Polypipe Makes the Air Flow at London's Tate Modern

Polypipe's products have been specified in one of London’s most prestigious museums –Tate Modern.

Over 350 metres of Polypipe’s Ridgistorm-XL large diameter piping system was specified in 750mm and 900mm diameters for use as an air ventilation system under a new building being added to the south of the existing gallery. The system delivers air to distribution plenums at set locations within the gallery.

Polypipe assisted with structural calculations in order to engineer the pipe to an exact stiffness classification of 1.0kN/m², ensuring that the pipe was neither over, nor under specified.

The project called for the Ridgistorm-XL pipe to be manufactured in varying lengths, from 1.5m to 6m.  Polypipe’s dedicated in-house fabrications team also pre-fabricated more than 60 unique bends and fittings, which ranged from five degree to 90 degree bends, to ‘T’ junctions and specialist ‘S’-shaped bends in varying angles.

Polypipe’s unique electro-fusion jointing of the Ridgistorm-XL system was also an integral factor in the specification of the site’s ventilation system, ensuring regulatory compliance due to its ability to provide greater air tightness and insulation than other forms of jointing.

Emma Nicholls, Marketing Manager at Polypipe comments: “The project was particularly challenging, partly due to the fact that the ventilation system had to be designed to connect to fixed points within the new building, whilst avoiding the structure of the building itself.

“However, our ability to engineer solutions and manufacture the system off-site in our in-house fabrications facility meant that we were able to deliver a system which met the exact needs of the client and contractor.”