Sofidel - Intertissue plant, Baglan Energy Park, Swansea
In a marine environment beating the weather can be a challenge. Choosing the right components for the building envelope won the battle on this job.
The new Intertissue plant at the Baglan Energy Park near Swansea was a truly pan-European construction. The main contractor was Polimex-Mostostal from Poland with other suppliers and subcontractors from France and the UK. With over 82,000 sq.m. of flat roofing installed this was the UK’s biggest roofing project of 2005/2006.
The £70 million factory was built for Italian paper manufacturer Sofidel. Upon completion it immediately became Europe’s most modern integrated paper mill with an output capable of 600 million rolls of household tissue in a year.
Ensuring the integrity of the weather membrane was essential for such a large project. The roof construction on the 10 buildings comprises profiled steel decking with vapour control overlay. This is followed by a 70 - 130mm layer of Duoroc insulation with Flagon SR from Flag Membranes UK Ltd. PVC single ply membrane reinforced with polyester is used as the weather layer.
SFS intec’s telescopic and austenitic stainless steel fasteners were used to fasten the insulation to the decking and provide high performance mechanical fixing for the membrane weather layer through to the decking. The performance and long life of the fasteners is critical to the project as the roofs are 12 and 24 metres high. In addition to this the site is exposed to Southwesterly gales from the Atlantic Ocean, combining high wind lift with a marine environment. By specifying low thermal conductivity austenitic stainless steel fasteners, the energy efficiency specifications of the roof design have been easily met.