Low carbon solution

Technal glazing systems manufactured from low carbon recycled aluminium have been specified for the Pavilion Point student accommodation scheme.

Pavilion Point is a Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) development on London Road in the centre of Brighton in East Sussex, close to the University of Brighton’s main campus.

Managed by student accommodation specialist Fresh, the building provides 232 student rooms. The five storey development, designed by Corstorphine & Wright, targeted BREEAM Excellent standards as well as high levels of acoustic performance.

Technal’s Elegance 52 ST curtain walling, Dualframe 75 Si tilt before turn casement windows, Stormframe STII doors and C160S lift and slide doors were all specified for the building. The systems are designed to integrate together, making it easy to build multiple systems into a single project.

The external facade features a clay brick slip system for the ground to third floors with a grey rainscreen cladding on the set-back fourth floor. The use of Technal’s aluminium systems contributed to creating an A1 rated non-combustible facade, a client requirement given the increased focus on fire safety.

The Technal systems used on the Pavilion Point development were manufactured using Hydro Circal 75R recycled aluminium, helping to reduce the carbon footprint of the building. Hydro Circal 75R is said to contain at least 75% aluminium from post-consumer scrap and as a result has one of the smallest CO2 footprints worldwide with 2.3kg of CO2 emissions per kilo of aluminium. According to Technal, this is 86% less than the global average for primary extraction.

Jose Tweedie, associate at Corstorphine & Wright, commented: “The embodied carbon of products and systems is a key issue in the industry and as a practice we are always looking to embrace products and innovations that can help make our client’s buildings more sustainable.

“When we were presented Hydro Circal 75R as an option at no additional cost, it was clearly a positive change with no drawback. This was very much in line with our vision for the project and aligned with our goal for BREEAM Excellent as well as the operational CO2 reductions we aimed to achieve through the use of a renewable combined heat and power (CHP) system.”

Technal’s Elegance 52 ST curtain walling features on the front corner areas to maximise light in the common and circulation areas, as well as on the ground floor retail units and the ‘pod’ windows that project out from building on the first and third floors.

The PAS24:2012 and 2010 Equality Act compliant Stormframe STII doors were used for the student reception entrance as well as fire escape and other general entrance doors. Technal’s Confort C160S lift and slide door was specified in place of bi-folding doors for the openings onto the courtyard area.

Floor to ceiling Dualframe 75 Si tilt before turn (TBT) windows were installed to ensure high levels of natural light in the student rooms.

The aim of achieving BREEAM Excellent certification as well as the building’s location on a busy road meant that the door, window and curtain walling systems had to also meet a number of specific performance requirements, not least a high level of acoustic performance. This was a challenge due to the size of some of the panels included in the design. Technal says that its systems allowed a 41dB sound reduction to be achieved while optimising the weight of the glazed units.

The specification also included some challenging thermal and air-tightness requirements, however Technal adds that its systems were also more than able to meet the project’s challenging thermal and air-tightness requirements, with Elegance 52 ST curtain walling capable of surpassing the 1.4 W/m²K U-Value target.