Stories

Intelligent membrane has it covered for maritime museum

13/03/2013

Cutting edge building membrane technology is helping to preserve a chapter of naval history for future generations.

The Mary Rose Museum, based at Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard – a £35 million purpose built structure to house the world-famous Tudor warship – is set to open to the public in spring.

With a 450 year-old hull and some 19,000 artifacts from the historic ship to preserve inside the museum, the construction firm, Warings turned to leading protective membrane manufacturer Industrial Textiles & Plastics Ltd (ITP).

Working to designs drawn up by Wilkinson Eyre Architects – whose previous credits include the iconic Tyne Millennium Bridge – it was down to Portsmouth-based Warings to deliver the vision of a building styled to resemble a finely crafted, wooden jewellery box with black timber planks, reflecting the structure of the original Mary Rose.

Warings Managing Director Philippe Jouy, said: “With a simple timber clad exterior, one of the key technical challenges for us was to ensure the environmental conditions inside the building, such as heat and humidity, could be maintained to balance the necessary conservation conditions to preserve the ship with the requirements of a world-class visitor attraction.

“In order to achieve this, we needed to line the building with more than 2,500 sq metres of a durable yet versatile membrane that would allow it to breath, which is why we specified the premium grade flame retardant Powerlon UV 135 FR from ITP.”

Powerlon UV is a range of poly-acrylic and co-polymer breathable membranes engineered to provide long-term protection to buildings. Designed for exposed installations behind wooden façades, Powerlon UV blended seamlessly with the museum’s timber cladding to provide exceptional resistance to Ultra Violet degradation and superior durability compared to conventional breather membranes.

ITP Managing Director Marc van der Voort said: “The Mary Rose Museum project clearly illustrates how Powerlon UV can open up creative and stylish design opportunities for modern sustainable buildings.

“The ‘intelligent’ membrane provides protection from the elements while at the same time allowing moisture to diffuse from within the building. This maintains a comfortable climate within the building and ensures its structure remains in good condition.

“I’m delighted that our expertise in membrane technology has been able to help ensure that the Mary Rose and her treasures will be enjoyed by many generations to come.”