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Recent Press Releases Excel Brings Viscocel to Hillhead: 28 March 2007
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The Architect’s Choice
Excel Building Solutions’ EVT structural building system has been specified by David Cousans Chartered Architects of Bassingbourn for the construction of the practice principal's own luxury seven bedroom, three storey house in Cambridgeshire. Providing ultra-high levels of insulation and a healthy living environment, the EVT structural system also provides inherent protection against interstitial condensation. Comprising a framework of engineered timber 'I' beams, sheathed externally with Panelvent sheathing board and internally with Plasterboard, the EVT structure is insulated with Warmcel 500 high performance insulation, which is manufactured from 100% recycled newspaper. The EVT structure also fulfils the environmental requirements of an 'eco house' design, being produced from component materials, which are all from recycled or sustainable sources. Complementing the environmental credentials of the Warmcel recycled newspaper insulation, The 'I' beams are manufactured from flanges of slow grown Swedish whitewood and a web of recycled timber produced from forest thinnings and wood waste, and the sheathing boards are also manufactured from wood waste. Used for the entire structural envelope of the house, the EVT system featured 240mm deep external walls, clad with cedar weatherboarding. This delivers a U-value of just 0.132 W/m2K. The insulated 'warm roof' structure was constructed using a 300mm deep EVT construction, with an external finish of black clay tiles, producing a U-value of 0.128 W/m2K. Because the EVT roof negates the need for trusses and is fully insulated, the entire internal roof space can be used as 'room-in-the-roof' living area. In this design, the space accommodates a sizeable guest bedroom and shower room, a large playroom and storage cupboards. In addition to the external walls and roof, engineered timber 'I' beams were also used to construct the house's intermediate floors. With spans of up to 12m, the use of the beams meant that large rooms in the house were able to be created without the need for additional supporting pillars. The EVT structure is free from harmful or toxic substances, such as VOCs and CFCs, and produces virtually no formaldehyde emissions. The inherent EVT technology ensures that normal moisture ingress into the structure, which occurs in any inhabited building, safely migrates to the outside where it is harmlessly expelled to the external atmosphere. By self-regulating moisture levels in this way, the integrity of the structure is always protected against interstitial condensation. The environmental theme of the house continues with the use of high performance timber windows, solar panels to feed the domestic hot water and underfloor heating system, a whole house heat recovery ventilation system, pre-finished softwood flooring throughout the house, and a 10,000 litre, underground rainwater collection tank, which supplies water to flush toilets, wash clothes and for garden irrigation. Excel Building Solutions is a division of Excel Industries Limited, based in Rhymney, Gwent and is the UK’s leading supplier of innovative building solutions. The company manufactures high performance insulation products, Warmcel 500 for walls and Warmcel 300 for lofts; along with high performance sheathing boards: Panelvent and Paneline; and Sarket roof sarking. Together, these components combine to form the high performance EVT Technology Solution for walls, floors and roofs and the factory-produced TRADIS range of wall panels, floor cassettes and roof plates. In addition to building solutions, Excel manufactures a range of speciality fibres for road making and diverse industrial applications. |
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