Morrisons’ South West Regional Distribution Centre (RDC), a 59 acre goods facility nearing completion at Bridgwater in Somerset, is raising the bar for energy conservation, with an exemplar scheme that uses innovative solar PV and insulated panel technology from Kingspan Insulated Panels to create one of Europe’s most energy efficient logistics facilities.

One of the challenges was to transform unproductive roof space into the facility’s own power plant. Following a thorough project analysis by Kingspan’s in-house Renewables design team, two different products from the PowerPanel range were specified for two of the distribution facility’s main buildings to meet that challenge.

At the ‘Goods in Warehouse’, FK Construction installed the Roof PowerPanel Laminate System using Topdek KS1000 TD, a single ply insulated membrane roofdeck manufactured with the PV laminate adhered directly to the surface.

Using 1,548 modules, this system will provide a single-source, insulated, roof and solar PV power source delivering a total peak output of over 220 kWp and an estimated 197,279 kWhrs of energy per annum.

At the ‘Frozen Warehouse’, several Kingspan insulated panel systems have been combined to create a facility that not only conserves energy but also produces its own supply. Internally, savings will be achieved using Kingspan KS1100 CS coldstore panels, specially created for temperature controlled and hygiene safe environments, which can be flexibly combined to create areas for frozen storage.

The KS1100 CS insulated panel system is both LPCB and FM approved – an important consideration for such facilities, as Tony Wall, Managing Director of ISD Coldstores explained: “We installed 23,700m2 of KS1100 CS panels at Morrisons. As one of the leading UK coldstore contractors, we’re very familiar with this system and we recommend it and work with it a lot. The heat produced from cold storage facilities can create a substantial fire risk and, because Kingspan insulated panels have a PIR rather than PUR core, we can confidently recommend them to our clients on the strength of their excellent Firesafe rating alone”.

Externally, the Frozen Warehouse has a highly insulated building envelope comprising: Kingspan KS1000 MR Micro-Rib architectural wall panels, and KS1000 RW insulated roof panels, which provide a support structure for the 1,194 Kingspan Roof PowerPanel crystalline PV modules mounted onto the south facing elevations to convert the sun’s energy into electricity for refrigeration, these were also installed by FK Construction.

With the addition of Kingspan Multideck MD60 high performance galvanised steel deck for the composite floor slabs; Multibeam purlins and side rails (supplied to Atlas Ward, the steelwork fabricator on the project); and other finishing touches such as: gutters; top-hats; flashings; and Safetraxx, an off-ridge fall protection system, Morrisons RDC represents a huge vote of confidence for the investment Kingspan makes in supporting its customers and developing innovative solutions for an energy-stretched future. To read more click here.

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