When Hurricane Michael hit the Florida panhandle in October 2018, the damage was devastating. Among the buildings battered but still standing was the Holiday Inn in Panama City. The Category 5 storm battered the structure so badly it knocked the building out of plumb, shredded the exterior stucco and blasted guest rooms with rain and 150 mph wind gusts. To help bring the hotel back to life and stronger than ever, the project team incorporated innovative building envelope products from Kingspan Insulated Panels North America.

The $20 million reconstruction of the Holiday Inn Panama City required a quick nine-month turnaround time as the hotel needed to be open by the first of June to accommodate tourists visiting during the busy summer season. Kingspan’s BENCHMARK Designwall 4000 panels were ordered with QuadCore in January, shipped in March and the hotel was up and running by June – half the average time frame for a Kingspan panel order.

QuadCore is Kingspan’s most technologically-advanced metal panel insulation, delivering performance that far exceeds that of the ordinary metal panel insulation core. The closed-cell structure has an R-value of 8.0 per inch of thickness and is FM 4882 certified for fire resistance. Kingspan panels with QuadCore are also GREENGUARD Gold certified, have earned Material Health Silver certification, and contain no materials on the ILFI Declare Red List. When Kingspan panels are ordered with QuadCore and Valspar Fluropon coatings, the entire panel earns a Red List Free declaration – the only insulated metal panels in the world to earn that distinction.

“In order to meet the code for thermal resistance, we would have had to use a three- or four-inch standard panel,” said Joseph Sorci, principal architect and president at Florida Architects, who designed the Holiday Inn rebuild. “Using QuadCore allowed us to use a two-inch panel and go beyond code, without adding any additional insulation. The extra level of fire protection was an added bonus.”

Kingspan is so confident in the science and testing that has gone into QuadCore that it’s backed by a 30-year thermal warranty - a first in the industry.

In addition to Designwall 4000 panels, QuadCore is also available in Kingspan’s KS Series, KarrierPanel and Optimo wall panels.

For more information on Kingspan Insulated Panels North America, visit  kingspanpanels.us.