A concave and convex facade at the same time with E-Board® (NL)

Name: Vandersanden
Address: 16 Stocks Bridge Way, Compass Point Business Park, St Ives, Cambridgeshire, PE27 5JL, UK
Telephone: +44 (0)1954268075

A concave and convex facade, clad in brick. Such an unusual challenge needs a sophisticated solution. For this new-build project, we had to develop a brand-new, bespoke product, but the result is nothing short of spectacular.

The original idea was to create a rounded facade of brick . The municipality set up a public contract with competition procedure (Design Build contract) . How can you be both creative and limit your costs? With precisely that in mind , we developed a one-off new product. It was a stand-out experience for the staff involved.

What exactly did the project involve? The new multifunctional accommodation (MFA) ‘De Cammeleur’ in Dongen got a new, rounded brick facade from the first floor over a length of 55 metres, interrupted by an atrium. Four parties worked together to develop the requisite prefabricated elements.

A rounded facade involves a number of major challenges. The round shapes are not easy to create with traditional brickwork. The contractor had the idea of equipping the facade with rounded woodwork bedecked in brick slips , but that seemed like an expensive and labour-intensive option.

We demonstrated the E-Board facade panel with brick slips affixed on top . The EPS panels are not round, but can be curved . We worked with a construction model which seemed to work, but it was too small for the enormous surfaces.

E-Board® for new-build

Plan two came from a specialist firm that creates shapes and fantasy shapes from EPS material . A decorative piece like the big hand from the TV programme ‘The Voice’ for example, or a piece of artwork to support a viaduct. With their 3D laser cutting machine, virtually anything is possible. The company created large E-Board panels, especially for this project, 600 by 220 cm in size. For the installation, we used a steel structure, thus creating a new prefabricated structure. One employee spent the entire summer working on a design that would fit the 34 elements together.

Step by step we moved closer. The engineers calculated everything and collected the materials needed for installation. They even developed special trestles to hold the prefabricated elements in a hall . The brick slips were carefully affixed to the elements in the hall, one by one. It sounds very straightforward, but there was a one-day workshop beforehand to show everyone how to affix the brick slips. After that, it went quickly.

The hour of truth was approaching as the summer progressed. The work on the construction in Dongen was in full swing. The building was adjacent to a park of beautiful, majestic trees, which made it difficult to reach the building with a crane. The prefabricated structure with E-Board panels needed to be suspended over the site with a crane that could span 40 m . It was an ambitious project, but with the contractor’s thorough preparation beforehand, all the support points were in the right place. A long procession of semi-trailers arrived with the facade elements.

The facade was divided into 34 parts. Some convex, some concave. Each was six metres in height and built with a steel-frame package, which is a sturdy, self-supporting, and insulating steel frame. The prefabricated elements were made from acoustic interior cladding, an insulated and self-supporting steel-frame package, EPS shells, and finished with ceramic brick slips. After all, the thermal and acoustic insulation needed to satisfy strict requirements.

Additional technical information

The facades at the rear are brickwork, while the other facades are made from E-Board facade panel with ceramic brick slips. The result is a complete brick finish, regardless of the subsurface.

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