Kawneer completes complex coastal cladding

New Marine Operations Centre utilises bespoke glazed curtain wall manufactured by Kawneer and installed Charles Henshaw.

If you wanted a test-bed for a new curtain-walling system, you could do a lot worse than choose the new Marine Operations Centre on the North Pier at the Port of Aberdeen.

This GBP3million project, on Scotland's windswept North Sea coast, would test any facade system.

Situated just two metres from the edge of the harbour wall, the building has to withstand high winds, cold winter temperatures and a wet, salt-laden climate.

And if that were not enough, the facade is a complex, faceted outward-sloping design.

The designers of this landmark building are the Dundee office of SMC Parr Architects who opted for a striking modern take on the traditional Scottish lighthouse.

The external envelope is partly white reconstituted stone but the greater part - and the most exposed part - is a bespoke glazed curtain wall manufactured by Kawneer and installed by Edinburgh specialist and Kawneer-approved installer Charles Henshaw.

The new building, which replaces the port's old Navigation Control Centre, houses the latest marine traffic management equipment as well as a state-of-the-art ship's bridge training simulator.

"We recommended the early involvement of the cladding contractor and it was Henshaw that brought Kawneer into the equation," said project director Derek Reid.

"We had come up with a bold concept and it was essential to progress the detailed design with input from all parties - the installer and the supplier as well as Sir Robert McAlpine, the main contractor," he added.

This teamwork, with Kawneer's special projects team supplying design drawings and fabrication of the curtain wall, resulted in a glazing solution that would accommodate the architect's challenging specification and deliver the 270 degree visibility demanded by the client, Aberdeen Harbour Board.

The complex shape, and the fact that the wind-swept building would be subject to higher-than-average building movements, meant the curtain walling had to be flexible in more ways than one.

Not only did it need to accommodate the curvature of the facade, it had to be capable of flexing with the rest of the structure.

The solution was Kawneer's AA110 curtain wall system - a system that had never been used in the UK before.

"We had to use AA110 because we needed the extra space in the glazing rebate to accommodate movement," said Henshaw's managing director Tom Lamb.

Kawneer's AA110 system is similar to the company's more familiar AA100 range except it has deeper glazing rebates.

The AA100 features 50mm wide transoms and mullions whereas the AA110 sections are 65mm deep.

Although the AA100 gives slender sight-lines, the AA110 is inherently more flexible.

"In developing the design with Kawneer's special projects team, it was clear that the particularly demanding movement tolerances on this project would be better accommodated by the AA110 system," said Mr Lamb.

Some modular glazing systems have a built-in flexibility that will accommodate large building movements, but on this project, only a bespoke 'stick' system could deliver the complex geometry of the facade.

"Every mullion and every transom is different on this faandccedil;ade - and as you can imagine, setting-out was very complex," said Mr Lamb.

The early involvement of Henshaw and Kawneer in the development of this design was essential to the ultimate success of the project, said architect Derek Reid.

Despite the complexity of the design, Henshaw completed the GBP650,000 curtain wall installation in just 12 weeks - in the depths of winter, at that.

Completed this summer, the Marine Operations Centre is both an iconic structure for Aberdeen and a functional solution to the harbour's practical requirements.

And although complex and challenging, the design has already won the building a Civic Trust Award and the admiration of the architectural community.

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