Design build facades (www.dbfacades.com) is a leading design and build overcladding specialist focused exclusively on external refurbishment of occupied buildings within the healthcare, residential and tertiary education sectors. Incorporated in 2001 we have successfully completed more than 150 overcladding projects, all of which are fit-for-purpose and met or surpassed all desired project outcomes with zero failures.
 
The Business provides a turnkey package of integrated professional services taking single point responsibility from design through to completed building with a proven track record of delivery on time, within budget and with minimal disruption.
 
Our accumulated Skills, Knowledge and Experience (SKE) is unrivalled within the industry for sustainably transforming legacy buildings within the ageing built estate, as is our reputation for consistently meeting the most stringent building regulations and legislation. This provides empirical evidence of our capabilities and the standards which we impose upon ourselves.
 
Healthcare Expertise
 
Overcladding has only relatively recently been embraced by the healthcare estate but already design build facades has firmly established itself as the leader in this emerging field. Please see this short video of the challenging and complex project at Aintree Hospital and our wider portfolio of past projects including two new exciting projects for York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and at Eastbourne District General Hospital for East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.
 
Energy Performance Services
 
On 1 July 2022, the NHS became the first health system to embed net zero carbon emissions into legislation through the Health and Care Act 2022 with a target of net zero by 2040 for emissions under direct control. Buildings are responsible for 30% of the UK’s entire carbon emissions and 79% of these building emissions are attributable to heating energy.
 
Environmental performance and sustainability are imperatives which recognise the importance of addressing climate change. In seeking to decarbonise the built environment, a portfolio of interventional measures is required including indirect carbon-saving tools such as solar PV and replacement LED lighting etc, however the greatest impact will be conferred through employing measures which deliver direct carbon savings by improving the thermal efficiency of the building envelope and the introduction of alternative heating systems such as heat pumps and other renewables.
 
design build facades has close relationships with leading energy service companies (ESCOs) combining our strengths and expertise to deliver outstanding integrated solutions for the healthcare sector. In order to maximise energy and carbon savings from investing in alternative heating systems and renewables, it is necessary to first ensure that the building envelope minimises heating energy losses, hence the ‘fabric first’ whole building approach. Fabric first means focusing on installing measures that upgrade the building fabric making it work as hard and as efficiently as it can before considering changes to the heating system and other building services engineering solutions. 70% of the energy required to heat a building is readily saved by applying design build facades’ insulated overcladding system which surpasses current standards by up to 25%.
 
Overcladding is an established intervention which delivers demonstrable results in energy performance and direct carbon savings along with a plethora of valuable other benefits. Heating energy savings from overcladding using our system are quantifiable and proven, consequently an overcladding approach can assist in securing funding from the various carbon reduction funds such as Carbon Energy Fund (CEF) and Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS). Payback is achieved in less than 20 years and savings will be cumulative throughout our system’s design life of more than 60 years. Importantly, our fast-track design and installation service is capable of working within relatively narrow funding windows overcoming the delivery challenges of some alternative energy efficiency measures.
 
Additional Benefits of Overcladding
 
In addition to thermal inefficiency and high carbon emissions, many legacy buildings suffer from other issues – the as-built building fabric is failing, expensive to repair and in some cases dangerous, backlog maintenance is increasing, internal temperature control is hard to maintain and the tired appearance does not reflect the quality of services provided within. Our system addresses all these challenges. Buildings are aesthetically transformed with contemporary appearance, further decay of the building fabric is arrested, maintenance is eliminated, the building’s life is extended and internal spaces are transformed with enhanced patient and staff comfort levels, improved natural ventilation from opening windows, reduced solar gain afforded by improved glazing specifications and the elimination of drafts and external noise transmission from the outside.
 
Sustainable Healthcare
 
We believe passionately in our product. Ours is a quality design delivering true sustainability. We care deeply about what we do and endeavour to deliver best value for our clients which will be achieved through sound investment in a high-quality overcladding system delivering a highly energy efficient building that will remain pristine in appearance, requiring no maintenance for generations to come, contributing strongly to net zero carbon goals.
 
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