Projects & Contracts August 2004

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X Marks the Spot for SAS

On a bustling industrial estate in Crosshills, West Yorkshire, a new development of factory units has been installed with a glazing package from Senior Aluminium Systems, the aluminium system supplier.

Fabricated by Aire Valley Architectural Ltd, a series of SPW 600 windows and manual swing doors were used in the design of ‘The Crossings’. Specified to be tilt turn, the thermally broken windows were double glazed and powder coated in green.

SAS’ SPW 600 is a high performance commercial window and door system designed to meet the thermal insulation demands specified in Part L. The range includes fixed lights, top hung, side hung, tilt turn and overswing windows, as well as single and double rebated doors. A range of mullions and transoms allows large composite windows to be fabricated.

‘SAS’ aluminium glazing systems were chosen because they offer a high level of specifier flexibility and cost effectiveness. Aluminium is strong, light, doesn’t corrode, requires little maintenance, keeps its appearance over time and is 100% recyclable.’ says the company.

Senior Aluminium Systems supplies Britain’s commercial fabricators from its head office in Denaby and two regional service centres in Newport and Livingston.

Tel: 01709 772600

Sash Portal Conservatory Provides the Perfect Finishing Touch for Pioneer Nursery

A children’s day care nursery founded earlier this year as part of a pioneer Government funding scheme has benefited from a specially designed conservatory constructed by Sash UK. The Sash conservatory, measuring 6m wide and 10m long, incorporates a special aluminium portal sub-frame and is used as a play area for children attending Willows Nursery in Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire.

Willows Nursery, located within the grounds of Willowgarth High School and run by the school itself, is the first organisation of its type to be established within the UK. The nursery was set up in January 2004 to address two major local concerns: a lack of affordable childcare for working parents and on-the-job training opportunities for local school students. School head staff applied for funding as part of a new Government scheme to answer both concerns, and Willows Nursery is now the first to be run by a state school and used as a training establishment for pupils studying a GNVQ in Health & Social Care.

Built on the former site of the school caretaker’s cottage, the nursery is surrounded by beautiful countryside and is located between the villages of Brierley and Grimethorpe. Nursery Manager Julie Pickering and the Willowgarth School Governors believed that a conservatory would be the best solution as a year-round play area for the children.

Says Julie:
‘The conservatory is fantastic, really lovely for the kids to play in, even when it’s raining. We are really pleased with what Sash has designed and the speed and consideration with which they built the conservatory.’

Tel 01226 719969
Web: http://www.sashuk.com


CAP Gives new Life to Welsh School 

Architectural glazing subcontractor CAP Aluminium has helped regenerate Bryn Hafren Comprehensive School in Barry. Working with the property section of the Vale of Glamorgan Council,  Stradform Ltd and BECT Building Contractors, CAP replaced the entire façade.

Programmed in three phases, CAP initially removed the 1970s Polyclad vertical patent glazing system. This was a major contract which had to be scheduled over three years to suit the school timetable and fit with the demands of other contractors, including asbestos removal. Approximately 1000m2 of Bryn Hafren’s façade was replaced annually.

A combination of Kawneer systems was used to re-clad the building including double glazed units, heavy duty doors and insulated aluminium panels, with green tinted glass incorporated throughout. Kawneer’s high performance products not only look attractive but have transformed the working environment for staff and pupils. Maintenance of the school’s façade will now be minimal for the Vale of Glamorgan Education Authority.

CAP says that it has an excellent service reputation in running refurbishment projects and is a very experienced CLASP contractor. It needs meticulous and sensitive planning, as well as careful use of labour and machinery, to work alongside a school’s responsibilities. 
 
With a dedicated CLASP team, CAP guides Authorities through all parts of the design and installation process. The team also works with school representatives to ensure minimum disruption through noise and dirt. CAP has the specialist skills and has developed a tried and tested method statement to work with occupied buildings. 
 
Tel: 0121 525 1000 
Email: mailto:enquiries@capaluminium.com


Brighter Outlook for the North East Thanks to HansenGlass

Searching for sustainable solutions and having a clear vision of the future are two of the maxims which the North East Regional Development Agency, One NorthEast has set for itself: objectives echoed in the form of its Newcastle headquarters where high performance ThermoSpan™ glazing units manufactured by HansenGlass help meet the designers' environmental and aesthetic objectives.

The original concept drawings and speciation for Stella House on the banks of the Tyne were undertaken by the Red Box architectural practice, before Newcastle based Waring and Netts took over, under a design and build contract.

The Project Architect for Waring and Netts, Mr Peter Lea, comments: ‘We have been very happy with the appearance as well as the performance of the glazed screens HansenGlass has created for the building.’

The ThermoSpan™ double glazed units supplied by HansenGlass for constructing the property's front and rear entrance screens feature both hard and soft coated glass. Their construction places a sheet of 12mm thick glass in the conventional inner pane role, but then the outer leaf features a soft coated low emissivity coating in position two; applied to 6mm blue tinted glass. Separated by a 16mm air gap, this brings the U-value down close to 1.0 W/m2K.

HansenGlass' contract at Stella House also included the supply of its Tempo™ toughened glass entrance doors. Complete with stainless steel handles and other fittings, the stylish doorsets complement the screens and complete the visual form of the building's foyer for staff and visitors.

Contact: Graham Chung
Tel: 0151 545 3000
Email: mailto:sales@hansenglass.co.uk


SIAC And Kawneer Complete Complex Building Envelope for Manchester Airport's Landmark GTI Building

Specialist contractor SIAC Façades, in partnership with aluminium façade supplier Kawneer, has completed a £7 million contract to build the external envelope for Manchester Airport's new ground transport interchange building, known as The Station. The fenestration package was valued at approximately £1.8 million and features Kawneer's PF structurally glazed curtain walling, 1202S structural silicone glazing, 1202 zone drained curtain walling and 500 Series windows.

The Station is a multi modal public transport interchange housing Manchester Airport's ground transportation services under one roof. These include buses, coaches, trains and taxis, as well as a future tram link. The building consists of a striking, triple height 'hub' building, which links to the existing railway station, and an associated six storey office block that achieved a BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) rating of 'excellent'. As part of the Airport's ground transport strategy, The Station has been developed to encourage maximum use of public transport for journeys to and from the airport - one of the objectives is to ensure that, by 2005, 25% of all journeys to the airport are by public transport.

The concept design was completed by Nick Derbyshire Architects, with Aedas Architects designing the project up to Stage D, and overseeing both shell and core and fit out construction. Jefferson Sheard Architects, as part of Skanska UK, then took over and completed the shell and core detail design. Phil Pollington, project architect with Jefferson Sheard, describes the 'hub' building: 'The 'hub' is a large, predominantly glazed structure that has been designed to be totally open. It is light, airy and palatial in scale. Internally, the steelwork is exposed, with lattice trusses supporting the Kawneer 1202S structural silicone glazing, which has been glazed with Pilkington arctic blue double glazed units.'

The original fenestration requirement for the 'hub' had been for a frameless system. However, the Kawneer 1202S system was selected following a value engineering process carried out by SIAC, which demonstrated that the same visual effect externally could be more cost effectively obtained using structural silicone glazing. Phil Pollington comments, 'I think we achieved a better aesthetic design as a result of the value engineering exercise. We were able to omit the additional steelwork required for the frameless system and put some new primary steel in where necessary to provide lateral support. These became feature trusses and enabled us to open up the space more, which was a design improvement.'

Peter Cochlin, director of SIAC, describes the complexity of the 'hub' fenestration. 'Because of the sheer size of the building and the client's desire to see more glass and less steel support, the Kawneer 1202S system was required to span some fairly large, unsupported heights. As a result, the mullions within the hub building are heavily reinforced, which was particularly challenging from a design and installation point of view. To ensure that they would withstand the load on them while spanning such unsupported heights, we incorporated Kawneer's reinforcing sleeve profile, inside which we inserted continuous steel plate. The weight of the mullions was considerable and needed careful handling during manufacture and installation.'

The six storey office building provides a bus/coach concourse at ground floor level and five floors of offices featuring projecting 'oriel' curtain wall bay windows fitted with Kawneer's PF structurally glazed curtain walling. The building also features Kawneer's 500 Series windows, which are large - up to five metres in length - and fully integrated with Spanwall cladding. Kawneer's 1202 zone drained curtain walling was used as strip windows into copper look-a-like Spanwall cladding, which overclads the service cores of the office building. The Spanwall cladding to the office building has a dramatic blue duotone paint finish and the Kawneer systems, which are fitted with Pilkington high performance Suncool double-glazing, a metallic silver paint finish.

Asked to identify the most challenging aspects of the project for Kawneer and SIAC, Phil Pollington responds, 'From a technical point of view, the junction between the new 'hub' building and the existing railway station was particularly challenging. As well as accommodating the varying movements of the two buildings, SIAC also had to detail design how to accommodate the existing structure of the railway station where it penetrated through the structural silicone glazing. The goal was to make the junction look as neat as possible, as well as aesthetically pleasing, whilst achieving the necessary performance standards.'

Commenting on this intricate interface with the railway station, Peter Cochlin says, 'The interface between the two buildings at the roof level was complex and critical to the success of the contract. Because SIAC was responsible for the whole external façade, we were able to better control the issues and develop effective, workable solutions. Having sole responsibility also helped in the management of the installation process, which was complicated by the need to keep the railway station operational. The contract was subject to HMRI (Her Majesty's Railways Inspectorate) and SRA (Strategic Rail Authority) conditions and use of access equipment highly restricted. We used a combination of cranes, scaffolding and mechanical access equipment, such as scissor lifts, to effect installation.'

All of the Kawneer products used on The Station building were subject to rigorous project-specific laboratory testing that was carried out on a test rig at Taywood Research Centre. The developer for The Station was Manchester Airport Developments Ltd, part of the Manchester Airport Group.

Tel: 01928 502500
Email: mailto:enquiries@eu.kawneer.com
Web: http://www.kawneereurope.com


Winning Combination from Quantal and Trade Plas

This conservatory was designed and built by Nailsworth based Quantal Approved Fabricator Trade Plas, and won the Conventional Domestic category of the Glassex 2004 Conservatory Design Competition.

A bespoke-built Cotswold stone house on a private estate in Gloucestershire had an enclosed space between the kitchen and a garden wall ideal for a conservatory.

Richard Phelps, Production Manager at Trade Plas, explains, ‘The homeowners had approached many conservatory companies who had suggested Victorian or Edwardian PVCu styles, which would have looked out of place in this situation. The couple wanted a conservatory to complement and enhance their home and make the best possible use of the space available.

‘We showed them a selection of pictures of bespoke installations in various styles and finishes that our company had completed, and from these they were able to form an idea for a design of their own.’

The double aspect gable roof is fabricated from the Quantal roofing system, and has a dual colour polyester powder coated aluminium finish, charcoal grey externally and cream internally. ‘Sunburst’ Georgian Bar designs feature on each gable. Solid cast aluminium cresting and finials give an authentic and aesthetically pleasing appearance to the roof.

The roof features two BBA approved Quantal roof vents, and is glazed grey anti-sun self-cleaning glass. The conservatory also has an air conditioning unit, to maintain a comfortable living environment all year round.

To really give the feeling of bringing the garden into the heart of the home, the front has a generous 3.1 metre opening with bi-folding doors. This is made possible by the use of the Quantal structural gable lintel, which gives the entire conservatory great lateral rigidity.

Matching dual colour, square leaded, aluminium windows complement the Quantal roof perfectly, and the result is a fabulous conservatory, completely in keeping with the character of the house, which the homeowners are delighted with.

Tel: 01626 836403
Web: http:// www.quantal.co.uk
Web: http://www.tradeplas.com


SAS Makes its Mark on New Build at Manor Park

An office and warehouse development at Manor Park, Runcorn has been glazed with a range of Senior Aluminium Systems products fabricated and installed by Aire Valley Architectural.

Across three storeys, the new build was enveloped with SAS’ compartment drained thermally-broken curtain wall to create the impressive glazed façade.
Incorporated into the design were Part L compliant SPW 600 windows and automatic entrance doors, all polyester powder coated in blue.

SAS’ SPW 600 is a high performance casement commercial window and door system designed to meet the thermal insulation demands specified in Part L. The range includes fixed lights, top hung, side hung, tilt turn and overswing windows, as well as single and double rebated doors. A range of mullions and transoms allows large composite windows to be fabricated.

Senior Aluminium Systems supplies Britain’s commercial fabricators from its head office in Denaby and two regional service centres in Newport and Livingston.

Tel: 01709 772600


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