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Lightweight Construction for University Museum
21 July 2005

The light weight and performance benefits of Excel Building Solutions EVT panels have been specified by leading specialist architectural practice, Niall Phillips Architects, for the construction of a new building for the University of Reading's Museum of English Rural Life.

EVT timber frame panels were used as infill panels on the upper storey of the two storey, steel framed structure, which is being used to store historic items from the rural past, including large scale farm equipment such as tractors and ploughs.

A timber structure was specified for the upper walls and the roof of the building, primarily because it is lighter than a masonry alternative.  This enabled the upper floor to utilise a different footprint design and layout to the ground floor and, therefore, did not require the upper floor walls to align with the ground floor masonry-constructed walls.

The EVT panels are insulated with Warmcel 500 insulation, which is manufactured from recycled newspaper and has the lowest embodied energy of all mainstream insulation materials, offering excellent sustainability combined with extremely good thermal insulation performance.  The panels are sheathed externally with Panelvent sheathing board and enclosed internally with plasterboard to complete the EVT construction.

This balanced combination of component materials ensures that any moisture that gets into the structure (which happens in any inhabited building) always migrates to the external side of the structure where it is harmlessly expelled to the atmosphere.  This action, known as Enhance Vapour Transfer or 'EVT', ensures that interstitial condensation does not occur, thereby protecting the timber structure throughout the lifetime of the building.

The 175 mm deep EVT walls deliver a U-value of 0.21 W/m²K and the roof panels, which were specified in depths of 200mm and 250mm, produce U-values of 0.21 and 0.17 W/m²K.

Externally, the ground floor of the building is clad in brick and the upper storey in Cedar cladding. The roof features a zinc covering on a plywood base.

Niall Phillips Architects specialises in the conservation and imaginative reuse of historic buildings and the design of new buildings in historically sensitive areas.

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.