SIPS Case Study | Laches Wood Outdoor Education Centre

7/22/2019 SIPS Case Study | Laches Wood Outdoor Education Centre

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Design Guide for the new dormitory and activity centre at Laches Wood Outdoor Education Centre


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Design Guide for the new dormitory and acvity centre at Laches Wood Outdoor Educaon Centre


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KEY

New activity centre

New dormitory

Laches Wood Outdoor Educaon Centre

Site Plan


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horizontal cedar planks(vertical on the activity centre)

treated timberbatten

breather membrane

Kingspan TEK panel

Construcon build-up of walls in the new dormitory and acvity centre


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The new dormitory and acvity centre at Laches

Wood Outdoor Educaon Centre have been

constructed using new methods of construcon.

Instead of brick and block or mber frame thebuilding have been constructed in a structurally

insulated panels system known as SIPS for short.

The panels have 112mm thick r igid foam insulaon

sandwiched between two sheets of 15mm thick

oriented strand board (OSB).

Excellent thermal performance

The SIPS provides a super-insulated connuous

shell around the building. Less heat escapes

than through convenonal building walls and

roofs and less cold comes through from outside.This means it requires less heat to be generated

to keep the spaces warm, making it cheaper and

releases less CO2 into the atmosphere.

Long-life

The Kingspan TEK system has been cered to

last over 60 years.

Airghtness

The SIPS shell is ghtly xed together, so thereare few dras and less heang required.

Reuse and Recycle opons

There are examples of Kingspan TEK buildings

being taken down and put up in a new locaon

to be reused for a new purpose. The panels are

made from OSB and polyurethane insulaon

and both can be recycled.

Low wastage

The SIPS panels are cut to size before they reach

the construcon site so there is very lile on

site wastage. It is easier to reduce waste in the

factory because there is only one acvity taking

place. An example is that o cut panels from

one wall are used in the next wall.

New cung edge buildings at

Laches Wood OEC

Why did we use SIPS?

Speed and ease of construcon

In order to get funding for the buildings, and to

reduce the disrupon to the guests at the rest

of the Outdoor Educaon Centre, the buildings

had to be constructed in just 6 months. BecauseSIPS was used it took just 3.5 weeks to build

the water-ght shell of the dormitory, and just

2 weeks to build the water-ght shell of the

acvity centre.

The SIPS panels combine lots of characteriscs

of other materials in one product making it

faster to construct than tradional buildings and

other building systems.

Wet trades such as brick laying and plastering

take a longme, need a lot of labour and create

a lot of mess. Using SIPS means there are only

very small areas that require wet trades.

Outstanding strength to weight raos

SIPS are stronger than an equivalent mber

frame construcon and far lighter than brick

and block or steel frame construcon. Because

SIPS are light less concrete and steel are needed

for the buildings foundaons.

Simplicity

The SIPS panels carry the load so it means the

roof structure is very simple which allows lots of

large volume spaces with no ceilings

For this project we chose to use Kingspan TEK SIPS

panels which were engineered and erected by

SIPS@Clays.

There are dierent manufacturers of SIPS panels

who will use dierent types of insulaon in the core

and source dierent types of mber from dierent

regions of the world from Kingspan TEK.

paneljoint piece


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Alnus Glutinosa(Common Alder)

Alnus Glutinosa(Common Alder)

Betula pendula(Silver birch)

Picea abies(Norway Spruce)

Pinus sylvestris(Scots pine)

Where the walls of the dormitory and acvity centre

have not been clad in plasterboard the exposed

faces of the SIPS panels can be seen. You can see

the outer face which is made from oriented stand

board (OSB). Logs from dierent types of trees areshredded into strands which are layered in dierent

direcons or orientaons, then compressed and

bonded together using wax and glue.

The dierent direcons of the strands work together

to give the panels enough strength to carry the

weight of the building with the help of a few extra

mber supports.

Dierent manufacturers of OSB use dierent tree

species. The dormitory and acvity centre have

been constructed in Kingspan TEK panels which use

mbers from the trees on the right of this page.

So when you look at the exposed walls you are

seeing 6 dierent types of mber.

What am I looking at?


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Where does mber come from to make the OSB

used in Kingspan TEK system?

Where has it been sourced from?

The EGGER plant in Wismar covers its log

requirements from the forests of Northern

Germany, predominantly from Mecklenburg-

Western Pomerania, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg,

Lower Saxony and Brandenburg and partly with full

vessel load from United Kingdom.

EGGER plant in Wismar

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Delivery of logs to Kingspan is made per vessel

directly from the port of Wismar (Germany)

to Seaham (UK)

Logs are then transported from Seaham to the

Kingspan Selby plant by truck.

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From tree to factory


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Source of mber for OSB

Timber is a natural material and requires much

less energy to process into a building material than

steel, brick or concrete. However, mber is only

a sustainable building material if it comes from

responsibly managed forests that replant harvested

mber. And if the mber is not transported over

vast distances.

The mber harvested for Kingspan TEK panels

comes from forests that use a process called

thinning. This is where trees within the forest are

removed to make way for new trees and improve

the growth and health of trees le in place.

All logs used at EGGER Wismar come from

managed forests according to European Timber

regulaon (EUTR 2013)

EGGER Wismar is cered acc. to FSC/FSC

Controlled Wood and PEFC CoC-scheme

OSB panels consist of mainly sowood (pine),

and small amounts hardwood.

Log diameter 8 - 45 cm, coming from thinning;

thicker logs have to be separated to avoid

breaking logs in the debarker.

length: 3.0 m 10cm.

Sorted into quality A for surface line DS (fr es h

wood, no fungi aack, no blue stains), quality B

for core line MS (containing hard wood).

The more buildings that are built fromtimber, the higher the demand for timber,which leads to more trees being plantedto meet this demand. Trees absorb carbon

dioxide (CO2)from the atmosphere andrelease oxygen, reducing air pollution andac id rain.

As long as the trees are planted in anecologically responsible way and theforests are sustainably managed this resultsin a huge environmental benet.


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Transport of logs to Kingspans processing plant

By road

By rail

By ship

72%

12%

16%


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The middle of the Kingspan TEK panels are lled

with polyurethane rigid foam insulaon.

The foam is CFC and HCFC free (chemicals which

contribute to global warming) and has an ozonedepleon of zero (referred to as zero ODP) with low

global warming potenal.

This insulaon is extremely good at stopping heat

pass through it. This means that when a radiator

heats up a room the heat does not escape outside.

So less heat is required to heat the room in the

rst place and less heat is required to keep the

temperature of the room at a comfortable level.

What is in the middle of the TEK

panel?

Where are the materials for the Zero ODP insulaon

sourced from?

Bayer Leverkusen in Germany

It is then transported to Kingspans Selby plant to

create the SIPS panels.

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= = = ==

112mm

Kin

gspanRigidFoam

Ins

ulation

140mm 170mm 174mm 174mm 250mm

Mineralfbre

Ins

ulation

(e.g.

Rockwool)

Sheepwool

Ins

ulation

(e.g.

Thermaeece)

He

mp(plantmatter)

(e.g.

ThermaeeceHemp)

Recycledplastic

(PE

T)

(e.

g.

SupaloftGreen)

Strawbale

The heang system at the centre is generated by

oil red boilers. Less heat is required, so less oil

is burnt which means less money is spent and less

fossil fuels are used up.

In comparison to other thermal insulaon

materials the thickness of foam required is far less

than other types of insulaon to achieve the same

results. The diagram below shows 6 dierent

types of insulaon including Kingspans rigid foam.

It shows the thickness of each insulaon material

required to get the same low level of heat transfer.

Obviously thickness isnt the only reason to c hoose wha t insulation to use. Therigid foam bonded to the OSB gives the pane ls strength. When the wholebuilding is made from SIPS panels it has strength and is very airtight which stopsdrafts and heat loss.

There are lots of factors to take in to consideration when choosing whatinsulation to use. Is the product natural? How much energy is used to createthe product? Does the product damage the environment during construction,use or at the end of its life? What method of construction is being used? Howlong does the product last for? How much does the product cost?


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Aer manufacture the whole SIPs panels for this

project were transported from Kingspans Selby

plant by road to SIPS@Clays in Skipton to

be cut into the designs for the new dormitory and

acvity centre buildings, before being transported

to Latches Wood Outdoor Educaon Centre in

south Staordshire.

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Picture of the dormatory SIPS shell

before roof panels were tted

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Wales

Norfolk


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Dormitory Acvity Centre

x8 x4

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Birmingham Citys St Andrews footba ll ground

Standard sized tennis court


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A VW Polo weighs approximately 1 Tonne

The timber in the OSB used in the dormitoryand activity centre combined may havecaptured up to 20 tonnes of carbon - the

same weight as 20 small cars.

The cedar cladding used in the dormitoryand activity centre combined may havecaptured up to 12 tonnes of carbon - thesame weight as 12 small cars.



constructed using Kingspan TEK a structurally

insulated panel system.

Approximately 2110m of TEK panels were used on

the dormitory. This is approximately the area of 8

tennis courts or 1/3 of the size of Birmingham Citys

football pitch at St Andrews.

Approximately 1000m of TEK panels were used on

the activity centre. This is just less than the area

of 4 tennis courts or 1/7 of the size of Birmingham

Citys football pitch at St Andrews.

As trees grow they absorb carbon dioxide from the

atmosphere and store it, this is a type of biological

sequestraon (the dark green box on this page

provides a denion).

Once a tree is felled it stops absorbing carbon, but

the carbon it has already absorbed stays captured

unl the mber decays or is burnt at which point

the carbon is released.

This means that when trees are felled new trees

are planted to replace them. Managed forests have

trees at lots of dierent stages of growth - it is not

a case of felling all of the trees in the forest then

replacing them all - they are felled in a rotaon

cycle that maximises growth rates, which in turn

maximises carbon capture.

Quanes of materials Carbon storage

It also means that when the building reaches the

end of its life the mber is not burnt or le to

decay.

If the mber is in good condion it should bereused. Kingspan TEK have an example of a whole

building that was moved to a new locaon and

used for a new purpose. The mber could be used

as a bio-fuel as long as the process incorporates

carbon capture.

The European Commission estimatesthat on average, substituting onecubic metre of wood for other buildingmaterials results in 0.8 tonnes of C O2savings.European Commission Enterprise DG , Issue 11,2013

The term carbon sequestrationdescribes long-term storage of carbondioxide or other forms of carbon toeither mitigate or defer global warmingand avoid dangerous climate change.


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A cedar tree


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Wood Outdoor Educaon Centre have been clad in

cedar, a mber largely grow in North America.

Western Red Cedar is naturally resistant to decayand insect attack. It simply seasons if left uncoated

to an attractive silver grey appearance over a period

of approximately eighteen months in areas with

low air pollution. Cedar offers superior acoustic

qualities too, helping to reduce noise or confine

it to specific areas. It is also an excellent material

for thermal insulation in summer keeping the

building cool and in winter preventing the heat from

escaping. Its low density and high proportion of air

spaces, makes Cedar the best thermal insulator ofall the commonly available softwood species. It is

far superior to brick, concrete and steel, in terms

of thermal conductivity and embodied energy

(the energy consumed in the production and

transportation of the material).

Cedar is lightweight and ideal for fast-track building

schemes, it is also more resistant to warping,

twisting and shrinking than any other softwood.

The cladding used on the dormitory and activity

centre has been sourced from sustainably managed

forests (FSC certified) by International Timber.

As with the timber in the OSB, cedar also stores

caborn and must be dealt with in a responsible way

at the end of its usable life.

Cladding


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Dormitory

Elevaons


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Dormitory

Layout


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Acvity Centre

Elevaons


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Acvity Centre

Caving Zone


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constructed using Kingspan TEK a structurally

designed with the following energy saving features

to reduce the amount of energy the buildingsconsume:

Movement sensors instead of light switches in

corridor spaces.

Sensor to detect when no-one is using a room

and switches lights off in all rooms except plant

rooms and stores.

Daylight sensors in rooms with windows, so if

lights are switched on while there is natural light

coming through the windows the lights do not

switch on fully, instead they provide just enough

light for the combined effect to fully light the

room.

One switch to switch all lights off in the building,

so when the last person leave the building no

lights are left on wasting energy.

Highly efficient energy saving lights.

Thermostatic valves on radiators in each room

to allow people to turn the heat up or down.

Radiators can also be turned off when no-one is

using a room. Heat recovery from the extract air in wash

room areas, so that the heat generated through

showers is transferred in to the air and re-

captured before the waste air leaves the

building.

Lots of individual meters to monitor energy use

from heating, lighting and power.

Why is there steel tubing all over the new buildings?

The steel tubing contains electrical wiring for the

lighting, power and data in the buildings.

In most buildings the wiring is hidden inside

walls and above ceilings. It is easy to forget how

everything is connected. When you turn on a switch

a connection is made to the buildings electrical

circuit and electrical current moves through the

wires to the light, TV, plug socket, etc.

The building is connected to the mains electricity

(National Grid) , this electricity is generated mainly

by coal fired power stations, some gas fired power

stations, a few nuclear power stations and a very

small amount from renewable sources such as windpower, solar power and hydroelectric power.

So every time you turn on a switch in these buildings

look at the route the wires are taking, remember

that it needs energy to be generated to provide the

electricity and consider the amount of energy you

are using.

Energy

Conduits

Water saving showers, taps and wc cisterns.

The heating in the existing dormitory block

was changed from electric to a wet system

(radiators fed with hot water) to save energy

and make the system easier to control andmeter.

Low carbon technologies and renewable energy

systems were carefully considered but were not

found to be effective.

The buildings have also been designed so that less

energy is required:

There are lots of windows to let in light reducing

the need to switch lights on during the day.

The buildings are naturally ventilated, except

kitchen, toilet and wash room areas, so power

isnt wasted on mechanical ventilation or air

conditioning.

There is lots of thermal insulation in the walls,

roof and floor to stop heat escaping.

The building airtight to reduce heat loss by

drafts.


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Ecology

Laches Wood is a very special site. Before carrying

out construcon work we had to carry out Ecology

surveys to nd out what species of plants and

animals lived on the site so we could design and

plan the work so that it did not damage them.Because no work was taking place in the wood

itself the surveys were only carried out on the elds

and around the building. The following protected

species were found:

Bats

Bats were found roosng in the old acvity building.

A new bat box was built on the roof of the classroom

for the bats to move to before the old building was

demolished and the new acvity building was built

in its place. A second bat box was built on the side

of the new acvity building. Ask sta at the Centre

to point them out.

Great Crested Newts

Great crested newts were in the pond outside theclassroom. They also live in long grass so watch out

for them when you are exploring the site. If you

think you see a great crested newt dont pick it up,

tell a member of sta and they will tell you what to

do.

Badgers

A badger set was found in the small quarry in thenorth west corner of the eld where archery takes

place. Badgers are usually nocturnal so you are

unlikely to see one during the day. They are also

dicult to spot a night, so if you manage to see one

you will be very lucky.


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Construcon Photographs

dormitory

activity centre

activity centre

activity centre

activity centre

activity centre


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SIPS Case Study | Laches Wood Outdoor Education Centre

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