Knauf Drywall makes less noise in Rochdale

Top quality technical support from Knauf Drywall coupled with expert installation has enabled one of the North West’s most modern schools to be built with just five partition designs to satisfy the whole range of acoustic criteria.

Hollingworth Business and Enterprise College is a high-achieving secondary school – with nearly 1200 pupils – based in Milnrow, near Rochdale, that qualified, under the Building Schools for the Future programme, for a new state-of-the-art school.

The project posed the challenge of fulfilling the stringent performance specifications for different partition walls throughout the college while reducing the number of partition wall types to an economic minimum. Working with dry lining sub-contractor Horbury Building Systems, Knauf Drywall was able to simplify specification and streamlined inventory requirements with a range of drywall constructions developed specifically for the education sector. All partitions are based around standard Knauf metal section but employ various permutations of Knauf plasterboard to satisfy the demanding specifications for individual interior walls in modern schools.

Domus chooses GIFAfloor for flagship showroom

When Domus – the UK’s leading supplier of tiles to developers and architectural specifiers –fitted out its 6,500ft2 flagship showroom in London’s Clerkenwell, it specified GIFAfloor from Knauf Drywall. “The flooring is crucial to displaying our products at their best and GIFA is ideal because it provides an extremely solid and stable floor,” says Peter Dawson, Domus’ Technical Director. “It is an excellent substrate for the very large porcelain tiles that we are using.”

The ground floor display areas and extensive sample library are innovative, interactive but importantly adaptive. Interestingly, by using elevating movable display units with no fixed zones the space can be altered to create surprise and intrigue. 

GIFAfloor enabled Domus to deal with the heavy display cabinets as its material library contains more than 10,000 porcelain, ceramic, glass, mosaic, and stone sample pieces. These cabinets weigh up to 2.5 tonnes each and might have caused the large porcelain tiles to crack but a double layer of GIFAfloor dealt with this potential issue.

Readymix Plasters save time and cut waste

Specifically designed for fast-track construction programmes, Knauf Drywall’s range of Readymix Plasters significantly cut on-site timescales while improving health and safety with no mess, fewer movements and no water required.

Less prone to chips and cracks than traditional plaster, they offer an excellent quality finish and are supplied pre-mixed to the correct consistency for spray application, no direct water supply is required on site and wastage is less than 1%. Up to 1,000m2 per week can be finished by a three man gang, and surfaces can be emulsioned within 24 to 48 hours, so the plaster can be applied by the same teams applying the paint finishes.  

There are four products in the range – Knauf Plano, Knauf Deco, Knauf Deco Plus and Knauf Airless – which cover every application including thin joint block systems, pre-cast panels, Aircrete panels, concrete, brickwork, composite boards and refurbishment over previously decorated surfaces.

Knauf Drywall builds for the future with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

Knauf Drywall has become the first ever corporate programme operator of Dolly Parton’s UK Imagination Library; an initiative to improve literacy in the Under 5s through a charitable scheme of book distribution to registered children. 

The music star launched the library in 1996 in her home county in East Tennessee. Dolly's vision was to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families by providing them with the gift of a specially selected book each month. By mailing high quality, age-appropriate books directly to their homes, she wanted children to be excited about books and feel the magic that books create. 

Knauf Drywall wins all round at college rotunda

Two market-leading products from Knauf Drywall are being installed in the innovative rotunda being built on West Cheshire College’s campus at Ellesmere Port.

Knauf Soundshield, high-performance plasterboard enables the teaching areas to meet the strict standards laid down by Building Bulletin 93: Acoustic Design of Schools while Knauf Impact Panel is installed in corridors, circulation areas and workshops. Both products are mounted on frames of 70mm Knauf ‘C’ Studs.

Knauf Brio keeps students quiet in green village

The outstanding acoustic performance of Knauf Brio, the dry floor screed from Knauf Drywall, led to it being chosen for The Green, a development that will house 1,000 students at Bradford University. Not only is it important that the students should be able to study and enjoy their privacy, but the student village is also designed upon sustainable principles and is one of only 15 buildings in the world with a BREEAM classification of ‘Outstanding’.

Knauf Brio 18WF, an 18mm gypsum fibreboard with a 10mm laminated wood fibre layer, provides a 50dB sound insulation – a full 5dB above the standard Part E Building Regulations. The interlocking boards are proving to be both cost-effective and easy to install between floors in the development’s 34 town houses and 101 apartments, particularly in comparison with a wet screed system.

GB Solutions, the main contractor, and Roseville Plastering needed a moisture-free floor screed for the timber-frame scheme that would also meet exacting standards for airborne and impact sound for both party and separating floors.

Knauf offers the right board for every application

Versatile, strong and easy to use, the Knauf Drywall range of High Performance Plasterboards delivers complete panel solutions: from simple space division and separating walls, to lift shaft protection and X-ray shielding.  
Manufactured from the highest quality gypsum, these boards incorporate special additives that enhance their acoustic, impact, fire-resistance and moisture-resistance properties so they can achieve required performance levels with a reduced number of components and plasterboard layers. 

For example, Knauf offer a range of solutions to achieve the 40dB Rw with a single layer partition that meets the requirements of Approved Document E, including Knauf Soundshield which makes it possible to achieve 40dB Rw possible without the need for additional insulation, so saving time and installation costs on site.

Get wet with Mira while Knauf Drywall Aquapanel keeps the wall dry

As part of a promotion to support its market-leading Aquapanel Interior tile backer, Knauf Drywall – the UK’s leading manufacturer of lightweight building materials and systems – is giving a shower a week away to installers who complete an online entry form at www.knaufdrywall.co.uk/shower. No purchase is necessary and it’s free to enter too. The prize draw runs until May 31st, with one lucky installer winning an innovative Mira Sport  Multi-fit™, worth around £350, every week.

Knauf Aquapanel Interior is the ideal tile backing system for wet and humid areas. It is exceptionally tough and durable, providing a solid tile backing substrate for wet indoor areas such as swimming pools, leisure centres, changing rooms, toilet areas, laundries, bathrooms and kitchens. 

Aquapanel and Brio take the stage at PHEX Wembley

Knauf Drywall’s PHEX stand in London will offer installers another chance to see the latest developments in gypsum fibreboard technology with Knauf Brio for underfloor heating; and also the UK’s best tilebacker, Knauf Aquapanel Interior. The event, which takes place on 24 and 25 April at Wembley Stadium, will showcase the high performance and ease of installation of these superb products from one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of lightweight building materials and systems.

Suitable for new build or refurbished residential and commercial buildings, Knauf Brio Dry Screed Panel offers many real advantages over traditional wet screeds and timber decks such as better stability, the speed and ease of installation, and higher quality. It creates a robust and monolithic floor with excellent loading.

Bluewater’s Glow benefits from seamless performance

The stunning new £60m events venue, Glow, Bluewater in Kent shows off both the extraordinary versatility of Knauf Drywall’s Apertura plasterboard and its outstanding acoustic performance.  Designed by internationally renowned architects and exhibition experts Denton, Corker Marshall, the 5,200m² events and exhibition venue is conceived of as a major landmark within Bluewater, providing additional reasons for over 28.1 million visitors per year to travel there by extending the Bluewater ‘day-out’ experience.

“Apertura met our specifications because it was recommended by our acoustic consultant and because it has the aesthetic qualities we were looking for – the perforations on the acoustic board match those on the external envelope,” explains architect Charles Liddington.

Easy Plaster swiftly patches cracks and holes

Developed to simplify small and large repairs to walls and ceilings, Knauf Drywall Easy Plaster lives up to its name and will quickly smooth over cracks and holes up to 40mm deep, providing a hard yet flexible surface that can be painted or wallpapered over once dry.

A lightweight ready-mixed plaster developed by Knauf Drywall, Easy Plaster is perfect for repairs around pipes and electrical fittings, filling surface cracks and holes or levelling uneven areas. It can also be used to skim existing plaster or textured finishes such as Artex to a smooth surface and will work with a wide range of substrates including plaster, internal renders, brick and stone.

Applications could not be simpler: just open the tub, stir and then apply evenly with a trowel, using a clean finishing trowel to smooth to a flat finish. Once the Knauf Drywall Easy Plaster has dried – which takes less than 24 hours – you can make the surface even smoother if necessary by simply sanding it.

Knauf Drywall Easy Plaster covers at the rate of 0.75m² per litre at a depth of 6mm, has a shelf life of 12 months and comes in six litre and 2.5 litre tubs.

Safeboard provides protection at UK’s newest dental hospital

Ease of installation made the case for using Safeboard from Knauf Drywall in the X-ray rooms of the UK’s first new dental school for 40 years. Some 200m² of Safeboard has been installed in the latest dental education facility at the Peninsula Dental School at the Tamar Science Park, Plymouth.

The Peninsula Dental School is a partnership between the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth and the NHS in Devon and Cornwall and it has put the South West at the forefront of delivering ground-breaking, modern clinical dental education.

It has four dental education facilities across the South West – one each in Exeter and Truro and two in Plymouth. The dental education facilities are designed to recreate the real life clinical environment, in which students treat NHS patients under the supervision of fully trained dental clinical supervisors. At full capacity the dental education facilities treat over 500 NHS patients a day during term time.

Aquapanel Floor Tile Underlay prevents costly failure

Robust, light and easy to install, Aquapanel Floor Tile Underlay eradicates costly floor tile failures in bathrooms and other wet areas. Specifiers and contractors can now match their orders to the project in hand more accurately as the underlay is now supplied in half pallets of 50 boards, rather than full pallets of 100, so cutting both storage and wastage.

Manufactured from tough aggregated Portland cement board with coated glass fibre mesh on each side, the underlay is completely unaffected by water and maintains its strength even when fully immersed. As a result, it avoids all the problems associated with traditional plywood or chipboard underlays which warp when wet and, being wholly inorganic, is 100% proof against mould growth.

Measuring just 6mm thick, this reinforced cement board’s low profile ensures an even transition between tiled floor and carpeting making the removal of thresholds unnecessary.

Knauf helps installer to prize-winning performance

Left to right: Michael Redfern, Director Merseyside Plastering; Jeff Murphy, Director Merseyside Plastering; David Rowe, Keepmoat Homes NW.





Veteran Knauf Drywall installer Merseyside Plastering Ltd has won the Keepmoat Northwest Sub Contractor of the Year Award. In a ceremony at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Speke, Liverpool, Craig Murphy, Regional Construction Manager for Keepmoat Homes North West handed the trophy to Jeff Murphy, Director of Merseyside Plastering.

Craig Murphy commented: “The North West division has experienced fantastic levels of growth in recent years and the work of our subcontractors has been a huge factor in this success. Merseyside Plastering has been working with Keepmoat Homes for the last five years and has grown alongside the region. We’ve been consistently impressed with the company’s work and this is just rewards for the level of commitment and effort shown.” 

National Painting & Decorating Show 2011

Speedy application and high quality finishes are the key themes of Knauf Drywall’s presence at the National Painting & Decorating Show 2011 (Stand No. 31; November 15th & 16th, Ricoh Arena) as it displays a selection of its market-leading ready-mix products. The range of spray plasters includes Knauf Airless Readymix Plaster which are a rapid, cost-effective alternative to traditional plaster for finishing walls and ceilings. For the painter and decorator increasingly taking on additional roles in a project to increase revenue, be more competitive and minimise potential issues with other trades; Knauf Readymix Plasters are the perfect solution.

A labour-saving alternative to traditional plaster finishes, Knauf Airless Ready Mixed Plaster is delivered ready-mixed to the correct consistency and applied using low-cost high-pressure spray machines. It is suitable for use as a 1 - 2mm top coat on Knauf Plano or as a two-coat finish directly onto smooth backgrounds including pre-cast panels, Aircrete panels, composite boards, and/or refurbishment over previously decorated surfaces.

Knauf’s competence cuts components on flagship hospital project

Through close collaboration with both architects and the main contractor Knauf Drywall has enabled Linear Projects to handle the biggest project in its 18 year history – installing more than 100,000 square metres of partitioning in a major new acute hospital in Scotland – with a set of standardized components that rationalised its supply chain.

The £10 million partitioning, ceilings and external steel framing contract included partitioning with a wide range of acoustic specifications, walls for shafts and risers and dry lining for the operating theatres in the new £300 million Forth Valley Royal Hospital at Larbert, Falkirk – the largest NHS project in Scotland. Knauf was able to draw upon its extensive experience of drywall solutions for hospitals to standardize components as far as possible across all partition types and so simplify supply chain and inventory management; an important factor in constructing this flagship development.

The partition specification is based on Knauf Performer partitioning solutions, using 15mm Knauf Soundshield high performance plasterboard and 70mm Knauf ‘C’ Studs in various configurations to provide airborne sound reduction from 42dB Rw to 63dB Rw.

Knauf Drywall Brio provides peace of mind for Premier Inn

Premier Inn’s ‘Good Night Guarantee’ is now reinforced by the outstanding sound insulation provided by the innovative Brio system of easily installed dry floor screed boards developed by Knauf Drywall. Premier Inn, the UK’s biggest budget hotel chain, offers all guests the unique ’Good Night Guarantee’ – which means guests who are not 100% satisfied with their stay get a full refund – so it is crucial there are no complaints about noise.

Tests on the extension to its hotel at Norwich Showground demonstrate that the Knauf Brio 23WF board performed so well that it will be used for all new floors within the chain. Floors installed using the board easily exceeded the levels set by Part E of the Building Regulations – where the regulations set a standard of 45dB for airborne sound it achieved 51dB, while for impact sound it achieved 38dB, well below the statutory 62dB standard.

Dry Floor screed faster and more stable than wet screeds and decking

Suitable for newbuild or refurbished residential and commercial buildings, Brio Dry Floor Screed offers many real advantages over traditional wet screeds and timber decks such as better stability, the speed and ease of installation, and higher quality. It creates a robust and monolithic floor with excellent loading.

This gypsum fibre board is virtually thermally transparent, so it works well with underfloor heating systems offering responsive heating at low running cost and with lower CO2 emissions. So there’s no premium to pay for heating up a mass of concrete before the environment starts to feel warm. Knauf Brio has an impressive thermal conductivity of 0.38 W/mK.

Five years of zero defects for Aquapanel

Knauf Aquapanel Interior, the specially developed tile backing board from Knauf Drywall, has eliminated tiling defects for a leading South West housebuilder and developer over the past five years, during which it has built nearly 600 dwellings. Torquay-based Cavanna Homes first used Aquapanel five years ago at Kernow Gate, a development of 35 houses in Launceston, and has used it ever since.

Walton’s on the waves for children’s hospice

Paul Walton, Knauf Drywall’s Business Systems Project Manager, has raised a total of £4000 for Demelza Hospice Care – an organisation that looks after over 600 children with life-limiting illnesses and their families across Kent, East Sussex and South East London.

Paul raised the money by tackling the gruelling trans-Atlantic charity yacht race, the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers).

Demelza – supported by Knauf Drywall as the company’s designated charity – supports children and young people up to 19 years of age not expected to reach adulthood, and offer support to their families. Children's hospices can differ significantly from adult hospices in that many of the conditions children and young people are suffering from are degenerative in nature and progress over many years.

Knauf products transform education in Kent

Innovative products from Knauf Drywall are enabling pioneering teaching methods to be used at two new schools built in Maidstone, Kent at a cost of £54 million.

Neither the New Line Learning Academy, at Loose, nor its sister school Cornwallis Academy, at Linton, have conventional classrooms but instead are built around “learning plazas”: open-plan spaces that are a storey-and-a-half high, with a mezzanine floor to accommodate up to 120 pupils. Three Knauf products – Apertura Perforated Plasterboard, Soundshield and Impact Panel – ensure that these vast teaching spaces still meet the strict standards laid down by Building Bulletin 93: Acoustic Design of Schools, despite being more than twice the volume of a conventional classroom.

Insulating Laminates cut carbon and bills

Both new-build and refurbishment projects can benefit from the Insulating Laminate range of boards developed by Knauf Drywall, which not only cut carbon emissions significantly but save energy too. The boards also reduce costs through enabling installers to dryline and insulate a property in one operation, which saves time on new-build projects particularly. The improvement to the thermal performance of both walls and roofs results in a rapid payback for the householder, with energy savings of up to £400 a year for the average dwelling.

Aquapanel weather-proofs award-winning development

Specialist exterior boards developed by Knauf Drywall have helped a 12 home development in Hampshire’s New Forest win the coveted Premier Guarantee Award for Medium Development of the Year.

MPR Projects chose Knauf Aquapanel Exterior when constructing 12 timber-framed houses at Cedar Gate in Ringwood as it weather-proofs the structure rapidly while under construction, and then provides a durable substrate for decorative finishes throughout the life of the building. The Cedar Gate development has 650m² of boarded render and a similar 600m² of Aquapanel Exterior behind the timber cladding.

The BBA-approved board has a Portland cement and aggregate core, with a coated glass fibre mesh embedded in its back and front surfaces; while the rendered surfaces were K Rend’s HPXbasecoat and Scrim finished with a silicone coloured render top coat.

Aquapanel is simple and easy to install – Cedar Gate was completed in just 35 weeks – as panels can be fitted in just 15 minutes per square metre. This can be done whether you use render to fill the joints as in the case of Cedar Gate or choose screws, joint tape and joint filler. It can be cut to shape using the score and snap technique and there is no need for time consuming processing methods or special tools, so reducing installation costs as subcontractors Dorset Dry Lining (DDL) discovered. 

Knauf Drywall secures Five Stars for safety

Knauf Drywall has had its industry-leading performance in Health & Safety recognised with a Five Star Audit award, the highest possible, from the British Safety Council (BSC).

The achievement – for its Immingham and Sittingbourne sites – is not just some inward-facing exercise: it hugely benefits customers in terms of improved product quality, enhanced order accuracy and much better service. This is because the health and safety appraisal process doesn’t take place in isolation – it not simply being about risk management – but is part of an integrated management approach to safety, environmental practice and quality.

Knauf Drywall at Ecobuild 2011

Product and partners were the key themes of Knauf Drywall’s presence at Ecobuild 2011 as it displayed a selection of its market-leading lightweight building products and systems; while playing host to an exciting new Knauf division – Knauf Facades.

There were four main Knauf Drywall ranges on show this year: Aquapanel, Safeboard, Thermal Laminate and Brio. Aquapanel is the ideal tile backing system for wet and humid areas. It is exceptionally tough and durable, providing a solid tile backing substrate for wet indoor areas such as swimming pools, leisure centres, changing rooms, toilet areas, laundries, bathrooms and kitchens.

Knauf Drywall is the best on the books...

Knauf Drywall has scooped the construction industry’s highest award for the quality of its technical literature: taking the trophy for Best Use of Technical Literature at the Construction Marketing Awards 2010.

The company’s Complete Drywall Manual was praised as “clear, comprehensive and easily accessible, combining product information with details of relevant legislation and regulation”. And the judges, from the top drawer of construction marketers, were especially impressed that it is available as both hard copy and as an online document – a feature that “is clearly being well received by the target audience”.