Kingspan's QuadCore Evolution Recess Wall Panel delivers a clean, insulated panelised facade for Oxford Technology Park, which will consist of 12 new buildings upon completion.
The panel’s secret-fix application makes it an aesthetically appealing façade whilst its QuadCore insulated core delivers excellent thermal performance.
The first completed building (Building One) is 3 storey, 34,125 ft2 Grade A office building, with the potential for labs to be installed. With the building prominently located at the entrance to the park, it was important that its appearance captured the cutting-edge ethos of the park. To achieve this, architects Garrett McKee specified the QuadCore Evolution Recess panel. The clean, smooth finish – achieved through its hidden joint detail – exudes a sleek modernity.
With the building designed to achieve an Energy Performance Certificate of B and a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating, it was also essential that the building envelope be highly insulated and meet key sustainability characteristics. QuadCore Evolution panels met all these requirements offering high levels of thermal performance as well as being certified “Very Good” under the BES 6001 Responsible Sourcing standard.
The QuadCore Evolution Recess was specified in the colours silver, basalt, and dusty grey, selected to give a contemporary and modern feel to Building One. The grey tones also match the surrounding architecture, such as the Premier Inn which sits on the other side of the park’s entrance. The silver, basalt and dusty grey panels are arranged to alternate in columns up the building’s front and side elevations. As well as the initial striking façade colour, the panels come with up to 40 years of external coating warranty, enhancing the appeal of selecting products which will be aesthetically pleasing for a long time.
The easy-to-install and lightweight nature of the Evolution Recess panels helped the project keep to the construction schedule. For the solution to be installed effectively, the team ensured the steelwork on the building was within tolerance for the panels. Then the drip flashing was lined, levelled, and fixed to the steelwork using fasteners. Panels bearers also needed to be fitted along the drip flashing to restrain the edge of the bottom row of The VJ1 gasket at vertical joint locations provides an air-seal, allowing the 20mm gap to be maintained to accept the external vertical joint gasket.
The first panel is then installed horizontally, engaged onto the panel’s bearers and fixed back to the supporting steelwork. Each subsequent panel was then applied once the fasteners through the panel ends were installed.
The Evolution Recess panel enabled a rapid installation process due to the long lengths laid across the building façade, especially at the left side of the front. This meant the process of applying fastenings and gaskets at every joint was less time consuming than with shorter, slimmer panels.
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