The 5 Boroughs Partnership - an organisation that provides specialist mental health and learning disability services to the residents of Wigan - launched plans for a new development of a £40m mental health facility, designed to accommodate up to 48 patients. The key driver for the project was to provide local people access to mental health services in one convenient location at the heart of the Leigh East Community.
The build is situated on what was formally Leigh East Amateur Rugby League ground. The 3.9 hectare site has been split into two separate buildings, providing a hub for the local community and high quality inpatient services for adults suffering from mental ill health, as well as dementia and memory conditions.
As well as providing much needed jobs throughout the construction phase – with three in every four subcontractors working on the project living with a 30 mile radius. The project is also designed to boost the local economy by providing work for not only mental health staff but also supporting roles.
Working with main contractor, Kier Construction, Kingspan Timber Solutions was selected to provide its Kingspan TEK and Kingspan TEK Cladding for the project. Kingspan TEK was used as part of a hybrid structural frame solution for the first phase of the project. The Kingspan TEK Building System comprises 142 or 172mm thick structural insulated panels connected with a unique jointing system for walls and roofs.
The second phase of the project comprised a combination of steel frame and Kingspan TEK cladding panels. This cladding panel solution is an innovative Structural Insulated Panel System (SIPs) – capable of cladding any structure, not just steel but also timber and concrete. The panels were manufactured to suit the individual project needs. Each panel has a standard dimension of width of 200mm (minimum), 1220mm (maximum) and a length of 7500mm (maximum) – pre-assembled prior to delivery in the factory using Kingspan TEK’s unique jointing system.
The panels – consisting of a high performance rigid urethane insulation core, sandwiched between two layers of 15mm oriented strand board (OSB) – were assembled in the Kingspan Timber Solution’s factory to form large elements for efficient crane erection and deliver key benefits including:
- Exceptional thermal performance with wall and roof U-Values of 0.21 – 0.10 W/m²K with typical Y-Values ranging from 0.05 – 0.01
- Highly airtight construction can achieve air permeability of less than 1m³/hr.m² at 50 Pa.
- Panels are PEFC and FSC Chain of Custody certified
- The proprietary jointing system used with the Kingspan TEK Building System creates an incredibly airtight structure which can achieve 1.0 m³/hr.m² @ 50 Pa.
- Kingspan TEK Building System is a Passivhaus Institute Certified Building System
- British Board of Agrément (BBA) Approval Inspection Testing Certificate
- NSAI Agrément Certification
Both TEK systems were specified by the architect from the outset due to their many benefits. One of the reasons that the Kingspan TEK cladding panels were selected was their lightweight structure that enables a fast track building process – helping to reduce construction time. A three man team can typically install 150m² of Kingspan TEK Cladding Panels per day, allowing follow-on trades to commence work sooner, once panels are erected and wrapped with a breathable membrane. Both systems also offer excellent thermal and airtightness performances which were ideal for this build.
There were a number of challenges during the build for Kingspan Timber Solutions, these included the integration of M&E work, coordination of the detailing and achieving the erection of the scheme in such a tight timescale. Kingspan Timber solutions were able to overcome these challenges though leasing closely with the design time as well as using 3D modelling which ultimately helped coordination of the detailing. Thorough communication with the onsite contracts team to maintain the build flow and react positively to any issues arising.
5 Borough Partnership wanted to ensure service users and carers were involved in the design of the build, in order to achieve this, regular meetings were held to look at ongoing plans and where appropriate, 5 Borough Partnership made changes in line with the feedback.
The finished site allows adult patient services to be moved from Leigh Infirmary to the new building where men and women are able to have separate areas. Each patient staying in the hospital is also provided with their own bathroom – something that is not able to be offered in their current accommodation in Leigh Infirmary.
The highlights of this project for Kingspan Timber Solutions was achieving successful site operation and delivering the finished building to programme and as designed.
Ian Loughnane, Business Unit Director of Kingspan Timber Solutions said: “It was rewarding to be involved with such a landmark building that is now a world leader in providing the best quality mental health care, learning disability support and community services, with a reputation for innovation and excellence.”
Kingspan Timber Solutions is project and performance centric. Through an extensive product portfolio, the company’s focus is firmly on value engineering and performance. With a collaborative culture, Kingspan Timber Solutions is a dependable construction partner that, by using a combination of the highest performing, most sustainable materials and components, design, manufacturer, assemble and project manage the construction of cutting-edge timber solutions. Its systems also include timber frame, structural insulated panel systems (SIPs), glued laminated timber (glulam) and cross laminated timber (CLT).
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