Shoreline, a residential development of 84 homes with panoramic views over Folkestone seafront, is designed to make a statement.
The development is crescent-shaped and features an undulating white brick rainscreen façade that will sparkle in the sunlight, mirroring the water before it.
While it’s designed to look spectacular, it’s also important that the façade delivers the performance required of modern buildings. With this in mind, the architect specified the Knauf Through Wall System for the rainscreen façade.
The system is BBA certified, demonstrating it complies with the relevant building regulations. It also gives the architect reassurance that the different elements of the wall build-up have been designed to work together and have been tested both individually and as a system.
The Knauf Through Wall System comprises all the components needed for a high-performance façade build-up, including the Rocksilk RainScreen Slab sheathing insulation and either OmniFit Slab 35 or OmniFit Roll 34 from Knauf Insulation, and the Plasterboard, Steel Framing System and Windliner from Knauf. The system can be used with a wide range of external finishes, ensuring that the architect still has design freedom.
For this project, the external wall build-up needed to achieve a U-value of 0.12 W/m2K. So, the Knauf Insulation Technical Support Team conducted complex 3D U-value calculations to determine that 180mm of Rocksilk RainScreen Slab together with 150mm of OmniFit Slab 35 would achieve this performance.
Another factor was fire safety. Both products are non-combustible with the best Euroclass A1 reaction to fire classification. So, they comply with legislation that bans the use of combustible material in the external walls of relevant residential buildings over 18m tall.
In addition to thermal and fire safety performance, mineral wool has an open structure, so it is highly effective at absorbing sound. This means the insulation will also contribute to the acoustic performance of the external wall build-up.
Both products are manufactured with ECOSE Technology, Knauf Insulation’s unique bio-based binder that contains no added formaldehyde or phenol. It is made from natural raw materials that are rapidly renewable and is 70% less energy-intensive to manufacture than traditional binders, so it is more environmentally friendly.
When it came to installation, the dramatic façade brought challenges for contractor ATJ Group. Not only is the building crescent-shaped, but the façade itself is rippled to create an undulating wave.
The steel frame system was faceted to follow the different concave and convex lines, and the sheathing boards were then curved around the SFS. The ATJ Group installers then staggered the insulation around the façade.
The flexible nature of mineral wool meant it was perfectly suited to the project because it could adapt to the profile of the sheathing board without leaving any gaps that could reduce thermal, acoustic and fire safety performance.
Shoreline was designed to create a new iconic landmark on Folkestone’s seafront - and thanks to the Knauf Through Wall System, ATJ Group were able to turn their eye-catching design for the façade into a reality.