Minehead Eye, Somerset
February 2010
This environmentally responsive building is one of a growing number of structures in the UK to have a 300mm cavity and demonstrates the extreme requirements needed to achieve low carbon status and low U-value construction.
Cavalok Building Products has been specified on the Minehead Eye project because it had the only system capable of being fabricated into a frame former suitable for a 300mm cavity.
Minehead Eye is a multi-million pound part lottery-funded facility aimed at 13-19 year olds. It will feature a café, shop and computer area with a viewing gallery that overlooks a two-storey skate and BMX park.
Cavalok is the UK’s only manufacturer of BBA-accredited cavity closer systems made from 100% post-consumer recycled PVC-U.
The 300mm cavity width specified on Minehead Eye, which includes 200mm of EPS insulation, will ensure the highest level of thermal performance is achieved through its low U-value specification.
The openings were formed, and the extra wide cavity closed, using the Big Blok cavity closers that also integrate the DPC and thermal break into one simple product. This provides energy saving and reduced carbon dioxide emission by minimising air leakage and heat losses at the junction between the wall and window.
Unlike the wall itself cavity closers are not subject to U-value calculations, however with full band of insulation the Big Blok system exceeds the latest Accredited Construction Details requirements of 0.45 m²k/W complementing wall designs with U-values better than 0.15. This means the pioneering Big Blok system can be confidently specified for the latest zero carbon regulations such as BREEAM and the Code for Sustainable Homes.
“We specified BigBlok because it was the only product that could exceed latest ACD requirements on a 300mm cavity,” said Sebastian Wolf, Architect on this project. “As an environmentally aware practice, it was an added advantage that the Cavalok range is made from 100 per cent post-consumer recycled PVC-U.”
Cavity sizes have been increasing on many buildings to accommodate more insulation and achieve better U-values as the 2016 zero-carbon deadline approaches. Cavalok launched its Big Blok system in response to this regulatory shift. The super-insulating Big Blok cavity closer range allows easy closing of cavities above 125mm up to the build regulations maximum of 300mm as used in the Minehead Eye.
The BigBlok cavity closers were supplied through Minster Insulation Ltd and manufactured by Cavalok approved fabricator, Securiframe.
The contractor on site was Russell Construction, which operates across the South-West of England and undertakes both new build and refurbishment contracts.
