Introduction
design build facades (www.dbfacades.com) is the UK’s leading design build overcladding specialist focused exclusively on external refurbishment of occupied buildings within the healthcare, residential and tertiary education sectors. We have successfully completed over 150 overcladding projects, all of which are fit-for-purpose, have met or surpassed all desired project outcomes with zero failures and all were delivered on time, within budget and with minimal disruption.
The Business provides a turnkey package of integrated professional services taking single point responsibility from design through to completed building, thus compliance with the Building Safety Act is assured. Our track record and accumulated Skills, Knowledge, Experience and Behaviours (SKEB) are unrivalled within the industry providing empirical evidence of our competence as Principal Designer and Principal Contractor.
Healthcare Expertise
There are few examples of overcladding legacy buildings within the healthcare estate but as healthcare Trusts focus increasingly on decarbonisation, design build facades has firmly established itself as the leader in this emerging field. Please see our portfolio of past healthcare projects as well as two new major projects to overclad Gloucestershire Royal Hospital’s tower block and Birmingham Women’s Hospital main building where we are presently on-site. We have the expertise and experience proven to deliver hospital projects without disrupting clinical and patient services.
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 by employing measures which deliver direct carbon savings, most notably by adopting a fabric-first approach to improve the thermal efficiency of the building envelope.
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 alternative heating systems and renewables, it is necessary to first ensure that the building envelope minimises existing losses, hence the ‘fabric first’ whole building approach. Fabric first means upgrading the existing building fabric to make 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 can be saved by installing our insulated aluminium rainscreen overcladding system.
Overcladding is an established intervention which delivers demonstrable results in energy performance and direct carbon savings along with many other valuable benefits. These savings are quantifiable and proven and 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 manage 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, external 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.
Regulatory Compliance
Ours is a true design build service where we are accountable for all aspects of a project from design through to completion, thereby assuring our clients of absolute compliance with The Building Safety Act 2022 and the Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023 for higher risk buildings. These new regulations demand that client’s satisfy themselves that prior to appointment the designer and contractor possess the necessary competence and skills, knowledge, expertise and behaviours to undertake and deliver the project compliantly. We strongly encourage our clients to take reference from past projects as part of their due diligence processes.