Modern methods of construction used to meet a challenging construction programme

A new accomodation block at the Ashdown Forest Visitors Centre was built using Structural Insulated Panels with an additional rigid polyurethane (PUR) insulation cavity board to achieve a U-value of 0.15W/m2K. This provided a building envelope with high thermal performance and exceptional speed of build benefits – an important factor given the challenging construction programme.

The visitors centre remained open during construction of the new accommodation block, presenting significant challenges and potential health and safety risks for the contractor Farnrise Construction and Innovare the SIP manufacturer.

'...a building envelope with high thermal performance and exceptional speed of build benefits...'

Speed of build offered by the Innovare i-SIP building system was a key benefit for this project in order to reduce the impact of the construction activity on the overall operations of the visitors centre.

Whilst affordable housing projects have been a significant driver for the use of SIPs technology in recent years, the ubiquitous benefits offered by the i-SIP building system make it an attractive alternative to traditional build methods on many different projects.

The Ashdown forest project demonstrated that although the i-SIP system not only works as a standalone building system, but it can also combine well with other construction methods such as glulam beams, steel framework and floor and roof cassettes.