CA achieves exceptional airtightness for new BBC media centre.

CA Building Products is currently on site at the prestigious new Media City UK development, supplying GM Services and Bovis with the cladding system for a 26-storey block for the BBC.

The building, at Salford Quays in Manchester, is being clad in a combined Plano-Therm^® and Twin-Therm^® system which will give it industry-leading air and water tightness for optimum insulation performance. The design and assembly of the building has recently undergone extensive testing to CWCT (Centre for Window and Cladding Technology) standards, and comfortably exceeded all required values including air leakage, water penetration and wind resistance safety.

In tests, which took place at the Wintech testing facility in Telford, Shropshire, the Plano-Therm^® and Twin-Therm^® assembly was proved to deliver an exceptionally low air leakage rate of 0.17m³/hour/m² at a pressure of 600 Pascals. It was also tested at up to 2250 Pascals to simulate wind load and monitor structural integrity and monitor deflection. Even at 150% of positive design wind load, the test sample passed with no structural failure.

The tests involved the reproduction of a section of the BBC Building, comprising a 3.6m square bay with full Twin-Therm^® build up, a centralised window opening, and Plano-Therm^® on the outside following the configuration of the original building design.

 The section was then exposed to controlled pressures and inundation with water from a turbo-prop aircraft engine and a series of water nozzles, followed by a concentrated high pressure to test strength. The Plano-Therm^® and Twin-Therm^® assembly passed all aspects of testing and as a result has now been approved for use on the BBC Building, currently under construction as Block A of Media City UK.