LATEST WEMBLEY SUCCESS
FOR THE SCHÖCK ISOKORB
The 85 acre redevelopment of Wembley Park, in North West
London, one of Europe’s largest regeneration projects continues
apace. And one of the latest buildings to be completed is The
Alameda (Spanish for ‘walkway shaded by trees‘), which sits next to
the tree-lined Wembley Park Boulevard. The Alameda comprises
two blocks, 10-storey and 15-storey, which provide 340 new
residential apartments with cafes and restaurants planned for the
ground level. The slide-on balconies, both at the front and rear of
the buildings, are a striking feature of the new development – but
critical to their structural and long–term insulation performance
is the incorporation of Isokorb structural break units from
Schöck. The type used in the detailing on the Alameda is a load-
bearing thermal element with 80 mm insulation thickness. Early
involvement was necessary to ensure that the connectors were
accurately cast into the building during the mainframe construction
phase. A stub bracket was attached to the Isokorb units and the
balcony cantilever support arm was then attached (same depth
as the balcony) to the stub and the fully pre-assembled balcony
chassis slid on to the cantilever arm and locked into position.
THERMAL BRIDGING IS A CRITICAL ISSUE
If there is ineffective insulation at the connection points, especially
with so many balconies involved, there will be local heat loss,
resulting in more energy being required to maintain the internal
temperature of the building.
This is a major consequence of
thermal bridging, but there are other issues too. Low internal
surface temperatures in the area of the thermal bridge can
cause condensation, which leads not only to structural integrity
problems with absorbent materials such as insulation products or
plasterboard, but It also encourages mould growth, which can have
serious health implications for residents, particularly older people
and children, in the form of asthma and allergies. So for any project
involving balcony connectivity the prevention of thermal bridging
is a critical issue.
CONSTRUCTION DEPENDABILITY AND FREEDOM OF DESIGN
For a free copy of the Schöck Thermal Bridging Guide; the Schöck
Specifiers Guide or to view the range of downloadable software,
contact Schöck on 01865 290 890 or visit the website at
www.schoeck.co.uk
As the leading international supplier of structural thermal breaks,
Schöck has almost limitless variants available in its main Isokorb
range, offering planners complete construction dependability and
enormous freedom of design. The comprehensive Schöck Isokorb
range offers solutions for concrete-to-concrete, concrete-to-steel,
steel-to-steel, a thermally insulating connection for reinforced
concrete walls – and even a maintenance free alternative to
wrapped parapets. All products meet full compliance with the
relevant UK building regulations; have NHBC approval; offer LABC
Registration and independent BBA Certification. The temperature
factor used to indicate condensation risk (fRSI) which must be
greater than, or equal to, 0.75 for residential buildings, is also
easily met by incorporating the Isokorb.