On safari with Kingspan TEK in Worcestershire

The Kingspan TEK Building System has featured at West Midland Safari Park, with its lightweight system ideal to provide research and educational space.

The 250-acre landscaped park in Bewdley, Worcestershire has further increased its purpose-built space, to cater for the ever-growing interest in animal conservation and study. 

500 square metres of the Kingspan TEK Building System, with a 142 mm thickness, were pre-cut to specification by delivery partners, Glosford SIPS.

Richard Painter, Director of Painter Architects Ltd, explains why Kingspan TEK Building System was chosen for the building envelope:

“We needed to provide large teaching spaces within a quick construction period that would leave no footprint on the land if it was returned to grazing land in the future,” he said.

“The Kingspan TEK Building System was an obvious choice as it is low maintenance and lightweight.

“It also provided a well-insulated structure to help us meet Simplified Building Energy Model (SBEM) compliance.”

The entire building envelope was manufactured off-site and transported to the park, then craned into position above screw pile foundations.

Mike Fleming, Director from Glosford SIPS, spoke about this process.

“With the installation having to be completed during the closed season, there had to be a quick turnaround.

“We have had lots of experience working with Kingspan though and the system is really quick – the entire envelope was up in two weeks!

“We also really enjoyed working alongside the Safari Park construction team and the wild animals too.”

The Kingspan TEK panels were then clad with cedar and African art panels on the walls and dark green corrugated tin sheeting on the mono pitched roof; this helped it to blend in with the landscape, nicely suiting the surroundings of the park. With the roof panels being light, there was also less structural stress.

By erecting a Kingspan TEK Building System envelope, the project could achieve supreme levels of thermal performance by achieving U-values of 0.20 W/m2.K or better for the walls and roof.