Vancouver Centre, King’s Lynn
Dow in King’s Lynn has won the contract for a major roof insulation project at the towns new Vancouver Centre… just 10 minutes away!
It has been described as an urban ‘heart transplant’. The new £50m redevelopment of the Vancouver Shopping Centre in the centre of King’s Lynn, West Norfolk, will transform this run-down 1960s complex into a vibrant 37,200 sq m showpiece of 21st Century urban architecture. It will catapult King’s Lynn into the front ranks of major retail centres with top high-street players, like T.J. Hughes, New Look, Superdrug, Woolworth, JJB Sports, TK Maxx, Costa Coffee and Ann Summers rushing to get their names down. The developer is Caddick Developments and the principal contractor, Alfred McAlpine Capital Projects.
The roof system specified for the centre by Alfred McAlpine Capital Projects, conforms to the principles of so-called ‘inverted roof’ design, now accepted as one of the most robust and durable solutions for flat roof construction. In an ‘inverted’ or ‘upside-down’ roof the insulation layer is laid above the waterproof layer. So as well as reducing heat losses and minimising condensation, this technique also protects the waterproof membrane from physical damage and from the stresses of exposure to the elements.
The insulation installed by roofing contractor Cambridge Asphalte is a STYROFOAM™ extruded polystyrene solution known as ROOFMATE™ SL-X. ROOFMATE SL-X is designed specifically for inverted roofs, originally developed by Dow and now used extensively world-wide.
This particular project was a substantial order by any standards – 11,500 sq m, enough to cover two and a bit standard football pitches – and a first for Dow is that the product is travelling less than a mile to the site from its place of manufacture.
Dow’s national distributor, Sheffield Insulations secured the order, and Ian Bull, Roofing Manager commented, “For us, this was a massive order. We have a long history of working with Dow, and projects of this size don’t come along too often. We have a good working relationship with Cambridge Asphalte and were very pleased to be able to work with them on this project.”
The secret of STYROFOAM’s exceptionally high performance is its inherent closed cell structure, unique to extruded polystyrene and developed by Dow in the 1950’s. Since then, millions of square metres of STYROFOAM extruded polystyrene solutions have been installed around the world on projects large and small alike.
An additional reason Dow won this order was the fact that ROOFMATE SL-X was offered in conjunction with ROOFMATE MK (together known as the ROOFMATE MinK system).
ROOFMATE MK being a vapour permeable membrane and complementing the extruded polystyrene by minimising its thickness to meet with current stringent building regulations for the roof’s thermal performance.
Jayne Law, Dow’s UK and Ireland Sales Manager, Building and Construction Division, told us: “The ROOFMATE MinK system ensures we have a highly competitive inverted roof solution to offer any architect or contractor considering a flat roof design. Dow developed this system in central Europe almost ten years ago, and received a British Board of Agrément Certificate in the UK a few years ago, since then it’s extensive use on many buildings has added to it’s credibility as a perfect choice, offering exceptional long term performance.”
Dow’s Building and Construction Field Sales Representative on the contract, Alex Crisp, adds: “A major benefit from Dow is our capability to offer ROOFMATE SL-X in one thickness, thus having the advantage of keeping installation costs to an absolute minimum.”
Nick Roberts, estimator at Cambridge Asphalte, was delighted that Dow managed to meet their requirements. “We tend to prefer dealing with Dow; we have always had very good relations with them; their quality is always consistently high and we like the product support and back-up they give. For example, on this project, they were quickly able to provide us with all relevant technical calculations required by ourselves and the architect.”
Another aspect of the contract which pleased Nick was Alfred McAlpine Capital Projects’ specified choice of waterproof layer - 20mm hot-melt asphalt. “In a large modern development like this, it is unusual these days for the specifier to explicitly select this rather than sheet materials. Naturally we were gratified at the client’s recognition of the merits of this tried and tested method.”
The logistical problems of conducting a project of this magnitude on a brown-field site in the midst of a busy town centre have been immense. In this respect, the proximity of the Dow plant has been an invaluable bonus. As Ian Bull of Sheffield Insulations explained: “Normal delivery practice is to palletize the boards and transport them in curtain-sided trucks. But on this site there just would not have been the space for a lift-truck to unload a pallet and swing round to deposit it in storage. In any case the site does not have the space to store the boards. Dow found a solution to the site needs, allowing delivery on a just-in-time basis and to crane the boards straight onto the roof.”
Manos Maragoudakis is Production Leader at Dow’s King’s Lynn Building and Construction plant and has the responsibility of synchronising manufacturing and supply of the boards with the on-site demands of Cambridge Asphalte. “It is the biggest local order I’ve dealt with in the three years I’ve been in the job. Our delivery is at lightning speed – about 10 minutes, door-to-door. It is important to avoid congested periods in the town centre and our closeness to the site means we can be very flexible in our timing.”
Sean Hayes, Senior Project Manager for Alfred McAlpine Capital Projects on the King’s Lynn town centre redevelopment said “Wherever possible on our projects, we like to support the local economy. We were therefore very pleased that Dow as a supplier and Cambridge Asphalte as an installer, were able to provide a substantial element to our works in King’s Lynn.”
Landing an order of this magnitude almost literally on its doorstep is obviously a stroke of good fortune for Dow which they can hardly hope to repeat very often. However, as Jayne Law puts it: “We may not be able to take credit for being in the right place at the right time, but we can for being able to meet the architects rigorous specification and contractors demanding service requirements. The excellence of our existing relationships with Sheffield Insulations and with Cambridge Asphalte has been crucial in the success of this contract. Being down the road was just the ‘icing on the cake’. “
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