INCA Case Study: Civic House, Glasgow

Civic House, a former printing works in Glasgow, was left abandoned for years and was acquired by Agile City in 2017. The building has undergone a complete refurbishment, supported by funding from the Scottish Government Regeneration Capital Grant Fund, and Sto external wall insulation and render has been applied to the exterior of the building.

External wall insulation (EWI) is the most effective, long term solution to improve the thermal performance and weather protection of buildings. EWI significantly reduces heat loss and energy consumption, minimizes condensation, damp and mould and protects properties from weather damage. This refurbished building envelope is now perfectly insulated and has helped Agile City retrofit a building to become energy efficient whilst contributing to the regeneration of the local area.

Designed by architects, Collective Architecture, Civic House now provides a co-working hub, events space and canteen in the North of Glasgow. As a non-profit and community interest company, Agile City operates as a social enterprise and any profit is reinvested into improving facilities and delivering event or projects around the Forth & Clyde Canal to provide a positive impact on the local economy and the area’s regeneration.

Photo’s by McAteer and Andrew Lee:

Designed by architects, Collective Architecture, Civic House now provides a co-working hub, events space and canteen in the North of Glasgow. As a non-profit and community interest company, Agile City operates as a social enterprise and any profit is reinvested into improving facilities and delivering event or projects around the Forth & Clyde Canal to provide a positive impact on the local economy and the area’s regeneration.

Challenges: Collective Architecture had to define the scope of retrofitting the building to stringent EnerPhit standards and therefore specified a fabric-first approach to provide an efficient retrofit measure to help reduce energy consumption and meet the clients needs for a long-term, thermally-efficient building.

Solution: The StxTherm Robust external wall insulation system with a silicone render finish, maximises wall insulation, prevents heat loss and eliminates thermal bridges. Sto EWI systems are suited for direct application onto existing masonry substrates and by insulating the outer leaf, the entire construction becomes warm and dry. Raising the temperature of the building fabric moves the dew point of the wall safely away from the interior. In doing so, there is far less risk of condensation and associated mould growth. This helps to reduce maintenance on the through-wall construction by making it more thermally stable. The architect also worked closely with the applicator, AFS, to ensure that installation of other features and penetrations were airtight. Correct detailing at the design stage and effective project management by all involved removed the potential inefficiencies thermal bridges can bring, further improving energy efficiency. Window frames were pushed all the way in to the Sto insulation system to help reduce heat loss even further.

More information: https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/post-industrial-renaissance-civic-house-by-collective-architecture