Introduction

 

Client: Greenbank Partnerships (Ice Arena Wales)
     
Main contractor: Kier Construction

Cladding contractor: Massey Cladding Solutions

Architect: Scott Brownrigg

System manufacturer: Euroclad Group 

Tata Steel products: Colorcoat Prisma® (walls) and Colorcoat HPS200 Ultra® (roof)

Colours: Silver Metallic, Grey Aluminium and Anthracite Goosewing Grey
 
Year: 2015/2016

The 6000m2 Ice Area Wales at Cardiff Bay was built for Greenbank Partnerships to provide a world-class sports arena, boasting two ice pads and seating for 3,000 spectators, with the long-term capability of facilitating World and European standard events.

Ice Arena Wales
Ice Arena Wales
Colorcoat Prisma® in Silver Metallic, Grey Aluminium and Anthracite provided the building with diverse complementary colours, dominating the visible building exterior and providing a sleek and distinct aesthetic design.
Ice Arena Wales 2
The challenge

 

Due to the high profile nature of the Ice Arena, the complexity of the building, and having previously worked with Cardiff Council and the ice user’s community, it was instrumental for Greenbank Partnerships to produce a high profile facility that didn’t just meet aspirations but exceeded them.
 
In order for this to happen multiple challenges needed to be overcome. Firstly, in regards to aesthetics, the high profile nature of the building in the sporting world heightened the developments need to provide a sleek, modern and unique aesthetic experience that stood out among other world-class venues. The constructional needs of the building also demanded an unprecedented series of challenges to be met, driven by the internal operational environment of the Ice Arena, specifically in regard to temperature and noise control. Ultimately the building called for an exemplar building envelope solution that delivered superior thermal insulation and acoustic reduction, which met the requirements of customers, local planning and building regulatory standards.

The solution

 

To meet Greenbank Partnerships combined requirements, Euroclad Group supplied Colorcoat® pre-finished steel products for the building envelope. For the walls of the building the aesthetic performance of Colorcoat Prisma® was chosen as the material of Euroclad’s Vieo wall profile, and was provided in Silver Metallic, Grey Aluminium and Anthracite as a solution that provided the building with diverse complementary colours, dominating the visible building exterior and providing a sleek and distinct aesthetic design.
 
The Ice Arena’s roof was built using the Euroclad SF500 Secret Fix roof system, with Colorcoat HPS200 Ultra® pre-finished steel in Goosewing Grey as a solution that complemented the distinct wall aesthetics, whilst also providing superior durability and corrosion protection for the harsher external rooftop environment.

The use of Colorcoat® pre-finished steel provides a comprehensive solution when used as part of a built-up system for challenging environments where sound reduction is a key requirement. The built-up nature of the wall and roof cladding allowed the entire building envelope to be specified and engineered to meet the challenging acoustic requirements. 
The option to use Colorcoat® pre-finished steel products in collaboration with Euroclad as a supply chain partner of Tata Steel ensured superior, tried-and-tested acoustic performance, which has been achieved through extensive collaborator testing and joint product development to meet a wide range of acoustic specifications. This enhanced level of partnership and collaboration was demonstrated through the use of Euroclad SF500 secret fix roof system in Colorcoat HPS200 Ultra® which provided a typical sound reduction of 44.2db. It also allowed Euroclad to develop a bespoke insulation, RocSlab in 104mm, which created a 16mm reduction in height, weighed less than traditional boards and ultimately outperformed the acoustic requirements originally set by the Ice Arena’s design teams.

A further benefit that Greenbank Partnerships gained from the choice of roof and wall cladding was encapsulated in Euroclad’s 25-year Elite system guarantee, which provides a package of guaranteed components from leading manufactures which all combine to add peace of mind for roof and wall systems. This guarantee is underpinned by the Confidex® Guarantee from Tata Steel for Colorcoat HPS200 Ultra® and Colorcoat Prisma® which offers a guarantee directly from Tata Steel to the building owner for the performance of Colorcoat HPS200 Ultra® and Colorcoat Prisma® when used in a conventional external building envelope application. 
 

Ice Arena Wales 3