Royal Pavilion
Apartment building benefits from the exceptional thermal performance of OPTIM-R floor insulation
Case Study4 min read
The Natural History Museum in London has completed a major redevelopment of its five-acre gardens, transforming the site into a welcoming, accessible, and biodiverse green space. This transformation is a core part of the Museum’s Urban Nature Project – its response to the growing impacts of urbanisation and biodiversity loss on both people and the planet.
LOCATIONSouth Kensington, London
ArchitectFeilden Fowles
ProductsOPTIM-R Flooring System
The works include the construction of a new Garden Kitchen and the conversion of the undercroft of the Palaeontology building into a new event room, insulated with the OPTIM-R Flooring System.
Feilden Fowles, Walter Lilly, and J & L Gibbons partnered with the Natural History Museum to repurpose the garden spaces, providing vibrant, multifunctional spaces for education, research, and public enjoyment. A key aspect of the works were the construction of a new Garden Kitchen café, Garden Room event space and Nature Activity Centre, supported by Amazon Web Service, set amongst the reimagined gardens. All buildings are designed to achieve low carbon emissions and implement a range of passive and active measures to achieve this, including highly insulated and airtight building envelopes, glazing positioned and sized to optimise wintertime solar gains, and ground source heat pumps.
The open plan café is nestled against the 1970s Palaeontology building which originally featured a sheltered undercroft beneath the main building and adjoining tower. As part of the project, this exposed space was integrated into the new café, housing the kitchens and toilets. The space below the octagonal tower has been converted into the 70-seater Garden Room event space utilising circular materials such as acoustic felt made from recycled bottles.
One key challenge posed by converting the space below the tower was upgrading the thermal performance of the floor to align with the target floor U-value of 0.10 W/m2K. The insulation needed to be laid above the existing concrete slab. This meant it was crucial to limit the depth of the insulation layer to maintain comfortable headroom within the finished event space. This led to the specification of the OPTIM-R Flooring System.
The system comprises vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) with a microporous core that is evacuated of air and sealed within a gas-tight envelope. This allows them to achieve a declared thermal conductivity of just 0.007 W/mK, notably lower than that of commonly used insulation materials. This can allow the panels to be used to achieve U-values with much slimmer insulation thicknesses than would be possible with commonly used alternatives.
For the Garden Room project, our designers worked with the project team to develop an OPTIM-R Flooring System layout which would meet their U-value goal with the slimmest possible insulation thickness. The final design features 30 and 40 mm OPTIM-R VIPs with 3 mm protective rubber crumb layers above and below the construction. As VIPs cannot be cut, the perimeter areas next to the octagonal walls were infilled with rigid thermoset boards of the same thickness which could be cut to precisely match the dimensions of the space.
This pre-designed approach not only helps to ensure the finished construction meets the thermal performance target, but also ensures the materials supplied matched the requirements for the project, limiting waste. This was a key priority with the project team committed to zero-non-hazardous waste to landfill.
Sam Stowe, Walter Lilly Site Manager commented:
"Kingspan OPTIM-R insulation was utilised on our Urban Nature Project and proved to be an excellent choice in meeting the project's thermal performance targets. From a main contractor’s perspective, the installation process was straightforward and efficient, with the products integrating seamlessly into the build programme. Kingspan’s technical team provided valuable support throughout, ensuring a smooth delivery. We were satisfied with both the performance and practicality of the insulation."
The layout was supplied to the site team along with the numbered OPTIM-R VIPs. This allowed them panels to be quickly and accurately fitted, providing a continuous layer of insulation across the floor space. Once the rubber crumb and protective layers were installed above the panels, they were ready to receive the finished timber flooring.
Images credit: Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London
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