Project Category: Commercial

Penrose One

Penrose One, Penrose Dock, Co. Cork T23 YY09

Penrose One, Penrose Dock Headline Facts

376 reconstructed stone panels, covering 3,603 meters.

Contractor : PJ Hegarty

Architect : Wilson Architecture

The Finer Details :

Situated on the banks of the River Lee in Cork, Penrose One & Two is a commercial development constructed by Hegarty Construction and designed by Wilson Architecture.  The buildings enhance the emerging skyline at Cork’s docklands and deliver 250,000 square foot of sustainable, Grade A office space.  Situated in close proximity to the historical Penrose House, the buildings designs are based on classical proportions with the intention of embracing and enhancing their historical neighbour.

Techrete was awarded the tender to design, manufacture and install the architectural precast concrete cladding façades for both buildings at Penrose Dock.  

Penrose One is organised in three distinct vertical modules with Techrete’s double height vertical mullions elongating the building’s appearance. Structural precast concrete columns rise from ground level to the third floor, cast in three parts and stitched together, creating a grand entrance to the building and further elongating its appearance.   The precast concrete façade of Penrose Two also consists of mullions and spandrels and the consistency of both façades provides a framing approach to the original Penrose House. 

The chosen mix for the project was Techrete’s C190 with an acid etched finish, which provides a warm soft appearance to the façades. 

Cast-in lettering was used on panels for Penrose One and Two providing elegant signage for the two entrances.

Watch Penrose 1 & 2 Video Here :

Video Credit : JCD Group

Techrete Factory

Techrete Factory Stephenstown Industrial Park, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin

Techrete Factory Headline Facts:

906 industrial sandwich panels, covering 10,600 square meters.

Contractor : Elliotts

Architect : John Smith Architects

1 Southbank Place

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.

Navigation Square 2

Navigation Square 2, Albert Quay, Cork City

Navigation Square 2 Headline facts:

543 reconstructed stone panels, covering 4,127 square meters.

Contractor : BAM

Architect : Henry J Lyons

The Finer Details:

Designed by Henry J Lyons Architects and contracted by BAM, Albert Quay, Navigation Square, is part of the largest ever office development to be undertaken in Cork. With a prime location in the city’s business district, Albert Quay enjoys panoramic views of the port at the river Lee and the entire development encompassing Navigation Square, provides over 33,000 square meters of office space.

The direction for the project from the outset was for building excellence. As the first Phase of a 2 stage process, a huge degree of coordination was required between all members of the design team, the contractor and Techrete as specialist contractor. Techrete was selected with regard to speed of erection and an ability to provide for quality control of the finishes and jointing which were all obtainable in our indoor factory environment.

The building was required to exist on its own and to then later stitch seamlessly into the larger development. This meant an increased complexity of access, structure and services due to the nature of the highly compact urban site. Regular workshops with Techrete, the full design team and contractor on site meant that a very high degree of coordination was possible.
The installation of this project posed some access difficulties for Techrete and as such, two tower cranes were required to complete the erection process.

The panels had to be lifted over the top of the building using a large tower crane, whilst a smaller mobile crane on the other side used precision handling to manoeuvre the panels into place. The precast element of this project comprised of wedge shaped mullions and rectangular spandrels supported on composite steel deck slabs which are restrained by steel beams. Bespoke steel moulds were created in preparation for the next phase of the overall project, of which Techrete have just completed the installation of the precast cladding.

The inverted ‘T’ shaped spandrels at the 2nd floor create a timeless, elegant quality to the facade. The free standing ‘goal post’ to the front of the building, is almost 10 meters high and is supported with a post tensioned 400 millimetres deep spandrel, spanning about 11 meters. This creates an impressive, grand front entrance to the building.

Techrete’s bespoke white polished panels, are aligned perfectly with the structural columns at the ground floor, also with a white polished finish and are connected to the steel structural columns above.

The project completed before its expected delivery date and allowed a partial handover to an occupier early. Overall this is a carefully considered and dynamic development. Whilst realising the full potential of this particular constrained city site, and whilst respecting the historic setting, this project greatly contributes to the surrounding neighbourhood and Cork as a whole.

XYZ Building

XYZ Building, 2 Hardman Boulevard, Manchester M3 3AQ

XYZ Building Headline Facts:

388 reconstructed stone panels, covering 3,836 square meters.

Contractor : McLaren Construction

Architect : Cartwright Pickard

Severn Trent

Severn Trent, 2 St Johns Street, Coventry CV1 2LZ

Severn Trent Headline Facts:

386 natural stone faced and reconstructed stone panels, covering 6,270 square meters.

Contractor : BAM

Architect : Webb Gray

Scottish Power

Scottish Power, 320 Street Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5AD

Scottish Power Headline Facts:

983 reconstructed stone panels, covering 14,472 square meters.

Contractor : Laing O’Rourke

Architect : Paige Park Architects

Collegelands

Collegelands, Havannah Street, Glasgow G4 0UB

Collegelands Headline Facts:

750 brick faced and reconstructed stone panels, covering 8,500 square meters.

Contractor : Dawn Construction

Architect : Page Park Architects

Clarence Dock

Clarence Dock, The Boulevard, Leeds LS10 1PZ

Clarence Dock Headline Facts:

442 reconstructed stone panels, covering 5,850 square meters.

Contractor : Shepherd

Architect : Carey Jones Architects

The Capitol

The Capitol, Grand Parade, Cork

The Capitol Headline Facts:

182 reconstructed stone panels, covering 1,829 square meters.

Contractor : BAM Construction

Architect : Wilson Architects

Calthorpe House

Calthorpe House, Birmingham

Calthorpe House Headline Facts:

400 reconstructed stone panels, covering 5,300 square meters.

Contractor : BAM

Architect : Webb Gray

Ashington Leisure Centre

Ashington Leisure Centre, Lintonville Terrace, Ashington, Northumberland, NE63 9JY

Ashington Leisure Centre Headline Facts:

158 reconstructed stone panels, covering 4,737 square meters.

Contractor : Carillion

Architect : Ryder Architecture

5 Pancras Square (B3)

5 Pancras Square, Kings Cross, London N1C 4AG

5 Pancras Square Headline Facts:

146 reconstructed stone panels, covering 1,350 square meters.

Contractor : Kier Construction

Architect : Weedon Partnership

The Finer Details:

This unique building has won many accolades for its design including the RIBA London Regional Award 2015, The RIBA London Sustainability Award 2015, and most recently, the Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award. Furthermore it has achieved the BREEAM level of ‘Outstanding’.

It was built as the new headquarters for Camden Council and is clad at the lower levels with Techrete precast concrete panels. There were a lot of constraints encountered on site and the ground to 3rd floor cladding had to be installed in advance of the super structure. Due to the site logistics and proposed crane sizes and positons, normal installation hours could not be accommodated on site as these would have blocked deliveries and affected progress on site. There was also site off -loading restrictions.

To avoid these issues, Techrete panels were installed between 7pm and 7am using the site tower cranes. The line and level works were carried out during the day. Another challenge faced was the installation of the circular columns. This proved interesting as they were underslung units and there was reduced headroom available.

As with other projects in the Kings Cross area, there were network rail restrictions which required the downgrading of all craneage by 25%. This problem was alleviated by using mobile cranes where appropriate, although there was some back propping required to the slab during this operation.

A reconstituted stone mix was chosen in an acid etched finish which gives the building a regal finish, allowing it to blend effortlessly with the prestige of the neighbouring buildings and surroundings.

Dublin Landings

Dublin Landings, North Wall Quay, Dublin 1

Dublin Landings Headline Facts:

470 brick faced panels, covering 5,805 square meters.

Contractor : Walls Construction

Architect : ARROW Architects & RKD Architects

The Finer Details:

Dublin Landings is one of two landmark riverfront buildings developed in the historical, heart of Dublin City. Given the historical tone in the docklands it was important that these two buildings aligned with the nature of the area, this meant that RKD Architects and ARROW Architects would have to coordinate their designs. The elevational design was developed to provide a calm foil next to the lively Central Bank of Ireland facades immediately adjacent. Brick cladding was among choices made to refer to and reflect the palette of historical Docklands materials of the area, and also to present an understated elegance in the finished elevations

Walls Construction enlisted both ARROW Architects and RKD Architects to design a building that would be part of Project Wave. A commercial office and residential redevelopment located in the dock lands of Dublin city. Project wave as a whole will deliver up to 65,000 sq. m of commercial offices and residential opportunity. This phase of Project wave is situated on the forefront of North Wall Quay, alongside some of the most prominent office headquarters in Ireland such as the Central Bank of Ireland.

At an early stage in the project it was decided that the facades would be formed in precast elements, partly for programme and cost reasons but mainly to achieve the highest levels of quality and precision in the expression of the brickwork, through meticulous fabrication of the brick façade on the building to the exacting quality demanded for this prime development. Techrete was chosen by RKD due to their proven ability in the industry and the high quality of product which would suit this prime development area. Techrete designed, manufactured, erected and sealed the architectural precast concrete cladding of the façade on the building. The initial task was to find a façade design that would marry the existing tone of the area which already is filled with high rise buildings some with unique façades. It was decided that brick face façade units would be used to both align with the manner of the area and allow the façade to be prominent. The façade covered 5,805 m² made up of 470 nr. of units. These units consisted of brick faced wall panels, mullions and spandrels. The mullion panels were two storey high and although they were difficult to erect the team were able to use less fixtures.

When deciding to use brick on the façade two European bricks were ordered, this caused complications during moulding because of brick tolerances. The installation of the façade was undertaken with tower cranes and was a relatively smooth operation with the exception of the ESB substation where panels had to be installed with a mobile crane. This elevation was restricted access use due to the close proximity of the central bank. Separately installation was in an adhoc sequence due to the tight programme, EPDM and installation needed to be applied in advance of the panel installation and cranage needed to be sequenced on relevant days with two separate crews.

Visual Control Tower

Visual Control Tower, Dublin Airport

Visual Control Tower Headline Facts:

115 reconstructed stone panels, covering 2,375 square meters.

Contractor: BAM

Architect: Scott Tallon Walker

The Finer Details :

The Visual Control Tower at Dublin Airport is one of the tallest structures in Ireland and it is Ireland’s tallest occupied building. Contracted by BAM and standing at 87.7 metres high, the tower provides clear views for current and future runways at Dublin Airport. Designed by Scott Tallon Walker Architects, the building comprises a 17-storey shaft with a 4 storey control room sitting on top and to help achieve the design brief of an elegant, modern structure, it was essential that the tower shaft displayed no cold joints and that the surface was of an excellent finish.

Techrete were involved on the project with Scott Tallon Walker from the initial concept and design stage of the tower to ensure that their design intent of this unusual project could be achieved. Techrete were engaged to provide and install the curved precast panels for the shaft with feature knuckles arranged in a triangular shape.

Future maintenance was a key consideration for the project and as such, the shaft facade was designed as a rain screen with open drained joggle joints, allowing rain water to funnel behind the panels and drain out at the bottom of the structure, fulfilling the ‘self-cleaning’ intent of the design.

The unusual shape of the shaft and panels required Techrete to design bespoke structural hanging brackets to support the heavy loads of the panels. Multiple curved timber moulds of varying shapes and radii were designed and manufactured to produce the unusual and varying shapes of the panels. The mix chosen for the panels was our popular C190, white mix and panels were given an acid etched finish. A key challenge for Techrete on this project was the limited time to install the panels before the Control Room steel frame was due to arrive on site and be installed.

The Visual Control Tower won ‘Engineering Project of the Year’ at the Irish Building and Design Awards 2019.

Molesworth St

10 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2

10 Molesworth Street Headline Facts:

262 brick facing, natural stone facing and reconstructed stone panels, covering 3,515 square meters.

Contractor: PJ Hegarty & Son

Architect: Henry J Lyons

The Finer Details:

Techrete were engaged to design, manufacture and erect over 3,500 m² of architectural brick faced precast concrete cladding panels, as part of the façade of number 10 Molesworth Street. Chosen for our speed of erection and Techrete’s ability to provide for quality control of the brickwork and jointing, the architectural precast element consists of mullions, spandrels, parapets and stone-faced wall panels. The carefully chosen mix was Techrete’s timelessly elegant light, warm, off-white mix with an etched finish. To complement the mix, a natural stone-faced wall panel was chosen.

The brick wall panels offered a striking yet complementary contrast to the reconstructed stone mix. The chosen brick is a blended red colour range with off-white mortar joints. To keep with the Georgian tradition, the bricks were laid in a Flemish bond. The building combines both traditional and contemporary design and with careful selection of materials and modern construction methods, the symmetry and overall appearance of the building has managed to adopt the genre of prestige that is synonymous with this area of Dublin.

5 Hanover Quay

5 Hanover Quay, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2

5 Hanover Quay Headline Facts:

484 reconstructed stone panels, covering 5,574 square meters.

Contractor : Bennett Construction

Architect : RKD Architects

The Finer Details :

5 Hanover Quay stands in an enviable position in the heart of the prestigious South Dublin Docklands, in an area dubbed “silicon docks”.  Situated at the impressive waterfront of the Grand Canal Basin and on its northern boundary, it boasts high-tech neighbours such as Google, Facebook and LinkedIn.  The aim of this building is to be an instrumental component of Dublin’s Dockland Regeneration.

RKD architects were appointed by APTIV Global Operations Ltd. to design this 161,300 sq ft, impressively, unique building.  One of the main elements of the design brief of this seven storey building, was a strong emphasis on quality.   One of the design elements decided on was to feature, high quality, reconstructed stone outer frame.  With concrete being such an integral part of the design, the façade had to demonstrate an iconic design element.  RKD worked closely with Techrete as they deemed Techrete to possess the specialist skill and experience of working with concrete to the highest quality.

With such a strong design element placed on the use of concrete, the mix chosen had to be mindful of the projects location, to ensure it was placed appropriately within the surrounding architecture of this dense urban docklands area.  The mix chosen was Techrete’s C190.  This light, timelessly sophisticated mix, when lightly acid etched post production, resembles natural limestone. Due to the nature of the columns a steel column mould was used to guarantee a blemish free finish to the three exposed faces. The architectural precast element consisted of reconstructed stone columns, beams, wall panels and mullions .

The installation of the façade was undertaken with two tower cranes was a typical installation operation one would expect from such a project.  Due to the nature of the columns which spanned across two floors the mullions were engineered so that they could be rotated on site without the use of any mechanical tilting equipment. The eastern elevation, which is opposite an adjacent site and over an underground car park raised significant challenges including the application of mastic. Techrete’s site team overcame these challenges using a spider MEWP, which allowed the application of mastic to areas that otherwise may have proven inaccessible.

Five Lamps

Five Lamps, Amien Street, North Strand, Dublin 1

Five Lamps Headline Facts:

120 natural stone faced and brick faced panels, covering 1,200 square meters.

Contractor: Townlink Construction

Architect : CMP Architects

Two St. Peter’s Square

Two St. Peter’s Square, Manchester M2 3NQ

Two St. Peter’s Square Headline Facts:

546 reconstructed stone panels, covering 7,210 square meters.

Contractor : Laing O’Rourke

Architect : Simpson Haugh

Award : ‘Highly Commended’ – Concrete Society Awards 2018.

Judges comments :

“Visual appearance was a key driver in a very sensitive historic area of the city. The building does not look out of place at all, despite the time differences in construction. The decorative façades are very special and could only be done in precast concrete or an army of stone masons. Materials are standard but the complexity and quality of the finish is exceptional. The difficulty in forming these complex and varied units should not be underestimated. They are true three-dimensional concrete sculptures used as office window façades.


External column cladding was complex, multiply curved and feels appropriate for the location. The complexity, level of overall detail and quality is excellent. The joints of the units were lined up to show geometrical symmetry from vertical face to horizontal soffit. The judges were very impressed by this project. The decorative façades are superb and it would not be surprising if this level of decorative façade became more popular.“

The Finer Details:

2 St. Peters Square, is a truly distinguished building with its 12 floors rising majestically over the surrounding streetscape. The gable end faces onto Princess St and the building is adorned with delicate filigree tracery panels. Drawing inspiration from the Lancaster Rose which adorns the county flag and from the Cotton Bud fountain, the tracery panels were designed to incorporate these elements whilst drawing on further inspiration from the Town Hall extension stair turrets. The tracery panels are both decorative and functional and offer natural shading from the full height glazing which is situated behind them.

This choice of mix with a polished finish gives the building a timeless elegance appropriate to its prime location amongst such buildings of historical importance. The panels on the main façades embraced the ethos of off-site construction. The windows were installed at Techrete production facility and were delivered and installed as one complete unit . This resulted in a reduction in programme time and in the amount of trades required on site. This project won ‘Highly Commended’ at the Concrete Society Awards 2018.

One St. Peter’s Square

One St. peter’s Square, Manchester M2 3AE

One St. Peter’s Square Headline Facts :

584 reconstructed stone panels, covering 6,800 square meters

Contractor : Carillion PLC

Architect : Glenn Howells Architects