The £16+m new Windermere Jetty, Museum of Boats and Stories will deliver ideal conditions for both displays and visitors, in part through engineering excellence from Blackpool.
Gilberts Blackpool, Britain’s leading air movement specialist, has provided ventilation louvres for the new museum, designed by Carmody Groarke as part of a RIBA international design competition for Lakeland Arts.
The new museum will replace existing facilities, and will rehouse what is deemed to be the most important collection of watercraft in one location anywhere in the world. The design breaks down a large museum into a cluster of buildings including a boathouse, conservation workshop and learning centre that reflects the site’s industrial heritage.
Roofing and cladding contractor Lakesmere, working on behalf of main contractor Thomas Armstrong, has installed 28 of Gilberts’ WHF75 high performance flanged ventilation louvres, each fitted with a VN75 volume control damper into the external façade of an SFS substructure with a copper profile rain screen skin. The Gilberts louvres were chosen by project consultants ARUP, as most suited to integrate into the external soffit zones of the façade and provide efficient airflow and ventilation of the main exhibition spaces throughout the cantilevered building range.
Explained James Gordon, Gilberts’ Natural Ventilation Sales Director, “A ventilation solution was required that could easily integrate into the castellated copper façade, yet deliver good ventilation for the large internal spaces. With its unique blade design, WHF75 is almost an industry standard for high performance ventilation louvres, and was therefore an obvious choice.”
Gilberts’ WHF75 louvre was fitted with a VN-75 natural ventilation damper designed to provide smooth, accurate and stable airflow. The damper attains a U value of 0.96W/m2/K, with air leakage less than 5m3/hr/m2. The 75mm blade pitch of the single core WHF louvres deliver high performance with Class A weatherability, and a free ventilation area of 50%.
The Series WH is a core element of Gilberts’ air movement solutions, which incorporates grilles, louvres, and diffusers for natural, hybrid and mechanical ventilation. Founded 55 years ago, Gilberts Blackpool is Britain’s leading independent air movement specialist, and is unique in its ability to develop components- be it ‘mainstream’ or bespoke- entirely in-house, from initial design through tooling, production, testing and supply, at its 85,000 ft2 manufacturing facility. Its state of the art test centre, designed and built in-house, is one of the most technically advanced in the country.
Gilberts tel 01253 766911