Richard III cathedral praises ISO Chemie’s load bearing bracket support system

ISO Chemie’s thermal insulating and load bearing bracket support system and sealing tapes have been specified for a new development project at Leicester Cathedral.

The move sees WINFRAMER type 1 units, BLOCO ONE foam sealant tapes and VARIO SD window connection foils installed to support and insulate large Internorm HF410 triple glazed composite windows being fitted in the cathedral’s eye-catching new heritage and learning centre.

Set to open in late summer 2024, the extension will provide an exhibition gallery with immersive interpretation, a flexible learning space for school children and community groups, and washrooms.

It’s also part of the cathedral’s ambition to carry out a wide-ranging £11 million revamp of the Grade II listed historic building and improve facilities for the increasing number of visitors drawn to the tomb of Richard III.

Passivhaus certified and fire rated to up to 30 minutes, WINFRAMER is a prefabricated installation frame, manufactured to accommodate cavities up to 250mm that allows windows to be supported independently from the face of the wall regardless of any external cladding being in place.

Quick and easy to install, the product’s application at Leicester Cathedral has been integrated alongside ISO BLOCO One sealing tapes to achieve Passivhaus certified window perimeter sealing performance. The flexible humidity variable sealing foil ISO-CONNECT VARIO SD tape has also been chosen to deliver greater internal air tightness around wall, floor and ceiling joints.

Andy Swift, country director at ISO-Chemie, said: “Designers and developers of buildings like the cathedral extension want new ways to deliver low carbon structures, which use sustainable technologies. Our products support this, delivering measurable airtight, acoustic and thermal sealing properties.”

Up to 70% cost savings can be achieved using ISO-CHEMIE’s tapes, which enable installers to seal windows from inside the building and avoid the need to use time consuming and costly scaffolding and ladders among other external access systems. The tapes offer a single product ‘fit and forget’ solution for fast and effective sealing based around the European RAL principles of three level sealing – the inside seal area is more airtight than the external one, allowing any trapped moisture inside the joint, or within the wall, to escape outwards rather than into the building.