Accoya adds crisp finish to Scottish life-sciences lab

A modified wood manufactured by Accsys Technologies has been used in the construction of a £3 million life sciences building in a Scottish technology park.

The new building, designed by Threesixty Architecture, is the first building to be completed at the new Inverness Campus.

Tasked with using timber to clad the Highlands-based building, architects Threesixty opted to use Accoya and cited its durability and BREEAM ‘excellent’ rating as key deciding factors.

The architects ruled out using traditional timber cladding for the building due to associated weathering and maintenance issues. As the building was designed for the life sciences sector it was considered crucial that a “crisp and confident” aesthetic was achieved.

Distributors Russwood, supplied 600m2 of Accoya, which was used to clad the building with consistent colouring and a sharp, clean aesthetic.

Andrew Lilly, architect at Threesixty Architecture said: “The stable nature of Accoya meant that mitred edges were possible, allowing for the building to have crisp, clean, and durable edges. The horizontal opened board Accoya timber was finished in two different colours, grey and warm wood, to allow for contrast and to define the architectural language while providing the warmth and tactile nature associated with natural timber. Accoya was expressed as vertical fins to enclose the escape stair and form the plant and cycle store.

“We were keen to minimise maintenance requirements. Accoya’s unique properties, including excellent dimensional stability, helped achieve this through preventing shrinking and swelling and increasing the life of coatings. Two different colours of vacuum coating were specified and it is anticipated that these will last much longer before needing recoating when compared to traditional timber cladding.”