External Wall Insulation by Weber has been specified for the thermal upgrade of social housing properties in Bangor and Y Bala, North Wales.  They have been transformed with the application of the innovative webertherm XP External Wall Insulation (EWI) with u-values that have been dramatically reduced while the aesthetics of the properties have been changed completely.  

The properties, a combination of houses, bungalows and apartment buildings, are owned by Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd, the largest housing association in North Wales.  A total of £136million has been committed to improving homes to meet the needs of existing and future residents.

The houses in Britannia Square, Bangor, are post-war, system-built, non-traditional Unity Structures designed with storey-level precast reinforced panels, metal braced from within the cavity, and poorly insulated offering little thermal performance.  In Y Bala the homes are of 1960s non-trad Trusteel frame construction with similar thermal deficiencies.  While upgrading properties, Weber’s EWI extends the life of existing buildings, particularly hard-to-treat properties, by keeping the old structure warm and stable.

CCG awarded the main contract to Willmott Dixon who appointed specialist EWI contractor R W Hough & Sons of Flintshire to apply the BBA certificated webertherm XP EWI system with webertherm M1 render.

Challenging u-value improvements for Britannia and Bala homes were calculated by Weber: properties at Britannia Square, Bangor were slashed from 1.42W/m²K down to 0.28W/m²K whilst an even more dramatic result at Y Bala saw the poor 1.60W/m²K pre-installation U-value reduced to 0.29W/m²K.

To achieve these tough target U-values the webertherm XP EWI system required 90mm of EPS insulation which was mechanically fixed to the external wall surfaces prior to the render application. The Britannia Square properties had an angled corner coin feature and the client required this to be altered to a normal square edge corner profile for a more modern look.  R W Hough masked this original feature with an extension of the EPS insulation prior to render application.

Geraint Jones, project manager for R W Hough during the six month program, reports on the success of the project: “Everyone is really pleased with the results here.  We had good weather right through the program. The webertherm XP system requires such a straight forward application process and my team are always pleased to be using Weber high quality products.”

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