Why Permavent was chosen:

Pritchatts Park Village residences project involves a significant redevelopment of the existing student residential village at the University of Birmingham’s Edgbaston campus.

The scheme was expanded as part of a variant offer to include the refurbishment of Pritchatts House, a 1960’s traditional halls of residence designed by John Madin to provide 163 ensuite rooms arranged in cluster flats and the significant internal refurbishment of the existing social Hub, a 1990’s addition to Pritchatts House designed by Associated Architects.

The brief was to provide world-class facilities for its staff and students, transforming the Pritchatts Park student village into a state-of-the-art campus, with the university’s first ever low carbon accommodation, a revitalised social hub and a new multistorey car park.

Comprising of 285 bed spaces, the new builds were designed to reflect the scale and character of the neighbouring residential dwellings.

Although the building appears to be of “standard” design, there were many design considerations that had to put forward, ensuring that a robust, tested and fit for purpose design was built.
One of the main concerns were around the risk of interstitial condensation and the products had to be suitable for a high degree of roof pitch. NRA Roofing and Flooring worked with Equans 18 months prior to works starting on site and assisted with the design and specification, all of which were taken on board & written into the NBS spec clause.

Permavent APEX 3 layer air open and vapour permeable membrane was selected because of it’s exceptional ability to allow moisture to escape through the roof via movement of the air and vapour diffusion, which eliminates any condensation in the roof space. This can be particularly important during the drying out period in new build applications.

The unique benefit of Permavent APEX exceeds the requirements of BS 5534:2014+A2:2018 code of practice for slating and tiling for pitched roofs and BS5250:2021 Management of moisture in buildings – code of practice.

The high vapour permeability also helps to minimise condensation within the roof structure, acting as a barrier against wind driven rain.

APEX is available with a unique integrated tape, allowing the laps of the membrane to be restrained in any weather.

The superior and industry leading qualities of Permavent APEX’s make the product extremely suitable for solar applications.

How Permavent was installed:

The project faced numerous challenges, the contractors’ diligent pre-construction efforts allowed them to mitigate most issues before commencing the work.

A full-time working foreman was on site, daily team meetings and twice weekly contracts manager visits. ensured tasks were fully known/explained, achievable, and done safely.

Work was completed within a very confined working area, including the stepped box valley itself was less than 300mm wide at it’s narrowest point.

APEX was installed in a standard manner over the original timber rafters. The integrated double tape system allowed the contractors to install the membrane with ease.