McVeigh SIPs were approached to investigate whether the use of SIPs instead of more traditional construction would help with Value Engineering and provide the project with any further benefits. It was soon identified that replacing the external walls with lightweight prefabricated SIPs helped with the structural solution whilst providing a thermally efficient air tight building envelope. The deep cladding zone and window reveals were formed using a lightweight steel carrier system that was simply fixed back to the SIPs.

The Middleton School elevations also featured some curves, they too were formed using smaller sections of SIPs facetted to form the desired shape.

Key Benefits

• Lightweight construction of the SIPs simplified the connection details to the structural frame.
• Flexibility of the SIPs was used to form the curved sections of the Elevations
• Random fix Patten was used for the rain screen carrier rails with all brackets fixed into the outface of the SIPs without the need to penetrate the insulations layer.