The Epic Project

Operable walls from Building Additions have given Lincolnshire’s prestigious centre of environmental innovation, The Epic Centre, the flexibility to tailor its space to suit its changing needs.

Two operable walls in the large interlinking exhibition halls and two in the office and meeting room suite upstairs, enable the centre to segregate quickly and easily its open plan space into smaller areas when required. This makes it more appropriate for smaller groups and allows maximum use of the centre’s facilities.

The Epic Centre aims to inform people about ways to tackle climate change and is designed with a construction ethos that focuses on sustainable materials. The impressive building has a plug and play environment that enables a range of green technologies to be showcased.

To allow simultaneous activities and events to occur without disturbance, the operable walls needed to have excellent sound reduction qualities when closed. Chris Carr, Senior Contracts Manager for main contractors R.G Carter, explained “ We had used Building Additions' operable walls on a previous project and were very impressed with their acoustic properties and so this was the main reason they were specified”. He added, “The surface of the operable walls and the special way they link together also means the centre can project onto them for presentations so they have a dual function.”

Building Additions was also able to make bespoke four metre operable walls to fit the large dimension of the exhibition hall which measure 6.5 m high by 25 m wide, making them the company’s largest made-to-order walls yet.

The operable walls are made from panels constructed with a solid particle board on an aluminium peripheral frames filled with sound obstructing sheets and mineral wool. They give an acoustic level of 38dB-58dB although higher levels are available on request, and are also good from a health and safety stand point as they are trackless so don’t pose a tripping hazard.

Mr Carr commented, “We are very pleased with the operable walls as they are working very well as a solution for the Epic Centre.  The company was also professional and very helpful, particularly with the bespoke aspect of the project.”