Horbury has installed Knauf Aquapanel Exterior to the brightly tiled, curved external toilet pods which echo the ovoid footprint of The building at Four Dwellings Primary School – a £4.5 million BSF project in Quinton, Birmingham.
The concept behind the pods is that children can access them from both inside their classrooms and outside from the playground, while the curves mean that there are no sharp edges to cause injury. The coloured external tiles are arranged so the pods provide a colour range that identifies and distinguishes each year group as well as acting as a ‘wayfinding’ device.
Aquapanel requires no special tools or processes for installation – simply score and snap – and can be curved to a tight radius. Offering the benefits of a dry panel system with the strength of brick and block, the board resists water with no swelling or loss of stability, is weatherproof and is unaffected by the freeze-thaw cycle.
Other Knauf products were used extensively in constructing the school, with classroom and corridor walls being constructed using Soundshield and Impact Panel while the ceilings were made using Wallboard.
Soundshield high performance plasterboard enables the teaching areas to meet the strict standards laid down by Building Bulletin 93: Acoustic Design of Schools using just one layer of plasterboard rather than two, while Knauf Impact Panel provides a superb, durable finish that is easily repaired should any damage occur. The walls and ceiling were then skimmed using Knauf Drywall MP Finish and Universal Board Finish to provide a smooth, quick-drying and durable coating ready for painting.
