A new-build development in the heart of Dublin will benefit from Saint-Gobain Weber’s webertherm XM, a lightweight External Wall Insulation (EWI) system. The Binary Hub, Dublin’s largest Purpose Built Student Accommodation, will provide accommodation for 471 students, easing the pressure on the city’s student housing shortage. The luxury development provides ‘cluster apartments’ with between 4 and 8 bedrooms and en-suite shower rooms. It is well placed to serve Trinity College and the National College of Art & Design and the building has been meticulously designed to ensure it is stylish, safe and convenient. The accommodation includes facilities such as a gym, laundry, study rooms, bike store, landscaped gardens and 24-hour maintenance and security support. The Binary Hub is owned and managed by Aparto Student, a new student housing group launched in January 2017. The main contractor of the project is Bennett Construction Limited, which took the opportunity to work with a number of innovative materials and systems, including the use of a Sandwich Panel System (SPS) for the main structure. The webertherm XM external wall insulation system was applied to the façade, achieving a high quality, cost efficient build, with improved speed of construction and high thermal performance. In this project Weber calculated a high energy efficient target U-Value of 0.16W/m²K, with the render coat and decorative finish offering a durable, water shedding capacity to protect the building fabric. The system specified 140mm mineral fibre insulation applied to the SPS system which has been covered with a 6mm mesh cloth reinforced coat of weberend LAC, a polymer-modified, cement-based mortar. This is applied in two passes before weber PR310 primer is applied, followed by webersil TF decorative finish to achieve a textured render finish in Chalk. “A project of this scale hasn’t been constructed in Ireland in a number of years,” explained Michael Keogh, contracts manager at Bennett Construction. “And building student accommodation to such a high standard makes a very positive statement in the industry and will bring benefits to so many.”