An innovative application of Celotex FR4000 insulation boards has provided the newly built Tameside Hospital with an innovative heating system. Used in conjunction with radiant heating panels, it is providing a highly effective and hygienic method of heating the hospital whilst eliminating the use of bulky and often ugly looking radiators.
Seated at the base of the Pennines eight miles to the East of Manchester, the hospital serves a population of 250,000. The scheme, designed by Keppie Design, one of the UK’s leading architectural practices, and built by a joint venture of Balfour Beatty Construction and Balfour Beatty Engineering Services is being delivered by Consort Healthcare (Tameside) as a 30-year, £78 million concession project that includes the design, build, finance and operation of the hospital.
Planned to meet the needs of patients and the requirements of staff, the hospital has been designed to create a modern and efficient facility. To avoid the installation of radiators, which can often spoilt the aesthetics of buildings and are notoriously difficult to keep clean as they trap dirt against walls, an alternative solution heating was required. Celotex’s FR4000 insulation boards were employed as an integral part of the solution.
Specified by specialist heating installers S&P Coil Products, Celotex’ FR4000 insulation boards were used as part of an ingenious designed radiant heating ceiling panel solution. The Celotex FR4000 insulation boards were installed above the radiant heating panels to trap heat and ensure that it was channelled to the corridors and rooms below. Eliminating the need for wall mounted radiators, the panels have helped to create the modern, sleek look interior of the new hospital whilst minimising the possibility of trapped dust and dirt.
The composition of the Celotex FR4000 boards and the fact that they can be handled without causing any irritations to skin make them ideal for hygienic applications, and made them the ideal choice over mineral wool which the hospital had deemed too unhygienic. Formed of rigid, foil faced polyisocyanurate (PIR), the extremely thermally efficient boards allow no space for germs to breed. Where two boards are used next to each other, they can be joined with aluminium tape, creating an impermeable envelope for maximum cleanliness.
Though durable and robust, the boards are easily shaped. At Tameside Hospital, S&P Coil Products routed the panels so they could sit on top of the heating panels and the internal copper coils that carry the hot water. Sealed to the panels, the insulation formed a key part of an innovative heating system.
Engineering manager Gary Carter of S&P Coil Products commented, “We are very impressed with the Celotex product. It provided the perfect fit for the job. Easily cut to fit, a good insulator and, most importantly, clean, it has enabled us to create an effective radiant heating solution. The product was installed on the first phase of the project and it performed so well that we installed it on the second phase of the project and we are looking to incorporate it again on other schemes”.
It is not only the hygienic properties of the Celotex boards that made them so suitable for this novel application. With super low a lambda of 0.022 W/mK, the boards are also supremely thermally efficient, providing better insulation per mm than most other materials. In addition they have excellent sustainability credentials, with an ‘A+’ rating when compared to the BRE Green Guide 2008, a low global warming potential and zero ozone depletion potential. The product is also achieves a Class O fire performance rating, which plays a key role in keeping the hospital safe. FR4000 is the only PIR insulation on the market to offer this remarkable range of high performance specifications.
Improved by these two new buildings, Tameside Hospital provides the industrial district of Tameside and part of rural Glossop with a comprehensive range of health services in a safe and clean environment for all staff, patients and visitors.
