United Kingdom

The new Downe Hospital in Northern Ireland is the most modern of its kind in the Province, providing enhanced local hospital services for Downpatrick residents.

The futuristic, tiered building - which is run by the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust - will house a wide range of services, including a 24-hour consultant-led A&E department, inpatient facilities such as general medicine, elderly care, psychiatry and coronary care, as well as rehabilitation, diagnostic and outpatient departments. 

The building was designed by the Belfast office of international consultancy Scott Wilson, which was also responsible for the civil and structural engineering, landscaping and planning supervision of the project. 

Contractor McLaughlin & Harvey was responsible for the overall build, with Grainger Building Services managing the roof construction and insulation installation.

The flat roof design cuts costs and leads to an efficient build, but can lead to heat loss without effective insulation - as much as 25% of the total. Insulation on such designs also needs to be able to withstand wide fluctuations in temperature and repeated freeze/thaw cycles.

A combination of 120mm thick ROOFMATE™ SL-X boards and 60mm ROOFMATE LG-X made with STYROFOAM were used for the project, with ROOFMATE SL-X secured with ballast covering the flat roof area, and ROOFMATE LG-X  insulating vertical parapets to prevent 'cold sinks'.

The STYROFOAM - which amounted to 200m³ in total - was supplied by Dow Building Solutions through local distributor Tennants Building Services, which has worked with Dow for many years. Tennants was able to check stock levels on a regular basis via Dow's customer service team, and collect product direct from the manufacturing site and deliver it direct to the customer at the right time and to the right place, supporting an efficient build.

ROOFMATE, along with other STYROFOAM products, is a closed-cell product which means it's able to deliver low U-values, is robust, and can be installed even in wet conditions. The products are welcomed on construction sites as they are lightweight, easy to cut and be easily stacked.