Back to Black at National Graphene Institute
The ability to extrude its PVC trunking in a range of bespoke colours helped REHAU win the specification at the newly opened National Graphene Institute in Manchester. REHAU’s popular 180 x 65mm Profila data trunking has been supplied in black for key areas within the building to match the colour coding set out by the architects Jestico + Whiles and CH2M Hill in their vision for the building.
Of the 600m of trunking supplied in total, more than 500m was extruded in black at REHAU’s own dedicated manufacturing facility. Because the colour is integral to the trunking and not sprayed or foiled, it is highly durable and scratch and scuff resistant.
All of the REHAU trunking on the project was installed by Balfour Beatty Engineering Services working on behalf of main contractors BAM Construction. With a depth of 65mm and a 4060mm² cross section area, Profila data offers large data cable capacity for CAT6, 6A and CAT7 cabling, easily meeting the requirements of the building’s users.
The £61m Institute at The University of Manchester is focused on the research and application of graphene – the ‘wonder material’ first isolated in 2004 by Sir Kostya Novoselov and Sir Andre Geim which consists of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb structure.
The new 5-storey, 7,600m² building features classrooms and laboratories where scientists, students and academics will develop commercial applications for the material which is said to be stronger than a diamond, more conductive than copper and as flexible as rubber.
The striking National Graphene Institute building, with its external black perforated stainless steel veil featuring representations of the chemical formula for graphene, was officially opened in March by George Osborne.
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