Apollo Woodside High School
Project Details
- Client: Woodside High School
- Location: London
- Year: 2010
A UK first for Apollo Education and NUDURA, Apollo Education was the first major construction company in the UK to trial Nudura's Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) technology. Specified for the £24.9m Inclusive Learning Campus project at Woodside High School site in London's Wood Green, the unique building envelope solution forms part of a project to amalgamate two special schools with the existing mainstream school.
The cutting edge Nudura ICF system was chosen by Apollo for its ability to accelerate the build process, its contribution to energy efficiency and its design flexibility. For phase two of the project, the system will be used to construct the building envelope to a new two-storey teaching block and special needs unit.
Expert at working in live school environments, Apollo's use of Nudura formed part of a wider plan designed to cause minimal disruption to the school. Nudura forms have enabled each building envelope to be made watertight earlier in the construction programme than traditional methods and have permitted fitting out to commence some 10 weeks sooner than with conventional blockwork. Moreover, even the freezing winter conditions did not delay the build, since concrete can be poured in temperatures of up to minus 30 degrees.
The Inclusive Learning campus is being constructed with sustainability firmly in mind and Nudura can contribute significantly towards achieving greater overall energy efficiency through good thermal insulation and air permeability. Typically, air permeability achieved is greater than that for zero carbon homes at three cubic metres per sqm. In 2010, Nudura ICF technology was used to build the first zero carbon school in the USA.
All forms are produced from recycled or recyclable material, using no ozone depleting processes, producing little waste during construction and emitting no CFCs or HCFCs.
The Nudura system also offers design flexibility over modular pre-cast concrete options and so Apollo was ableto accommodate a design which replicated the architectural features of Woodside's other existing buildings.
Apollo Education's project manager John Hill said: “Apollo is experienced in working in live school environments and the Nudura system has given us additional assistance in successfully meeting a challenging schedule for our client and in meeting our sustainability goals. The system has the added benefit of flexibility of design.”
Terry Smith, director of the Clark Smith Partnership, added: “The NUDURA system has been well thought through and the product fits together very well using the special corner pieces. The propping system, with integral working platform, leads to simplicity and efficiency.”
Jean Marc Bouvier, technical manager for Nudura, said: “The builder friendly aspects of the Nudura system made for an easy transition for Apollo as this was their first experience with this type of building system.” Nudura Corporation has also launched three new thermal inserts that improve the thermal performance of the building envelope to meet and exceed building regulations and Passivhaus standards.
