Wraptite® airtightness membrane has been successfully installed on an impressive new luxury high-rise student accommodation project in Newcastle UponTyne.
The project consists of a total of 207 studio apartments for students situated on City Road overlooking the River Tyne and Quayside, and within 15 minutes’ walk of the Newcastle and Northumbria universities.The new apartments are part of an initiative by developer Opto Property Group, KDP Architects and City Road Student Hall Company.
Main contractor Opto Property Group and sub-contractor Halcyon Cladding & Roofing required a Class B re rated air tightness membrane, which was able to comply with the requirements for buildings over 18m as specified within Approved Document B: Fire Safety November 2018 and as stipulated by the NHBC.
The A. Proctor Group, recognised experts in technically advanced thermal, acoustic and membrane products for the construction industry, were approached to advise the main contractor and cladding contractor on a high-performance solution to comply with the requirements outlined by NHBC and the very latest building regulations.
After in-depth consultation and technical briefings, the Wraptite air barrier system was chosen. Wraptite offers a safer and simplified membrane system, conforms with the required Class B rating, and it provides a fully self-adhered vapour permeable air barrier certified by the BBA.The membrane bonds back to the substrate, ensuring a simplified design to achieve airtightness and easy installation method.
Unlike internal air barriers, which can be complex and costly to install due to the need to accommodate building services such as electrical, lighting, heating and drainage systems, Wraptite was applied externally, quickly and easily to the substrate.The membrane will fully bond to virtually any substrate, requiring no mechanical attachment, seals or tapes to suppress air leakage around junctions or penetrations.
Both the sub-contractor and the main contractor were impressed by the ease, speed and quality of the application and installation. Commenting on behalf of Halcyon Cladding & Roofing, Austin Ford stated,
“The self-adhesive nature of the Wraptite membrane ensured a much faster installation process, removing the need for traditional mechanical xing. Wraptite also provided effective added protection to the frame of the building during the construction. Given the nature of the exposed location of the building close to the River Tyne the use of mechanical xing would more than likely have been compromised by the wind factor”.