Walk inside the Gateway Center of Mount Helena Community Church in Helena, MT, and you would never imagine the combination community event center and church sanctuary is a converted warehouse.

“One of the things they were striving for was a non-traditional sanctuary,” notes John Quigley, who served as construction manager for the project. “They really didn’t want it to look like a church. It’s actually a multi-use center that they use for public functions. They even have a caterer.”

A major challenge was to install heating and cooling systems in a building that had minimal insulation and do so in a way that gave the building a bright, finished look. The project architect found the answer in the HIGH-R Insulation System.

“We had a pretty shallow roof system and trying to get the R value we wanted in there is one of the reasons the architect specified the HIGH-R system,” Quigley adds.

Unlike traditional insulation methods for metal building roofs, HIGH-R Insulation System panels are mounted on the bottom of the purlins. The cavity between the purlins and the roof decking are then filled with blown fiberglass, allowing up to R-42 insulation.

Most satisfying to Quigley was the attention HIGH-R gave to the project.

“They stuck to the budget and got the work done. They did what they said they would do,” he adds.

Jason Harris, the church’s pastoral assistant, said the completed project gave the Gateway Center a high-end look.

“The look was a big part of the decision-making,” Harris says. “We converted the warehouse building into a very usable facility.”