REHAU's largest UK installation of chilled ceiling

40 Chancery Lane, on a prominent corner site within the London WC2 conservation area, features the largest installation so far in the UK of REHAU’s innovative chilled ceiling system.

In the eight storey building, more than 5,000m² of ceiling features REHAU’s radiant CoolBoard plasterboard system.  This is part of an overall specification designed to achieve challenging sustainability targets and a BREEAM Excellent rating.

Constructed by developers Derwent Ltd and fitted out by ISG Fit-Out, 40 Chancery Lane integrates an existing 19^th century building in Tooks Court with a new build mix of prestigious office and retail space.  The office space has been pre-let as the new London office for the international advertising and marketing giant Publicis Groupe.

Originally, REHAU supplied CoolBoard to provide radiant cooling in the lift lobbies of the building only, following a successful CPD seminar given by our specification team at consultant ARUP’s central London office in 2013.

However, when it was discovered that the ceiling voids in 40 Chancery Lane would not accommodate traditional fan coil units, Arup and Derwent opted to use the CoolBoard system throughout all of the office areas of the building.

REHAU CoolBoard is essentially plasterboard panels with integrated loops of REHAU’s RAUTHERM 10mm PE-Xa pipe. It is an all-in-one solution which is quick and easy to install with pre-drilled fixing holes located on each panel for fixing to the ceiling grid. The pipe tails from the boards are connected together using REHAU’s renowned EVERLOC compression sleeve fittings which guarantee no leaks.  The system offers optimum comfort and fast reaction times and, because of the low thermal mass of the panels, good control response.

It was the quality and ease of fitting of the system which helped to persuade Derwent and Arup to use CoolBoard throughout the project and above all, they were convinced by the proven reliability of REHAU’s EVERLOC fittings and jointing technology.

The sheer scale of the project has helped REHAU to develop more efficient methods of designing and checking details before going out to customers.  This has led to the development of what was originally a bespoke insulated manifold box assembly but has now become a standard article on CoolBoard.

The fit out contractors on the Chancery Lane build were ISG Fit-Out, the M&E contractors were Sale Mechanical and the chilled ceiling installers were Celtic Contractors.

REHAU has installed more than 80 chilled ceilings across Europe in recent years, including one at another BREEAM Excellent location – Siemens’ Urban Sustainability Centre, The Crystal, in London’s docklands.