MARMOX THERMOBLOCK UNDERPINS BROMLEY SCHOOL REDEVELOPMENT

Both phases to the refurbishment and extension of the teaching and other facilities at a South London school are making full use of the insulating and loadbearing capabilities of Marmox Thermoblocks.

Work on the Bromley High Junior School which is being carried out by Orpington based Neilcott Construction, is due to complete in November, with operations having continued throughout the period of the lockdown. Amongst the improved facilities being created through the designs of IID Architects from Richmond in West London are arts, crafts, cookery and dance as well as flexible teaching spaces within a new structure facing onto a courtyard.

The scheme also includes the refurbishment and extension of the Reception Classrooms, improvements to the library and IT facilities and the creation of a new visitor entrance.

Neilcott Construction has a long and successful track record in the education as well as healthcare, commercial and other sectors, working for clients right across the Southeast of England. The main contractor’s site agent, Nick Thomas, commented: “We have had experience of using Marmox Thermoblock on a number of projects in the past and find them very straightforward to incorporate into different types of construction.

At the moment we are laying them over a beam and block floor in the new cloakrooms to carry a 140mm thick wall of 7.2 Newton Celcon blocks, but they also featured in Phase 1 over a precast plank floor. We are laying both screeded and floating floors across these substrates, and up against the Thermoblocks, maintaining the continuity of the thermal insulation.”

In total the rebuilding of the Bromley High Junior School has consumed 180 of the 140 x 600 x 65mm Thermoblocks – equivalent to 108 metres of wall - supplied direct to Nerilcoat Construction along with quantities of the special Marmox multipurpose adhesive for jointing the stepped overlaps (?).

Marmox Thermoblocks are available in widths of 100, 140 or 215mm and are formed from sections of XPS (extruded polystyrene) encapsulating two rows of high strength, epoxy concrete mini-columns. These are attached at either end to the top and bottom layers of glass-fibre reinforced polymer concrete, to ensure a good bond with the rest of the structure.

As well as combatting cold-bridging at the base of blockwork walls, Thermoblocks are also often utilised to support timber frame construction, or at vulnerable upper floor junctions. Crucially, a variety of details have been thermally modelled by the BRE to provide insulation values for use in SAP or other calculations, avoiding the punishing ‘default’ figure.