Value: £16 million
Architect: Crosby Granger Architects
Main Contractor: Brookland Group
Subcontractor: V&D Interiors
Products used: Full System Partitions and Ceilings, Metal Profiles, Insulation, Soundshield Plus, Knauf Joint tape, Fill and Finish, Resilient Bar, Intumescent and Acoustic Mastic.
Project Details
Tolson's Mill, Tamworth is a new £16 million development consisting of 51 canal side apartments and 10 town houses. Set within a five-storey textile factory, each apartment and house is set to retain the industrial character of the grade 2 listed Mill building.
Leading the project development was Brookland Group with subcontractors V&D Interiors fitting out each of the living spaces. In designing the building, Crosby Granger Architects placed safety and comfort as the main priorities for product specification.
Given the listed nature of the building, ensuring the materials used met and exceeded safety needs was critical. Likewise, ensuring acoustic performance would be key given the luxurious nature of the apartments and town houses.
For Calvin Challis, Commercial Manager at V&D Interiors, using Knauf products was the sensible thing to do. “The goals of the architect were to ensure a quality, soundproof interior which meant that the product specification met and exceeded this expectation. That’s where Knauf came in. Not only were they always there to help and ready to listen if we had any questions, but their product were also the right choice to achieve the goals specified by the architect.”
Attaining this level of performance would be achieved using Knauf performance systems products including metal partitions, which not only offer speed advantages on site, but enhance fire protection as well.
Meeting the acoustic needs of the brief, standard 12.5mm and 15mm Knauf Soundshield Plus were used on the walls and ceilings. Soundshield Plus provided enhanced acoustic performance and excellent fire resistance. Importantly, Soundshield Plus can give up to 54Db acoustic sound reduction when used as part of a Knauf system.
Getting the perfect finish throughout was achieving by using a mixture of Knauf finishing products. This included jointing tape, intumescent and acoustic mastic for their fire and acoustic performance attributes, and Knauf Fill and Finish. The result was a high-quality finish on partition walls with necessary performance built in.
Ensuring consistency throughout the interior, Knauf Ceilings were specified for their acoustic performance and peace of mind both ceiling and wall systems would complement each other.
“From a specification point of view, it was critical we knew that all products used would achieve the performance required. This was the main point for the architects but for us on site, having all the product come from a single supplier made it easier to source the right materials and know they’d install and work together easily” Calvin recalls.
While efficiencies were gained on site by using Knauf systems, one of the biggest advantages this approach offered was the peace of mind through warranties.
Calvin explained why this was so important: “The Knauf System Performance Warranty meant everyone knew the products would perform as intended for the lifetime of the system, with guarantees in place in the unlikely event of something going wrong.”
“Having that security in place was vital for all involved, it meant we could get the support we need for installation and the main contractors and client would be protected going forwards. Especially on a listed building project, you need to have that peace of mind in place.”
For added reassurance, Calvin recalls how Knauf would provide onsite support in the form of inspections “Knauf were brilliant, if we needed any help or assistance, they were more than happy to help. They came to the site a few times, to inspect the installation and provide some guidance if we were unsure of something. This was particularly helpful when it came to checking the acoustic ratings. They were able to check the acoustic ratings and ensure that they met the requirements, and that the client was satisfied.”
The apartments that form part of the luxury residential development at Tolson's Mills and Tamworth were completed in November of 2022, with the houses scheduled to be finished in June 2023.