Product category:
Roofing
News Release from: Marley Eternit | Subject: Lamina External Cladding
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 05 August 2004
Eternit Cladding Low Maintenance Lesson
High-pressure laminate cladding panels from Eternit Building Materials have helped Stanley Bragg Architects meet the brief for a low-maintenance extension to the University of Essex in Colchester.
The partnership also specified Eternit's Lamina External cladding, after visiting a university building in Cambridge where it had been used, for its robustness, range of colours, adaptability and crisp lines Although the site is prominent between an existing academic building and the new library and Hexagon Restaurant, Stanley Bragg's brief from the university's estate management section was to provide office accommodation that could be used by any of the departments on the campus and that was flexible in floor plan to allow a variety of office space sizes to be used
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 22 Jul 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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An analysis of the university's area requirements highlighted that of the initial user departments, the accounts, finance and management department was 50% larger than the history department.
This was developed by Stanley Bragg to provide a total of 1,870mư of accommodation, or 85 offices, over six floors on the steeply sloping infill site.
This comprises three floors for the former and two floors for the latter, with half a floor in the basement for three conference/lecture rooms and plant accommodation.
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The university's estate management section's more detailed requirements for room size were also analysed and Stanley Bragg decided that by housing a structural grid of 5.2 metres along the length of the building, and an intermediary grid of 1.3 metres, various widths of office accommodation could be provided.
A floor plate design of offices on three sides surrounding a corridor set to one side of a central row of columns provided the most economical form of construction and was selected over one that had offices on three sides with central communal facilities.
Stanley Bragg then turned its attention to the elevations.
Project architect Jeff Collinson said: "We considered it important that the new extension should be harmonious in scale, colour, proportions and detailing to the adjoining academic building.
However, it should not be an exact copy but brighter and more colourful than its neighbours and constructed from present-day, virtually maintenance-free materials." With this in mind, the practice specified fully reversible windows, GRP products for the eaves, soffits and cills, an overhanging butterfly roof with Brise Soleil above windows at all other levels, projecting cills to shed rainwater and provide relief to what would have otherwise been a flat facade - and Eternit's Lamina External panels for the general external wall cladding.
To give the building more of a three-dimensional feel, the 600m2 of 6mm Eternit panels were routed to create false joints and secret fixed by ECL Contracts Ltd with factory bonded rails.
Total building work took 11 months by main contractor RG Carter (Colchester) Ltd.
"Both the GRP components and Eternit product were a cream colour to harmonise with the light concrete colour of the adjoining academic building," he added.
"The university's estate management section attached great importance for every opportunity to be taken in the design of the building and the choice of materials and construction of details to reduce the cost of maintenance to a realistic minimum.
"We chose the Eternit product because it allowed us to create the particular aesthetic and detailing we were looking for.
It played an important part as it is the main cladding material for the visible areas of the building.
"It contributes considerably and provides a well-engineered look to the building while at the same time providing a virtually maintenance free facade.
It has played an important part in raising the profile of the building and providing a distinctive envelope to the completed project. Request a free brochure from Marley Eternit ...
There is a lot of praise for the building generally from all sectors of the university.".
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