A labour and skills shortage in the construction industry is placing pressure on retrofitting targets and the construction of new buildings. At the same time, businesses are faced with rising pressure to shift to a more sustainable business model and reduce the impact on carbon emissions.
It has left design teams, engineers and architects in search of solutions that accelerates the massive energy efficiency potential in commercial buildings and office spaces, without putting extra strain on time or labour resources.
Kingspan Insulated Panels has developed an innovative solution which allows Engineers and Building Owners to construct buildings that consume less resources and create sustainable buildings with an integrated insulated panel with Solar-photovoltaic (PV) known as PowerPanel™ .
As a product solution, PowerPanel can help businesses address rising energy costs and deliver on environmental goals. From an installation perspective there are numerous benefits.
Speed of build
The shortage of professionals and tradespeople is being felt across the entire construction sector with a consequent knock-on effect on house building and other critical infrastructure requirements.
According to the 2019 International construction market survey from global consultants Turner and Townsend, two thirds of the 64 worldwide markets who took part experienced labour skills shortages.
Alongside rising costs and material shortages, a project could take much longer because of this. A solution is to use straightforward, easy to install products that are less complex, and take less time.
PowerPanel is assembled offsite, and its single unit nature means a fully PV ready roof has the potential to be constructed in less time, leading to schedule improvements.
Predictability
Predictability is key, and a process that can be derailed by changing weather will be unappealing to contractors and installers when there is a need for a project to finish on time and within budget.
With Kingspan PowerPanel, the building envelope can be made weathertight at an early stage, ensuring the predictability of project completion and reducing labour costs.
Worker safety
The laborious step-by-step process of the installation activity while working at height, is a significant risk for worker safety. The increased amount of time spent to instal the roof liner, insulation, and then the external weather sheet is more time exposed to injury. Kingspan’s PowerPanel is one integrated roof solution instead of two products, reducing the time needed to instal the PV panels at height.
Lightweight
The urgent need to construct more energy efficient buildings has led to ever increasing thickness of insulation being required. This has a knock-on effect on the structure, requiring more secondary steelwork to support the weight. This becomes even more of an issue with the added loading of PV panels.
Because of innovative Quadcore advanced insulation technology, thinner and lighter panels are being produced that still have low U-values, so the problem of needing thick layers of insulation to prevent heat loss subsides. The PowerPanel roof and PV solution is up to 74% lighter than traditional PV systems, and allows for faster installation.
Ireland's overall infrastructure needs to be upgraded to meet present and future challenges. Businesses have a huge part to play in helping Ireland reach its energy reduction targets. However, for many the capacity to invest in energy initiatives has been challenged by the disruptions caused by the pandemic, labour shortages and rising operation costs. PowerPanel is an innovative and integrated product heralding a new way to approach constructing buildings.
Find out more about how PowerPanel could help your project here.