Handley House, Sovereign Court, Hammersmith, London W6 0BT
Sovereign Court Headline Facts:
382 reconstructed stone panels, covering 3,060 square meters.
Contractor : St. George (Berkeley Group)
Architect : Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands
Location: London
Victoria Square, Woking, London GU21 6DG
Victoria Square Headline Facts:
641 natural stone faced panels, covering 7,600 square meters.
Contractor : Sir Robert McAlpine
Architect : Benoy
Shree Swaminarayan Mandir Kingsbury, Shree Muktajeevan Swamibapa Complex, Kingsbury Road, NW9 8AQ
The Temple Headline Facts :
224 reconstructed stone panels, covering 2,760 square meters.
Contractor : FDL
Architect : LTS Architects
Heathrow Express, Heathrow Airport, London TW6
Heathrow Express Headline Facts :
10,000 GRC panels, covering two underground stations at Heathrow Airport
Contractor : Laing Bailey JV
Architect : Wolfe Ollins
32 London Bridge St, London SE1 9SG
London Bridge Headline Facts :
1,500 square meters of GRC panels
Contractor : Mace
Architect : Renzzo Piano
5A Kensington Church St, Kensington, London W8 4LD
Lancer Square Headline Facts:
469 natural stone faced and brick faced panels, covering 6,760 square meters.
Contractor : Mace
Architect : Squire & Partners
Wembley Park, Wembley, Brent, London
E05 Wembley Park Headline Facts:
1,610 brick faced and reconstructed stone panels with punched windows and Juliette balconies, covering 17,500 square meters.
Contractor : Sisk
Architect : PRP
The Finer Details :
Wembley Park is a transformational urban regeneration scheme in the heart of London, renewing the long-neglected space around the national stadium in London. It is creating a vibrant new district which will be home to the UK’s largest single-site build to rent scheme, with over 7,000 residential units, helping to address the UK’s shortage of affordable homes. Since 2004, a range of impressive projects have been delivered at Wembley Park, however the E05 project is the first time that precast concrete has been selected as the preferred facade at Wembley Park. Techrete were awarded the contract and works began in December of 2018.
E05 comprises 458 residences and associated amenities over three blocks, ranging between 10 and 21 storeys. Located immediately adjacent to the stadium, it also provides a linked basement car park for residents, a ground level coach park and two levels of accessible parking for Wembley Stadium. Sisk are expected to complete all works onsite by October 2020.
Within 18 months (December 2018 – May 2020), Techrete had designed, manufactured, and installed 1,610 architectural precast brick-faced panels, incorporating 2,000 windows and covering 17,500 square meters of the buildings facades.
Watch Installation Progress Video Here:
Video Courtesy of Quintain. Video Credit : Site Eye
University College London Hospital, 235 Euston Rd, Bloomsbury, London NW1 2BU
UCLH Headline Facts:
1,381 brick faced panels, covering 17, 227m²
Contractor : Mace
Architect : Pilbrow & Partners
Duncan House, Stratford, London E15 2JB
Duncan House Headline Facts:
1,487 reconstructed stone panels, covering 18,500 square meters.
Contractor : Watkins and Jones
Architect : Hodder and Partners
The Finer Details :
Duncan House in Stratford, London is a mixed-use development which offers residential apartments, student bedrooms, academic space and has a roof garden and sky lounge. Designed by Hodder and Partners and with Watkin Jones as the main contractor, this development completed in September/October 2019.
The 9-storey podium block of the development defines the street edge and responds to the lower rise buildings surrounding the site. The podium’s right-angle arrangement within its site allows a significant piece of public realm to be formed at the junction of High Street with Lett Road. The composition of the tower with its fins creates a striking silhouette against the sky.
Techrete were engaged to design, manufacture and install the 1,487 panels, covering the 18,500 square meters of cladding which makes up the façade of Duncan House. The reconstructed stone mix chosen for the project was C280 with a light pigment and an acid etched finish.
The structural precast columns to the first floor were manufactured by Techrete and create right angle public colonnade.
Approximately 2,500 windows were fitted at our factory to the panels and the combination of these panels, together with the concrete infill as well as louvres which were also fitted in our factory, make up the façade of the structure.
Creating the moulds for the 1,487 panels with high repetition was always going to be a challenge. Steel moulds were developed to facilitate this, and bespoke steel cassettes were vital in speeding up the process of casting the window panels in particular.
Three Techrete teams installed the panels using three tower cranes and due to the high-rise nature of the building, the Bomecon counter-balance rig was utilised to assist with the installation while the core structure was still being completed over-head.
Duncan House is mainly a student residence, and it is a prestigious project to add to Techrete’s student residence portfolio, particularly in the city of London. Following on from the successful completion of the project, Techrete entered talks with the main contractor, Watkin Jones for the tendering of several other projects.
Duncan House won ‘Best Tall Building – Facade Engineering Project of the year’ at the Tall Building Awards in December 2020 and has achieved a ‘BREEAM Excellent’ rating.
4b Southbank Place, York Road, Bishop’s, London SE1 7LZ
4b Southbank Place Headline Facts:
500 reconstructed stone panels, covering 6,124 square meters.
Contractor : Canary Wharf Group PLC
Architect : Squire and Partners
Watch our video here :
Video credit : Gary Britton Photography
The Finer Details :
The redevelopment of Southbank Place in central London comprises 8 new buildings surrounding the quarter’s centrepiece, the Shell Centre Tower. The overall redevelopment once completed, will be home to a mixture of offices, residences and retail space and will integrate with open public areas and pedestrian routes. Techrete were engaged by Canary Wharf Group PLC to design, manufacture and install the precast concrete panels for three of the buildings within the quarter and these were Building 1, Building 4A and Building 4B.
Self-compacting concrete using Techrete’s C190 mix for a warm off-white colour, was finished with acid etching to lightly expose the aggregate, giving the panels a soft slightly textured appearance. Granite plinths were also utilised in a Kurum Grey finish and these were supplied to Techrete by Savema.
On buildings 4A and 4B Techrete’s C190 reconstructed stone mix was also used with an acid etched finish. Two storey height panels were manufactured with a vertical indentation in the panels up to levels 10, elongating the structures and creating an elegant ribbed effect.
3D modelling was vital for all three buildings from a Techrete perspective as the extensive steel work of the frames had to be co-ordinated throughout the building. Two bridges on levels 4 and 8 linking buildings one and two, handrail interfaces throughout the building and the interfacing canope described below, all added to the complexity of the design work. Some clashes with the mechanical and engineering work were detected at an early stage and rectified by our design team before any delays were incurred.
GRC soffits were used to clad the over-head areas of the public colonnades on buildings 4A and 4B.
The open structures on the roofs of buildings 4A and 4B were tricky as there were 4 sided columns and beams to negotiate and additionally the steel frames were being built over-head as we were cladding the mid-levels which required a high level of co-ordination and the use of our Bomecon counter balance rig.
4A Southbank Place, York Road, Bishop’s, London SE1 7NW
4a Southbank Place Headline Facts:
643 reconstructed stone panels, covering 7,876 square meters.
Contractor : Canary Wharf Group Ltd.
Architect : Squire and Partners
Video Credit : Gary Britton Photography
The Finer Details :
The redevelopment of Southbank Place in central London comprises 8 new buildings surrounding the quarter’s centrepiece, the Shell Centre Tower. The overall redevelopment once completed, will be home to a mixture of offices, residences and retail space and will integrate with open public areas and pedestrian routes. Techrete were engaged by Canary Wharf Group PLC to design, manufacture and install the precast concrete panels for three of the buildings within the quarter and these were Building 1, Building 4A and Building 4B.
Self-compacting concrete using Techrete’s C190 mix for a warm off-white colour, was finished with acid etching to lightly expose the aggregate, giving the panels a soft slightly textured appearance. Granite plinths were also utilised in a Kurum Grey finish and these were supplied to Techrete by Savema.
On buildings 4A and 4B Techrete’s C190 reconstructed stone mix was also used with an acid etched finish. Two storey height panels were manufactured with a vertical indentation in the panels up to levels 10, elongating the structures and creating an elegant ribbed effect.
3D modelling was vital for all three buildings from a Techrete perspective as the extensive steel work of the frames had to be co-ordinated throughout the building. Two bridges on levels 4 and 8 linking buildings one and two, handrail interfaces throughout the building and the interfacing canope described below, all added to the complexity of the design work. Some clashes with the mechanical and engineering work were detected at an early stage and rectified by our design team before any delays were incurred.
GRC soffits were used to clad the over-head areas of the public colonnades on buildings 4A and 4B.
The open structures on the roofs of buildings 4A and 4B were tricky as there were 4 sided columns and beams to negotiate and additionally the steel frames were being built over-head as we were cladding the mid-levels which required a high level of co-ordination and the use of our Bomecon counter balance rig.
1 Southbank Place, York Road, Bishop’s, London SE1 7NW
1 Southbank Place Headline Facts:
563 reconstructed stone panels, covering 7,905 square meters.
Contractor : Canary Wharf Group PLC
Architect : Squire and Partners
Watch our video here :
Video Credit : Gary Britton Photography
The Finer Details :
The redevelopment of Southbank Place in central London comprises 8 new buildings surrounding the quarter’s centrepiece, the Shell Centre Tower. The overall redevelopment once completed, will be home to a mixture of offices, residences and retail space and will integrate with open public areas and pedestrian routes. Techrete were engaged by Canary Wharf Group PLC to design, manufacture and install the precast concrete panels for three of the buildings within the quarter and these were Building 1, Building 4A and Building 4B.
Southbank Place 1 appears to step backwards in three blocks from the ground floor to story 5, from level 6 to level 9 and finally, from level 10 to level 14.
The building features 2 and 3 storey height panels, which were 11 metres long. A major feature of the panels was their extra deep returns on the legs which creates a solar shade and visually achieves the architects design intent.
Self-compacting concrete using Techrete’s C190 mix for a warm off-white colour, was finished with acid etching to lightly expose the aggregate, giving the panels a soft slightly textured appearance. Granite plinths were also utilised in a Kurum Grey finish and these were supplied to Techrete by Savema.
A canopy was created down one elevation of building 1 to create a semi-enclosed space linking buildings 1 and 2. The canope interfaces with the steel work and it was this interface, whilst small in size, was crucial in the overall development of the canope and was incredibly intricate for our draughtsmen to model.
The Marq, 32 Duke Street, London SW1Y 6DF
The Marq, Duke’s Court Headline Facts:
157 brick faced, portland stone faced and gold gilded panels, covering 2,511 square meters.
Contractor : Skanska
Architect : Rolfe Judd and John McAslan & Partners
The Finer Details:
Duke’s Court is a mixed development of retail and office space on the corner of Duke Street and Jermyn Street in St James, London. Designed by John McAslan & Partners and Rolfe Judd Architects and delivered by Skanska, Duke’s Court features beautiful gold gilding on the corner façade panels and a brass frame around the windows, all adding a touch of glamour to this particular corner of London’s West End.
Techrete were appointed by Skanska to design, manufacture and install 157 panels in total. This included insulated Portland Stone faced panels, brick faced panels with factory fitted punch windows. The mixture of Portland stone, two variations of brown and white brick and a Belgian blue limestone plinth were all developed to create the overall effect of Duke’s Court’s façade.
The pre-formed unitised punch window panels were in some cases, three windows wide and are stacked on Portland stone mullions between the ground and first floor. The footprint of the building was so tight that this system was essential for the project and allowed us to install from inside of the building, thus avoiding scaffolding, which would have invaded public pedestrian zones.
The panel design combines both a stacked and steel corbel system restrained back to the main steel frame. The factory insulated panels, fire stop details and the factory installed windows system were all coordinated via 3D modelling.
The corner façade features specially commissioned artwork on the panels. The gold leaf inlay on the carved stone was to resemble a ‘dropped thread’. Grooves were cut into the Portland stone panels for the gilding of the gold leaf and Techrete provided the drawings for these grooves.
The contemporary design coupled with the touch of classical glamour on the unusual corner façade and its location in such a prestigious area of London, have all been factors in contributing to the high-profile nature of this project for Techrete. The elegant Portland stone, the warm brick and the gold gilding all together demonstrate how a combination of finishes can create a striking, contemporary façade and this will stand to us in the future when architects are considering this element right at the beginning of a projects.
Duke’s Court is one of the first buildings to achieve ‘BREEAM Outstanding’ for both its façade and core.
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, 748 High Road, Tottenham, London N17 0AP
THFC Stadium Headline Facts:
813 reconstructed stone panels, covering 3,492 square meters.
Contractor : Mace
Architect : Populous
The Finer Details:
Tottenham Hotspur’s new 62,000-capacity stadium in north London has made wide use of precast concrete – including creation of the football club’s famous crest and motto.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club’s new stadium set a new benchmark for sporting arenas in the UK, and the construction work was also of the highest quality.
The 62,000-seater venue in north London, the largest club stadium in the capital, is designed to be multi-purpose and features the world’s first dividing, retractable football pitch, which reveals a synthetic turf pitch underneath for NFL London Games, concerts, and other events.
Designed by specialist stadium architects Populous, with construction management handled by Mace, work on the project got under way in 2015.
Precast concrete has been used widely, including the terrace sections in the seating bowl, vomitories, stairways, concourse, and external areas, as well as spectacular visual signatures of the football club’s identity.
Tottenham’s famous crest, a cockerel standing on a football, and the Latin motto ‘Audere Est Facere’ – ‘To Dare is To Do’ – were created as giant architectural precast panels by Techrete and are visible inside the concourse areas under the seating bowl.
Bespoke moulds were designed for the precast letters. The 27 Tottenham lettering panels measured 2,000mm in length and 2,200mm in width, and each weighed a tonne.
Westfield Shopping Centre, Ariel Way, Shepherd’s Bush, London W12 7GF
Westfield Shopping Centre Headline Facts:
970 reconstructed stone panels, covering 5,674 square meters.
Contractor : Westfield
Architect : Sheppard Robson
St. Pauls School, Lonsdale Road, Barnes, London SW13 9JT
St. Paul’s School Headline Facts:
164 reconstructed stone panels.
Contractor : Mace
Architect : Grant Associates
London Fruit & Wool Exchange, 1-10 Brushfield Sreet, Poplar, London E1 6EN
London Fruit & Wool Exchange Headline Facts:
646 reconstructed stone and brick faced panels, covering 5,232 square meters.
Contractor : Sir Robert McAlpine
Architect : Bennetts Associates
Lewisham Gateway, London, SE13 7RZ
Lewisham Gateway Headline Facts:
1,000 GRC panels, covering 5,500 square meters.
Contractor : Sisk & Son
Architect : PRP Architects
Grosvenor Street, Mayfair, London
Grosvenor Street Headline Facts:
147 brick faced panels, covering 1,378 square meters.
Contractor : Sir Robert McAlpine
Architect : BFLS
One Bedford Avenue, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3AU
One Bedford Avenue Headline Facts:
253 reconstructed stone panels, covering 2,614 square meters.
Contractor : Mace Group
Architect : Bennetts Associates