Commercial Conversion Contract Makes Innovative Use Of Multiboard

The redevelopment of an existing commercial property in Epsom, Surrey, creating new apartments includes a challenging conversion of the former basement car park into habitable space: requiring the deepening of the floor level, together with the DPC barriers, to which the inherent waterproof qualities of Marmox Multiboard have made a significant contribution.

The multi-million pound project with London based LWJ Construction Limited being the specialist sub-contractor undertaking all the sub-structure works.  LWJ is also laying all the brickwork and blockwork, as well as completing carpentry and other general building work on the floors above.   In total, 280 of the 50mm thick, 1200 x 500 mm sheets of Multiboard have been supplied to the project team by Travis Perkins in Lambeth and then cut to size to match the depth of the concrete blocks.        

Director of LWJ Construction, Lucasz Weglarz, commented: “We are involved on converting an existing office building into flats for the client, whose engineers it was who specified the Marmox Multiboard for its insulation and water resistant benefits. In our work we were limited by the head height in the car park space, but managed to get a three tonne excavator in to dig out the extra metre and construct a new reinforced concrete slab: cast in three separate bays."

"This new slab offers the base for 11 dwellings which all feature blockwork walls, where the cavity at the base is filled with two thicknesses of the Multiboard to serve as a thermal break. These were required because we are down below the main DPC level and it was considered best to specify a fully waterproof insulation material in case the slab was ever to be affected by damp: as recommended by the waterproofing surveyor. Above this first course of blockwork, the design changes to standard mineral wool insulation, while within the blockwork perimeter there will be 150mm of insulation covered by a screed and the floor finishes.” 

Marmox Multiboards are manufactured from extruded polystyrene or XPS encapsulated in reinforced polymer concrete and produced in a range of thicknesses up to 60mm, to offer a variety of positive physical characteristics in addition to being fully waterproof.  They are light to handle but able to sustain substantial loadings if required, such as for flooring applications.  They further offer excellent thermal insulation performance, helping to cut condensation risk and are ideal in applications such as for direct tiling or forming steps and even seats in shower rooms.

Lucasz concluded: “We have great experience in commercial and residential work going back some 15 years, but this is an unusual challenge, where the Marmox Multiboards have proved straightforward to cut and install.”    www.marmox.co.uk