When undertaking a refurbishment project, for many, ensuring minimum disruption to the building is a major concern. There are often high costs associated with either closing the building or moving the occupants and stock to an alternative location.
However, with steel building envelope refurbishment projects the impact on occupancy of the building ultimately comes down to the type of refurbishment chosen – a complete strip and re-sheet or an over clad system.
The most thorough refurbishment is a re-sheet which involves the compete removal of the existing building envelope down to the steel structure. This is most suitable when the existing cladding, which is often fibre reinforced cement, is in very poor condition. A thorough asbestos survey needs to be undertaken before any cladding can be disturbed or removed.
Any modifications and/or repairs to the structure are carried out and the cladding is then completely replaced with the new system. This method of refurbishment has a considerable effect on the occupants of the building and can only be completed if the area being refurbished can be completely closed down. In some cases, areas of a building can be fully resheeted without closing the building, provided adequate safety measures such as fully boarding out the roof truss area have been carried out, however this has very high associated costs and is usually not practicable.
Although this level of refurbishment carries the disadvantage of having to effectively close the building down, it can however pay dividends in other areas. It can improve aesthetics both internally and externally, and increase the thermal efficiency of the building up to that of a new building, significantly reducing heating and lighting bills.
Another option available to building owners and the one probably most preferred by those looking to keep their building occupied during a refurb project, is to over clad the existing building envelope
This method is completed by using a single-skin sheeting system. The existing sheet is used as a ‘liner’ and an insulation quilt is normally incorporated between the two skins. It is possible to over sheet a roof using a composite panel, but this isn’t the ideal solution, as unnecessary and excessive additional loads are imposed upon the existing structure and it can become more costly.
An over clad refurbishment ensures minimum disruption to the building occupants as the existing building envelope is kept intact and it can be completed a lot quicker than a re-sheet.
It does require a structural check before commencing to ensure the existing structure can take the additional loads. The existing cladding, which is often fibre reinforced cement also needs to be in good condition and a thorough asbestos survey needs to be undertaken.
Although both methods have their benefits, for a building owner looking to keep his property occupied during a refurbishment, over cladding is usually the preferred option.
The refurbishment priorities section of our web site discusses these options in more detail.
By David Taylor – Refurbishment consultant at Corus Colorcoat®
Tags: building refurbishment, cladding, commercial building, property refurbishment
