and can also be used with traditional masonry rainscreens and can be used as a ‘In board’ – as an infill panel in the apertures of the structural frame or as a ‘Out board’ – sheathing the structural frame. The panels are lightweight compared with masonry construction, at a maximum of 24 kg/m2 (excluding any additional timber), making them ideal for situations where ‘heavy’ construction is not possible. An essential part of all building’s thermal efficiency is the levels of airtightness and the TEK® panels can achieve air leakage rates as good as 0.08 air changes per hour at normal pressures (approximately 1 m3/hour/m2 at 50 Pa).
SIP panels provide a range of overall project and productivity benefits. Defects are vastly reduced due to the factory controlled manufacturing process and precise engineering. This method also creates minimal waste. Furthermore, all the components for a typical Kingspan TEK® Building System kit are supplied in one delivery from one single source, meaning fewer deliveries and less transport and logistical issues.
Environmental issues are increasingly at the forefront of construction considerations, with project design and delivery expected to minimise climate impact. The TEK® wall and roof elements in a 142mm panel thickness, correspond to generic elements with 2008 BRE Global Green Guide Summary Ratings of A+ or A. Plus the insulation core is manufactured with a blowing agent that has zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) and low global warming potential (GWP).
The TEK® panels produced at Kingspan’s Selby facility are certified to BES 6001 (Framework Standard for the Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products) `Very Good’. Plus the timber used for the panels are responsibly sourced and certified with FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certification. As standard, the OSB facing of the TEK® panels is PEFC-certified. This Chain of Custody certification verifies that the timber used is from a legal and sustainable forest.
The session finished with an in-depth presentation on the use of the Kingspan TEK® Building System at the Rayne Park development in Norfolk. Euan Jenkins, Associate at architects Hamson Barron Smith, alongside the team from Carter Homes, spoke about the first Phase of the scheme being delivered for the Norwich Regeneration Company, where 153 mixed tenure homes are being built with 95 built to the Passivhaus standard.
Over 120 delegates attended three sessions over two days and were given a tour of the Selby facility to understand better the way SIP panels and the Kingspan TEK® Building System is created – from input of raw material to the precision manufacture of the panels, to the final product sent to the customer being of the highest quality. “The event proved to be a resounding success,” said Mark Jenkins, Product Manager, Kingspan TEK. “The event demonstrated how the Kingspan TEK® Building System can help to quickly and efficiently deliver quality structures, with high levels of thermal performance and excellent U-values, using an offsite method of construction. The system also ensures minimal thermal bridging, and robust levels of airtightness, which traditional methods of construction would find harder to meet competitively.
“A particular benefit is that the system has a suite of pre-calculated Psi values, based on standard details downloadable on the Kingspan website, to assist with the growing emphasis on calculating the heat loss around apertures and non-repeat junctions. Feedback from delegates is that they will seriously consider using the Kingspan TEK® Building System as a method of construction going forward, especially in light of the forthcoming changes to Building Regulations and SAP 10.”
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