Located in the heart of Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve in Tekapo, New Zealand, astro-tourism provider Dark Sky Project offers thousands of visitors each year the chance to change the way they see the night skies. In July 2019, they opened their new facility on Tekapo lakefront. The unique build boasts a world-first indoor daytime experience, café/bar/restaurant, retail outlet, administration space and is the departure point for their guided experiences. It is also home to the newly restored Brashear Telescope — a 125-year-old Victorian masterpiece that, at over 8m tall, has a commanding presence as the building’s centrepiece.

Featuring a mono-pitch skillion roof representing the dark sky above, the facility was designed by Sheppard and Rout Architects Ltd to reflect the key features of the landscape and natural environment. Kingspan’s CodeMark-certified trapezoidal insulated roof panels (KS1000 RW) were chosen to take advantage of the efficiencies in speed of construction and installation and to ensure high R-value insulation given the project’s location and climate in Tekapo.

Says Duncan Barron of Sheppard & Rout Architects Ltd, “We wanted to choose a roof system that combined the insulation with the roofing to further simplify the installation process and reduce construction time, by eliminating a separate process for roof insulation."

With a single element process for installation, Kingspan’s insulated panel systems are designed to work together — rather than built-up components that can be sourced from multiple suppliers and manufacturers. The panels are quick to install, which is important for working around changeable weather where there might be only a short window for installation, and also for health and safety concerns. Weathertight when finished, it is a tested system with one single guarantee on the system as a whole.

Kingspan Insulated Panels are a one-stop solution for meeting building thermal regulations and come in a range of sizes, finish colours and core thicknesses to meet most design and performance requirements. Delivering an R value of R3.96, the Kingspan 70mm (core thickness) panel used on the Dark Sky Project provided the level of thermal and structural performance required in this extreme environment and enabled programme efficiencies that helped ensure the success of the build.

Kingspan panels are manufactured to ISO 9001 standards from the highest quality materials, using state-of-the-art production equipment to rigorous quality control standards, ensuring long term reliability and service life.

The Dark Sky Project’s roof is covered by Kingspan's Total Panel Guarantee of up to 15 years for thermal and structural performance.