MERO-SCHMIDLIN (UK) PLC. - Chessington Community College, UK

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_ Construction Systems _ _ Roofs _ _ Building Envelopes _ _ Facades / Curtain Wall _ _ Canopies _ _ Towers _ _ Atria _ _ Other _ Curtainwalling _ Raised Access Floors	_ .	Chessington Community College, UK Chessington Community College has undergone extensive demolition and redevelopment of the original school buildings, under one of the first DfES funded ‘Building Schools for the Future’ redevelopment programmes. At the core of the rebuilt complex lies a huge multi-storey atrium topped with a lightweight ETFE clad roof designed, supplied and installed by MERO-SCHMIDLIN (UK) PLC. The 35m long atrium roof consists of ten bays of ETFE cushions, which span the 26m width as single inflated strips in an arching barrel vault profile. 2.5m deep steel trusses span across the atrium supporting the long sides of the cushions, with three runs of cross bracing struts between adjacent trusses below the cushions. The curved spanning cushions negate the need for lateral support steelwork through the roof, and along with the high light transmission properties of the ETFE cushions, enable the maximum amount of natural light to flood into the atrium and adjoining classrooms below. This significantly reduces the building’s artificial lighting requirements over more traditional designs, whilst opening vents to the sides and gable ends of the atrium roof, also clad in inflated ETFE cushions, provide natural ventilation to the atrium space below. With reduced artificial HVAC requirements to the building from the natural ventilation and the reduced artificial lighting needs, the college is able to meet it’s strict environmental targets including having 15% of the college’s energy consumption produced on site by renewable sources. The triple layer ETFE cushions are inflated by a constant supply of pressurized air from a pump unit located on the adjacent roof, through Æ80 air pipes located behind the façade to roof flashings. In the event of damage to the cushions resulting in their deflation, the tensioned middle ETFE layer keeps the entire cushion intact and the building sealed. [Download this project as a PDF document]
_	_ Project Title:	_ Chessington Community College Atrium Roof _
_	Scope of Works:	Design manufacture and installation of atrium roof structure and cladding including opening vents and 14m high support columns to sports hall elevation _
_	Cladding Details:	Triple layer inflated clear ETFE Foil (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene) cushions comprising of 10 curved and 44 flat cushions. _
_	Steelwork Details:	50t mild steel sections including 273x6.3 CHS trusses 219x6.3 vertical truss members and 76x5 CHS cross bracing _
_	Year of Completion:	200 _
_	Client:	Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames. _
_	Architect:	IID Architects _
_	Main Contractor:	Wilmott Dixon Construction Ltd _
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