Late completion is a highly visible risk factor in any construction project. It certainly concentrates the minds of both customers and developers. But once the project is delivered (on time or otherwise), building performance and quality come to the fore. Does the focus on programme timing affect quality and performance? Experience suggests that it might.
But it doesn’t have to be a tradeoff between timing and performance if you select a wrap/infill approach that delivers greater assurance in both areas. The key difference is in adopting a solution that is designed for rapid installation, rather than forcing a more ponderous solution to move quicker, which it can only do by employing more people or being expedient with the process.
The Innovaré System is designed for rapid installation, whether for wrap or infill. The large format panels are delivered when needed and rapidly fitted into or over the frame using a crane and a small team. Not only that, the thermal and acoustic performance is designed-in without the need for additional treatments or layers to be applied on site.
Assured Performance
Thermal performance is assured because there is less thermal bridging and better air tightness due to large format panels with robust junction detailing. When used as wrap panels to over clad a steel or concrete frame you end up with a continuous airtight insulating layer, which is the best guarantee of thermal and energy efficiency you can have.
When used as infill, panels provide excellent and assured u-values without any significant increase in the building envelope. Integrating the thermal performance into a relatively slim panel also makes maximum use of internal space.
The system has been proven on many projects in the education and commercial building sectors. You can see two examples of how using SIPs as wrap or infill has saved significant time and delivered guaranteed building performance by looking at our Three Rivers Academy and Mayflower Halls case studies.
The Three Rivers Academy is a 7,456m² new build that used the System to wrap the concrete frame. During the Mayflower Halls programme, panels were installed floor by floor following the frame completion to gradually build up the water-tight structure ready for fit-out.
Rapid build times resulting from specifying SIPs for wrap or infill mean that a building programme can be delivered faster with less risk of the project overrunning. If projects are off-track an wrap/infill approach can still be brought in at the late stages as an alternative solution to recover the programme.
The added speed doesn’t come at the expense of quality. The System is BBA accredited and Innovaré’s unique integrated design, engineer, manufacture, deliver and install process ensures there is complete control over both schedules and quality.
