Schöck shows its capability at major North
London development
The former site of the National
Institute for Medical Research (NIMR),
set high on The Ridgeway at Mill Hill,
in North London, is being redeveloped
as a major new Barratt London
residential development known as
Ridgeway Views. The main NIMR
building, with its distinctive green
copper-roof, has been a local landmark
since the Institute first moved there in
1950. However, during the noughties
the Medical Research Council decided
the NIMR would need to relocate and in
2016 it became part of the Francis Crick
Institute, based at a new building in St
Pancras.
Work on the forty-seven acre Ridgeway
Views site began in 2018 and the full
Barratt London scheme is due to be
completed by the end of 2021. It is
planned that there will be around 460
residential units, with apartments
across nineteen buildings of three to
nine-storeys and twelve three-storey
houses. In addition, new offices, leisure
facilities and a café with hilltop views
will all feature.
Thermal performance is critical
Minimising energy use by improving
thermal performance in the buildings
across the development is key and
the prevention of thermal bridging
is critical to this. Particularly within
the balcony and parapet detailing.
Ineffective insulation at the connection
points means local heat loss, resulting
in more energy being required to
maintain the internal temperature of
the building.
There are other potential issues too.
Low internal surface temperatures
around the thermal bridge can cause
condensation, leading not only to
structural integrity problems with
absorbent materials such as insulation
products or plasterboard, but the
potentially serious occurrence of mould
growth as well. Parapets are just as prone to thermal
bridging problems as balconies.
A variety of connections The comprehensive Schöck Isokorb
structural thermal break range meets
full compliance with the relevant
UK building regulations, has NHBC
approval and offers LABC Registration.
To keep thermal bridging to a
minimum, Schöck Isokorb structural
thermal breaks are being installed
throughout. For the concrete-to-
concrete cantilever balconies it
is mainly the Isokorb with 80mm
insulation thickness that is used to
transfer both negative moments and
positive shear forces.
For the recessed balconies where there
is continuous support, a variant of the
concrete-to-concrete unit is installed,
transferring positive and negative shear
forces Steel-to-steel connectivity
detailing on the project uses a modular
unit able to meet practically any profile
size and load-bearing capacitiy. A
special requirement involved a steel
balcony needing to be bolted down to a
precast plank. And to achieve this an
L-shaped bracket was first fixed to the
slab, then a stub bracket and balcony
attached to the bracket using the
modular Isokorb.
The Isokorb with 120mm insulation
thickness for parapets and balustrades
is used within the first phase of the
development.
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The conventional insulation method is
to wrap the perimeter of the wall with
an insulation barrier – but with the
Isokorb there is no wrapping required
Totally verifiable performance
There is also the security of
independent BBA Certification.
The requirement too that the
temperature factor used to indicate
condensation risk (fRSI) must be
greater than, or equal to, 0.75 for
residential buildings is easily met by
incorporating the Isokorb.
Contact Schöck on 01865 290 890;
or visit the website at
www.schoeck.co.uk for a free copy of
the Schöck Thermal Bridging Guide;
the Schöck Specifiers Guide and to
view the full range of downloadable
software.