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An innovative £8.9 million primary care centre in Washington, Tyne & Wear is the third of four projects in a £46.1 million re-vamp of the local health care system in the area.
The new centre will not only be caring for its patients however; its design has an eye to caring for the environment, actively seeking to reduce the facility’s carbon footprint with the use of Kingspan Insulation’s Thermataper TT47 high performance rigid PIR tapered roof insulation system to create a thermally efficient roof amongst other energy saving measures.
Architect P+HS of Stokesley specified the versatile tapered roofing system to create a fall on the concrete roof deck. Adrian Evans of P+HS said "We needed to accommodate the potential for expanding the building by a further storey in the future, so we decided to install the concrete floor slab in anticipation of these works.
Rather than screed to falls, which eventually might need to be removed we decided that the use of Kingspan’s tapered roofing system was the simplest and most cost effective solution."
Thermataper systems come in a number of guises tailored to the rigours of differing roofing applications. Each solution in the range has been specifically developed for use beneath a particular waterproofing membrane and the entire Kingspan Thermataper range has been designed to ensure low heat loss through the roof as well as to prevent the formation of water ponding by providing effective roof falls for both new and existing flat roofs. The Thermataper TT47 tapered insulation used for Washington Primary Care Centre has been designed specifically for use under PVC singleply mechanically fixed waterproofing systems and will provide a roof fall of 1:80.
Following consultations with roofing contractors, the Thermataper range has recently been further developed to include pre-mitred hip and valley boards as standard and has been extended to include thicker boards. Dubbed ‘roof in a box’ because it arrives labelled and ready to install with a full set of installation instructions, it improves site productivity and helps reduce site waste, adding to any project’s green credentials.
Washington Primary Care Centre, adjacent to Washington Leisure Centre, is due to become fully operational in Spring 2009. It will provide approximately 2,400m2 of accommodation over two floors including: ultrasound and x-ray services; and renal dialysis. The site will also have 125 new parking spaces and landscaped pedestrian links to the town centre. Low energy systems such as roofmounted ‘wind catchers’ (a method of natural ventilation) and solar panels for the hot water system all contribute to the energy efficiency of the project.