It’s FAIRS to say Wickes made the right choice

Since the opening of their first UK store in 1972, Wickes continues to expand its trading base. The opening of their new premises at Baildon Holmes Mills (a site that was home to British Mohair Spinners for more than 240 years) will add to the already exceeded 200 store milestone.

When it comes to the environment, Wickes are taking positive steps to improve energy efficiency in their stores whilst making a concerted effort to source materials from environmentally responsible suppliers and manufacturers. Wickes specified Hambleside Danelaw’s Zenon Factory Assembled Insulated Rooflights (FAIRs) to give the best possible thermal performance whilst at the same time enhancing the spread of natural daylight into their buildings thus making the interior of the building a much more pleasant environment for Wickes colleagues and customers alike.

Steelwork purlin centres on the buildings frame were designed at 2.45 metre centres. Using conventional products, this would have needed very thick, rigid FAIRS to accommodate the span without significant cosmetic ‘sagging’, or additional steelwork to reduce the span condition at the rooflights, which would have resulted in significant cost increases. The new Zenon Multi-Liner on the revamped Hambleside Danelaw FAIRS allowed the panels to accommodate the 2.45 metre purlin span without the need for additional costly works or materials. This specification also included Hambleside Danelaw’s ZSL50 side tapes for improved thermal performance and increased airtightness at the rooflight side laps together with a Zenon Evolution high strength external skin which is the best solution for environmentally conscious or commercial buildings as it uses less resin in the manufacturing process, is thinner, lighter and with less embodied carbon. Other benefits include a better profile definition to suit the surrounding metal sheets, more reliable sealing and a non-fragility performance which equals or betters that of heavier conventionally reinforced products.

The store’s 1,800m² warehouse roof area consists of 120mm thick Tata Trisomet 333 composite panels coated in HPS200 Ultra, 15% of which is made up of Hambleside Danelaw’s rooflights achieving a low U-value of 0.8W/m²K whilst retaining improved light transmission levels close to 60% better and a total embodied carbon value of 13.36kg CO2e/m², more than 60% less than that of a similar traditional rooflight specification.

Project team

The project was designed by Beckwith Design Associates and built by Marshalls Building Contractors Ltd with Zenon rooflights fitted by Temban Roofing Ltd.