INTRODUCCIÓN A LOS RELÉS MICROPROCESADOS MULTIFUNCIONALES MULTIFUNCIONALES MULTIFUNCIONALES

The London case study comprises two buildings, constructed in 2011 and 2012 (Figures 5.30 to 5.35). Block A has seven storeys and the smaller floor area, Block B has 12 storeys and the larger floor area. The floor area in Block B decreases on the upper storeys, with the top floor approximately two thirds the area of the ground floor. Only Block B was included in the study, due to the small size of the study and the need to keep the distance between wireless sensors and the controller to a minimum.

Figure 5.30 (top left): London case study site plan, with view points indicated [Architect 3, 2011] Figure 5.31 (top centre): View 1 showing Block A and Block B from within the courtyard

Figure 5.32 (top right): View 2 of Block A and Block B from within courtyard Figure 5.33 (bottom left): View 3 showing Block A and Block B from the east Figure 5.34 (bottom centre): View 4 showing Block B from the west [Google Maps, 2014b] Figure 5.35 (bottom right): View 5 showing Block B from the north-west [Google Maps, 2014b]

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5.2.1 Location

The London case study buildings are in

London,

(Figures 5.36 to 5.39).

Figure 5.36 (left): [The National Archives, 2014]

Figure 5.37 (right): Map of showing London case location in London [Mapbox, 2014}

Figure 5.38 (left): Satellite image of London study buildings marked [Google Maps, 2014b] Figure 5.39 (right): Aerial Photograph of London study buildings marked [ , 2014]

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5.2.2 Internal Layout and Structure

Parts of the buildings were not modular, including the ground floors, the stair cores, the majority of kitchens in Block B, and six bedrooms in Block B. It is believed these areas were constructed using steel reinforced precast concrete beams, columns and panels (Figure 5.40). Non-modular stair cores, kitchens and bedrooms were for structural purposes, to resist the lateral loads in a building of this height. The ground floors primarily comprise non-residential spaces, however Block B also has four student

flats, and although they are not modular they have the same layout and dimension as the modular rooms on the storeys above, and contain identical shower pods. The first floor and above are used entirely as student accommodation, and are predominantly modular in construction (Tables 5.9 and 5.10).

Table 5.9: Use of space within the London Case study buildings

Number of: Block B Block A

Flats in Total 55 12

Ground Floor Flats (Beds each) 4 (5,5,7,9) 0

1st-6th Floor Flats (Beds each) 5 (3,10,10,10,10) 2 (5,9)

7th-9th Floor Flats (Beds each) 5 (3,7,7,10,10) N/A

10th-11th Floor Flats (Beds each) 3 (5,10,10) N/A

3 Bed Flats 9 0 5 Bed Flats 4 6 7 Bed Flats 7 0 9 Bed Flats 1 6 10 Bed Flats 34 0 Modular kitchens 17 12 Non-modular kitchens 38 0 Modular bedrooms 413 84 Non-modular bedrooms 32 0 Studios 0 0 Stair cores 1 1 Other Spaces (e.g. laundry)

Plant Room, Common Room, Comms Rooms, Cycle Store

Entrance, Office, Laundry, Sub- Station, Switch Room, Comms Room, Disabled WC, Bin Store

Figure 5.40 : London study – Block B non- modular cores completed and modules partly

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Table 5.10: Floor layouts for London case study buildings, highlighting modular components

Details Floor Plan [Architect 3, 2011] Offsite Modular Components

[ 2012]

Ground Floor:

The ground floor is not modular, it is believed to be reinforced precast concrete

There are 4 flats in Block B, the bedrooms all feature shower pods, constructed offsite and

provided by .

1st to 6th Floors:

All bedrooms and kitchens in Block A are modular.

On each floor in Block B, all but one of the bedrooms are modular, the non-modular bedrooms have a shower pod

provided by .

Only one of the five kitchens on each floor in Block B is modular.

7th to 9th Floors

On each of these floors all bedrooms are modular.

Three of the five kitchens on each floor are modular.

10th to 11th Floors

On each of these floors, all bedrooms are modular.

One of the three kitchens on each floor is modular.

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The majority of modular bedrooms are of the standard size with an internal floor area of 5.35m by 2.4m (Figure 5.41); there are also twenty-two modular accessible bedrooms, where the module and the shower room are larger to allow for wheelchair access. Accessible modular bedrooms were included, in limited numbers, in many halls. The kitchen modules vary in size depending on the number of bedrooms in each flat (Figure 5.42), and none are of the standard size. Since more than half of the kitchens were not modular and were constructed on site, the modular kitchens were provided to site without the standard internal fit and finish so they could be completed on site to the same specification as the non-modular kitchens.

Each flat has its own private corridor which is behind the locked entry door to each flat. They have lighting and power sockets, but no windows, because none have external walls.

Figure 5.41 (left): London study – Standard modular bedroom [ , 2015] Figure 5.42 (right): London study – Large kitchen [ , 2015]

Block A is a low rise building and Block B is a medium rise building, they have different modular designs because the difference in height meant each building had different structural requirements. Only Block B was included in the case study so the structure of Block A is not important. Block B may not feature the standard medium rise design (Chapter 4.3.5). There is conflicting information in the technical documentation which makes it difficult to have absolute confidence. Based on various details, it is believed that the walls followed the standard medium rise design with two layers of 15mm plasterboard internally, but that the ceiling featured the low rise design (Chapter 4.3.4), with plasterboard of two different thicknesses (15mm and 12.5mm). In fact the low rise ceiling design was observed in drawings for other medium rise projects, and may actually have used both ceiling designs in medium rise construction.

The external facade was fitted on site and comprises rigid insulation fixed to the modules with various types of render and cladding fitted to it (Table 5.11). The types of facade

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materials and their dimensions are known from technical drawings, however nothing is known of their thermal properties.

Table 5.11: London study – Facade materials

Facade Materials Image reference

PPC extruded aluminium cladding panel in orange and green A

Glass-fibre reinforced concrete (GRC) rainscreen cladding panel B

Western red cedar timber rainscreen cladding C

Trespa Meteon exterior rainscreen cladding panel D

Dark grey render system E

White render system F

Glazed curtain walling (see section 5.2.3 Fenestration) Figure 5.46

Block B East facing facade facing the courtyard Block A East facing facade dacing the street

The white render system is the predominant facade material followed by the grey render system, because all rooms that face the courtyard have rendered facade, as do many that face outwards. The glazed curtain walling is used only in some parts of the ground floor: in the common room, main entrance and offices. The GRC and timber rainscreen cladding systems are used only on the ground floor and approximately the bottom half of the first floor. The Trespa Meteon rainscreen cladding and the PPC extruded aluminium cladding are used in small quantities on facades that face outwards, they are not used on the facades that face the courtyard. Some individual modular rooms actually have three or four different types of facade material attached to their external wall, but the majority have one or two (typically the white and/or grey render systems).

C F E E A A B D F

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Not only is the use of materials varied across the facade, the thickness of the facade also varies. Four thicknesses of rigid insulation were used, resulting in a variable wall thickness across the facade (Figures 5.43 and 5.44). From the limited information available, it appears that the thickness of rigid insulation is linked to the facade materials used, and that only the white render system uses 200mm thick insulation, only the grey render system uses 100mm thick insulation, and the cladding is always fitted to 60mm thick insulation with an air gap in between (Tables 5.12 to 5.15). The white render system is also used with the 150mm thick insulation, but it is not clear if it is also used with the grey render system.

The thermal implications of using various facade materials and various insulation thicknesses are not clear. None of the documentation obtained from mentions thermal performance or external wall U-Values, but this does not mean that these aspects were not considered. The different thicknesses of rigid insulation could have been selected to have different thermal properties so that all sections of wall have similar U-Values, however this is merely conjecture, and the real design considerations are unknown.

Figure 5.43 (left): London study – Block B east facing facade showing variable facade thickness Figure 5.44 (right): London study – Block A and B east facing facades showing variable facade thickness Table 5.12: London study – Details of modular external wall: grey render on 150mm insulation

No. Render on 150mm insulation facade Thickness (mm)

1 Plasterboard 15

2 Plasterboard with foil backed VCL (vapour

control layer)

15

3 Steel stud wall panel

filled with Rockwool

75 60

4 Racking board 10

5 Breather membrane 2

6 Rigid insulation with low emissivity, vapour

control facing

150

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Table 5.13: London study – Details of modular external wall: grey render on 100mm insulation

No. Render on 100mm insulation facade Thickness (mm)

1 Plasterboard 15

2 Plasterboard with foil backed VCL 15

3 Steel stud wall panel (filled with Rockwool) 75 (60)

4 Racking board 10

5 Breather membrane 2

6 Rigid insulation with low emissivity, vapour

control facing

100

7 Grey render 6

Table 5.14: London study – Details of modular external wall: white render on 200mm insulation

No. Render on 200mm insulation facade Thickness (mm)

1 Plasterboard 15

2 Plasterboard with foil backed VCL 15

3 Steel stud wall panel (filled with Rockwool) 75 (60)

4 Racking board 10

5 Breather membrane 2

6 Rigid insulation with low emissivity, vapour

control facing

200

7 White render 6

Table 5.15: London study – Details of modular external wall: Cladding systems

No. Cladding facade Thickness (mm)

1 Plasterboard 15

2 Plasterboard with foil backed VCL 15

3 Steel stud wall panel (filled with Rockwool) 75 (60)

4 Racking board 10

5 Breather membrane 2

6 Rigid insulation with low emissivity, vapour

control facing

60

7 Air gap 90

8 Cladding systems:

• PPC aluminium rainscreen

• High pressure laminate rainscreen • Western red cedar timber

• Trespa Meteon

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5.2.3 Fenestration

The buildings contain 21 different styles of windows plus curtain walling (Figures 5.45 to 5.47). The style of glazing used varies based on the type of room and location in the building:

• Double glazed window with top hung opening in bedrooms and kitchens • Opaque windows that do not open in stair cores

• Curtain walling in reception area and common room on the ground floors

There are also five different glazing specifications and four trickle vent specifications, which means two windows may have the same appearance but different properties. The reason for this is the different acoustic requirements of windows in different locations. A train line runs adjacent to the west side of the site, to minimise noise the bedrooms in Block B that face north and west have thicker glazing and acoustic trickle vents. The kitchens have lower specification glazing and trickle vents, presumably because occupants do not sleep in the kitchen so there is not the same requirement to block noise from these spaces.

There are no windows in the flat corridors because they have no external walls.

There are no details about the thermal performance of any of the windows, or whether the use of different types of glazing affects heat transfer through otherwise identical windows. The Buildings Regulations at the time of construction [DCLG, 2015] require a U-Value no higher than 2.2W/m2K for windows and curtain walling.

Figure 5.45 (left): London study – large bedroom windows left & right, stair core opaque windows centre Figure 5.46 (centre): London study – ground floor curtain walling in office in Block A

Figure 5.47 (right): London study – oriel windows in highly shaded south facade in Block B

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