Leven Court

 Project Background:

West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) are going through a programme of upgrading their Social Housing helping to bring them up to Scottish Quality Housing Standards by 2015.

Within their stock WDC has 26 high rise blocks which have been surveyed by structural engineers. One of these blocks, Leven Court, was found to have a structurally sound concrete frame but failing concrete infill panels. The building also had extremely poor thermal performance resulting in high fuel bills for residents, pushing them into fuel poverty.

Client Requirements:

WDC wanted to refurbish the block in order to extend its life by 30 years to comply with their long term Local Housing Strategy. As part of the external works WDC required a solution that would:

• Solve the structural problems associated with the failing concrete infill panels

• Improve thermal performance and therefore cut fuel bills

• Improve the external appearance of the building

To complete the system a 12mm layer of basecoat and then a contemporary Silicone finish was applied in two contrasting colours and in two textures, fine and medium. This finished layer provided the properties with an attractive façade that fully met the client’s aesthetic expectations.

On the ground floor Fastbrick, an insulated real brick slip cladding system, was chosen because of its robustness and impact resistant properties. The system comprised of a rigid phenolic insulation panel pre-bonded to a brickwork coordinating carrier sheet. The panels were fixed to the existing ground floor brick work with an additional 50mm thickness of Enhanced EPS insulation between in order to increase the thermal performance of the system. Striking blue, smooth brick slips were then fixed to the carrier sheet using a purpose made adhesive and a black pointing mortar applied.