Richard Tocher at Permarock explains how facade system suppliers can bring greater benefits if engaged at the earliest stages of new build or refurb projects.
It’s well understood that an externally insulated facade, when properly designed and installed, can yield benefits in terms of thermal performance, reduced energy demand and consequent cost-savings for building occupants. However, if system suppliers can be brought into the project team at an early enough stage, they can deliver other important benefits for clients, specifiers and end users.
Here, ‘early’ will often mean prior to contract award. External wall insulation system providers may be prepared to work ‘at risk’ in order to maximise the effectiveness of a project team’s proposal, particularly when working alongside trusted stakeholder partners. If they can do that, they can influence plans for the insulation and facade elements in ways that could ultimately produce performance enhancements, more accurate and robust detailing, lower whole lifecycle costs, and potentially, faster project mobilisation from the onset.
Planning support & mobilisation
Planning consents can sometimes hamper speedy progress and on some schemes, the associated delays can limit the pathways and funding available to the client. System suppliers can play an important role here by providing planners with material samples, colour swatches, digital visualisations and other useful assets. They can also provide condensation risk analyses and U-value calculations to bolster the case for approving the scheme. Such data can be persuasive, particularly on retrofit schemes set in communities that are subject to fuel poverty and deprivation.
Planning consent may also sometimes depend on being able to replicate the appearance of local architectural styles. External wall insulation systems inevitably require the creation of new facades and, consequently, local authorities may have concerns about preserving the character of the built environment. These concerns can often be allayed if the supplier is afforded the chance to develop suitably tailored finishes. For example, brick slips can be supplied in special colour matched shades and various textures to match the appearance of traditional local brickwork. The same products can also be used to reproduce features such as soldier courses, quoins and decorative bonding patterns.
Community support
System suppliers can also support meaningful community engagement. For schemes that involve large numbers of separate homes, suppliers should be willing to attend pre-commencement community events. Here, they can provide residents with samples and visualisations, information about the energy savings likely to result from retrofit works, and answers to relevant questions about the installation process itself. This all helps to encourage community buy-in, especially if residents can also be given a say in the final choice of colours and finishes. In turn, the willing support of local householders can help to minimise no access issues and associated delivery delays.
System design
When involved at an early stage, an external wall insulation specialist can also bring valuable experience that may inform the overall architectural design. This may be true of virtually any building, but it’s especially relevant to retrofit schemes that involve non-traditional properties.
Through past experience of working on unusual, solid walled or non-traditional archetypes, a system supplier may be aware of cold bridging risks at particular interfaces. Previous pull out tests and inspections might also have identified other substrate specific risks. These risks can then be taken into account as part of the initial design phase rather than having to be addressed through subsequent onsite adaptations. That, in turn, can produce savings on time, labour and materials, and give the whole stakeholder team more certainty on scheduling and project costs.
Similarly, the system provider’s experience can help the wider team to adopt best practice design and installation techniques from the outset. This promotes a ‘right first time’ approach, and helps all parties to avoid the additional costs and delays associated with learning lessons along the way.
Aesthetics
By providing access to the right products and expertise, a good EWI supplier should be able to help specifiers devise plans that yield longer-term savings on routine maintenance. Depending on their location and orientation, building facades will routinely be exposed to wind blown dirt, microorganisms and atmospheric pollution – factors that can potentially lead to discolouration or unsightly growths. However, many modern finishes offer features that help to preserve a brighter, cleaner appearance – for example, a tendency to shed dirt through the effects of ordinary weathering, and special preservatives that inhibit organic growth.
Quality & reporting
Pre-commencement collaboration with a system supplier can enable specifiers to propose products, methods and delivery arrangements that support improved quality assurance. For example, the supplier’s technical team can produce system designs and standard detailing that can be referred to in early meetings with clients, installers, site managers and others. These can form part of method statements, risk analyses, and site specific training for installers. Reputable suppliers should always be willing to provide such support to assist specifiers and clients in finalising their designs.
Similarly, early engagement with the system designer and other stakeholders affords more time to define KPIs and to agree on channels for reporting the results of routine quality inspections.
Given sufficient time to prepare, suppliers may be able to produce certain complex elements of an EWI system offsite, in controlled factory conditions. These pre-cut components can then be supplied to the installer as a means of speeding progress and ensuring proper treatment of challenging interfaces. For EWI systems, such interfaces might include door and window reveals, vents and pipework, and – where required – roofline closure systems.
Whether the scheme is looking to meet or exceed the demands of Building Regulations, PAS 2030/2035 standards or other performance requirements, early dialogue with an experienced system supplier should be considered essential.
Richard Tocher is sales & technical director at Permarock