The St Vincent New Bridges’ project is run by St Vincent de PAUL, a homeless hostel that supports people who need to have a place to live and that require help to develop their daily living skills. When the charity acquired the Grade II listed building, a major refurbishment plan was put into action, and St Vincent de PAUL approached Crash for help with materials and construction work.
Francesca Roberts, Chief Executive at Crash explains: “The brief for the magnificent old two storey building encapsulated many areas of work including: making the former priory 'cell' rooms self contained and habitable; providing new individual shower and toilet facilities in each flat; creating new kitchen areas upgraded to accommodate training functions; forming new access ways and structural openings to form linkages with adjacent buildings and spaces; upgrading and replacing the heating, lighting and electrical services, as well as providing new finishing’s and fittings for each room. A challenging task, but with the help from suppliers, the vision has been realised.”
Knauf Insulation donated over 520m2 of 100mm Earthwool Loft Roll insulation for the project, which was installed by Giraffe Building Services Ltd. The glass mineral wool insulation product is extremely easy to handle and install, being lightweight and easily cut to size, benefiting the large project. By its nature, Earthwoll Loft Roll is non-combustible and classified as Euroclass A1 to BS EN ISO 13501-1, a crucial requirement to any public building.
Additionally, Loft Roll insulation has been manufactured with ECOSE Technology, and so benefits from a revolutionary, formaldehyde-free binder technology, based on rapidly renewable materials, instead of petro-based chemicals. It reduces embodied energy and delivers superior environmental sustainability.
The technology has been developed for Knauf Insulation’s glass and rock mineral wool products, enhancing their environmental credentials without affecting the thermal, acoustic or fire performance. Insulation products made with ECOSE Technology contain no dye or artificial colours – the colour is completely natural.
Cliff Akenclose, Project Coordinator at St Vincent de PAUL explains: “We have found Crrash to be extremely professional and they have gone out of their way to help us find the materials needed to give this development a superior finish which anyone would be proud to reside in. Crash has put us in touch with local people who have been in a position to give us high-quality materials at a much reduced price, which in turn has given us the opportunity to have a project which can meet the needs of many disadvantaged people in our area.”
Francesca Roberts adds: “The service from Knauf Insulation has been professional and generous as always.”
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