Architect:  Strides Treglown

Cladding contractor:  Massey Cladding Solutions

End client:  South West of England Regional Development Agency/Bristol University

System manufacturer:  Euroclad Group

Tata Steel products:  Colorcoat Prisma^® in Kronos and Zeus

Year: 2011

The National Composites Centre is a state of the art facility that includes a mix of workshop space including a manufacturing process plant, training facilities, research areas, as well as open plan office space and meeting facilities.

The centre provides cutting edge design and research into the development of composite materials, implementing innovative technologies that are intended to make a wide range of UK-based companies more competitive on an international level, and particularly crucial to many of Britain’s industry sectors ranging from aerospace, automotive, transportation, renewable energy, through to state of the art sports equipment and musical instruments.

Located at the S‐Park in Emerson’s Green (between Bristol and Bath) the centre is collaboration between the South West Regional Development Agency and the University of Bristol. It will help test and develop initial ideas into high quality marketable products.

The challenge

The sustainable build programme required wide-ranging demands which included providing a building envelope that was not only to meet aesthetic and durability criteria but could provide excellent thermal insulation and air-tightness.

Speed of construction was also a key factor. The National Composites Centre needed to be completed quickly and to the tightest construction schedule, having to be completed in less than a year. 

The solution

To achieve the tight build time Europanel^® composite panel system from Euroclad Group, manufactured using Colorcoat Prisma^® from Tata Steel was specified for the wall cladding system. The system’s one-fix pre-fabricated panels were crucial in achieving a fast and efficient cladding programme.

Sustainability was the driving force behind the design, construction and operating principles for the National Composites Centre which was the first industrial building in Bristol to achieve a BREEAM ’Excellent’ rating. The building envelope for the centre alone made significant contributions to helping to achieve the highest BREEAM rating through the installation of a thermally-efficient, high-quality, air-tight solution, made possible by the use of Euroclad Group's 150 mm thick Europanel^® composite wall panel system manufactured with Colorcoat Prisma^® for the external face.

Euroclad Group ensure that all their panel systems have as low an environmental impact as possible by considering life cycle assessments and end of lifeoptions including reuse and recycling.

The flexibility of the Europanel^® system meant that it was easily adapted to accommodate the imaginative use of glazing in this innovative building and the incorporation of Colorcoat Prisma^® in both Kronos and Zeus, provided a visually flat building envelope system that ensured a sustainable, long lasting, durable solution that matched the aesthetic vision of the building.