Wheatstone House Case Study

Eye-catching, fire-safe Cavity System 2 and SpeedySlip Brick Façade for Wheatstone House, London

What does 10 Downing Street and Tate Modern have in common? Aside from being some of the UK’s most distinctive buildings, they are all built with brick.

Wheatstone House is the latest development in London featuring brick finish as its external façade. Using a new and innovative noncombustible external wall insulation system, SPSenvirowall delivered on creating a fire safe and thermally efficient building for residents in London.

SPSenvirowall provided its innovative new product, the Cavity System 2 to the development in London. It included external wall insulation and SpeedySlips delivering results which are outstanding and produce an intriguing and engaging brickwork façade. Eight storey Wheatstone House provides 95 one, two- and three-bedroom homes including commercial space and amenities.

To reach the highest standard of fire safety for the external cladding, SPSenvirowall was approached to supply its Cavity System 2 solution for its A2-s1, d0 fire-rated classification in accordance with BS EN13501-1. SPSenvirowall’s Cavity System 2 consist of EuroClass A1 components which are mechanically fixed back to the inner sheathing board to create the designed cavity width when applying a secondary 12mm A1 sheathing board and 130mm mineral wool insulation with the addition of SpeedySlips to create the attractive façade.

The benefits make SpeedySlip not only suitable for cladding new structures but are increasingly being used to regenerate buildings. Flexible brick slips are frequently being chosen for external facades to improve the aesthetics of the building and are a quick and cost-effective material for the client.

Approved by the local planning department and the client, the brick specified for this project was sent to the manufacturers to be aesthetically matched and was bespoke for the project. By employing multiple brick colours from the SpeedySlip range surrounding the building’s horseshoe shape, the red and white brick slips complement each other and provide a contrasting and aesthetically attractive landmark in the area.

Key Benefits

• KIWA BDA Certification
• Compliant with Approved Document B and Technical Handbook section 2
• Minimum EuroClass Reaction to Fire classification of A2 – s1, d0
• EuroClass A1 support system
• Takes cladding out of the critical path by quickly weatherproofing the building
• Low-cost cladding solution
• Fast application
• Tried and tested
• Wide range of colours and finishes including brick slips
• Easily achieves high levels of thermal performance
• Highly durable and weather resistant
• Crack resistant