Wool to Warm Lowther Children's Centre
Thermafleece installation
Thermafleece PB20, the latest product in the Thermafleece range from Second Nature UK Ltd, has been used to insulate Lowther Children’s Centre, a groundbreaking development situated in Barnes, south west London.
The development, undertaken by principle contractor Lakehouse on behalf of the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames, has seen the aging Lowther Primary School building, which previously housed separate nursery and reception classes, extended and transformed into a state-of-the art foundation stage learning facility and community centre.
The facility now serves parents and children of the school and those living on nearby Castelnau Estate, a disadvantaged area of around 815 households.
As well as facilitating a broader range of learning and community facilities, the centre was also designed to be a champion of sustainability and to achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’. When it came to selecting an insulation product for the external timber frame wall structure and for internal partitions for acoustic separation, Thermafleece PB20 was an ideal choice.
Made from British sheep’s wool blended with recycled polyester, Thermafleece PB20 is a sustainable insulating product with a thermal conductivity rating of 0.039 W/mK, better than most equivalent conventional insulation. Its unique natural fibre composition means it will not slump with time, a problem which can reduce insulation benefits and long term energy saving performance.
Dan Cosgrove, Lakehouse’s project manager on the Lowther Children’s Centre development, said: “Maximising energy efficiency was an integral part of our brief but so was sustainability. It was therefore crucial that products used on the build were, wherever possible, able to maximise energy performance but that were also as sustainable as possible in their own right. Thermafleece PB20 certainly met these criteria.”
The new centre, designed by Patel Taylor, is composed of a mono-pitched fluid form element clad in white render with a sedum green roof, and an interlocking roof structure which stitched the new children’s centre to the existing school building.
As well as utilizing the thermal performance benefits of Thermafleece PB20 and the sedum green roof mentioned here, the centre also features a range of other ecological solutions including rain harvesting water collection technology, underfloor heating, natural ventilation using a labyrinth tempering system, a biomass boiler, solar hot water panels and energy efficient lighting and lighting systems.
For more information on Thermafleece PB20 or on any other products from Second Nature, please visit www.secondnatureuk.com or call 017684 86285.
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