Kingspan Embraces The Past With Library Extension At Dunfermline

A £12.4 million extension to the 19^th century Dunfermline Carnegie Library in Scotland is helping raise the town’s cultural profile. The new building is designed and built to comply with Scottish Building Regulations, with the help of Kingspan Kooltherm K15 Rainscreen Board and Kingspan Kooltherm K10 Soffit Board.

The Dunfermline Carnegie Library & Galleries project has created an exciting new local history Reading Room, Museum and Children’s Library to engage and entertain a wider number of visitors at Dunfermline’s Heritage Quarter. In addition, it also provides the town’s first purpose-built art gallery space and a new mezzanine café, ensuring visitors can relax with a coffee whilst enjoying the stunning views of the landscaped gardens and Dunfermline Abbey.

Ashlar sandstone, oak and Corten steel cladding have been installed on the new extension of the library building as part of a rainscreen cladding system. 500 m² of Kingspan Kooltherm K15 Rainscreen Board was fitted within the steel frame cladding system of the regenerated external façade in a 70 mm thickness. The angular features of the building also have overhanging structural ceilings which required the installation of 200 m² of Kingspan Kooltherm K10 Soffit Board insulation in a 75 mm thickness.

Martin Lambie, Architect from Richard Murphy Architects Ltd, commented:

“We wanted to create a space that embraced both the rich history of the building and the expectations of visitors both now and in the future. The façade successfully delivered the visual appeal, but we also needed to ensure the space was comfortable too. We chose Kingspan Kooltherm for this project as we knew it would help us to deliver the target U-values.”

Kingspan Insulation products can allow target U-values to be achieved with minimal construction thickness. Both premium performance products feature a fibre-free core and can achieve thermal conductivities as low as 0.020 W/m^.K.

Kingspan Kooltherm K15 Rainscreen Board and Kingspan Kooltherm K10 Soffit Board feature a fibre-free core manufactured with a blowing agent which has zero Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) and low Global Warming Potential (GWP). The product has been assigned a highest possible BREEAM Green Guide summary of A+ and is certified ‘Excellent’ under the demanding BES 6001: Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products standard.

Since the completion of the project, Kingspan has launched its Kooltherm K100 range offering thermal conductivities as low as 0.018 W/m^.K across all thicknesses. The expanding range now includes Kingspan Kooltherm K110 Soffit Board helping buildings to achieve outstanding levels of thermal performance with a minimum construction thickness.