Project Summary
CS designed a custom expansion joint cover to meet the movement needs of the glass walkways at the Bristol Life Sciences Building, as well as supplying a collection of high performance coatings for the basement laboratory areas.
Full Case Study
Designed by Sheppard Robson, the state-of-the-art Bristol Life Sciences building at the University of Bristol houses modern teaching and research laboratories, as well as a collection of break-out spaces, seminar rooms and social spaces to encourage collaboration between students and research teams.
Design Goals
In order to comply with local planning restrictions, Sheppard Robson designed the Bristol Life Sciences building to appear as two separate buildings, with the teaching block on one side and the laboratory block on the other. Connecting the two blocks is a central atrium, containing glass walkways between floors 1 to 3. Due to the size and layout of the building, expansion joint covers were required at one end of the glass walkways to accommodate building movement (settlement, expansion, contraction etc.). With over 40 years’ experience of designing and manufacturing expansion joint covers, CS were in the perfect position to design a solution for Sheppard Robson.
Within the laboratory block, Sheppard Robson required chemically resistant, durable coatings to ensure the strict hygiene and cleaning regimes required within a laboratory could be achieved, without the risk of damage or degradation to the wall surfaces and coatings. Sheppard Robson chose the CS Wallglaze performance coatings system.
Results
The Atrium: Due to CS’ experience and extensive product range, we were able to modify an existing expansion joint cover to suit the design requirements. Based on the APF-SM product, a surface mounted floor joint cover ideal for situations with large multi-directional movement requirements, the modified cover features a slip resistant, aluminium surface, offering a smooth transition between the adjacent carpet and the glass floor. A cold smoke seal was also required, which CS were able to supply in the form of a polyethylene membrane, a product usually used as a moisture barrier.
The Laboratory Block: CS Wallglaze Coatings are specifically designed for the internal walls and ceilings of hygiene sensitive environments, like laboratories. The Wallglaze range offers coating systems with various levels of chemical resistance to suit all containment level requirements, including extremely durable systems resistant to strong acids, alkalis, solvents, or formaldehyde and peroxides used in fumigation and decontamination.
For the basement laboratories at the Bristol Life Sciences building, CS supplied Armourglaze, a tough chemically resistant wall coating which lends itself to aggressive chemical environments such as Cat 3 & 4 laboratories. We also supplied CS Wallflex, a superior and versatile hygienic wall coating system suitable for use in both dry & wet environments.
Durable and easy to maintain, CS Wallglaze coatings will withstand vigorous, regular cleaning without any surface degradation, and can be expected to last up to 15 years when applied and maintained correctly. After this time, the original system performance can be fully restored with the application of just topcoats.
Overall, CS were able to provide an innovative protection package that met Sheppard Robson’s and the client’s specific design requirements.
