Kawneer systems to complete BDP Atlantic Quay

Three types of curtain walling from architectural aluminium systems supplier Kawneer, including a unitised system, will be used at Atlantic Quay.

The building will mark the completion of BDP Architects' masterplan for Atlantic Quay, the GBP120 million project in the heart of Glasgow's international financial services district.

Wilson Bowden Developments' Capella building will feature Kawneer's AA201 unitised or modular system on the first nine storeys as well as Kawneer's AA110 fully capped and AA110 structural silicone glazed curtain walling to the 10th and ground floors respectively.

BDP's design for an 11-storey office tower at the centre of this new 420,000ft mixed-use urban quarter required a high-quality envelope for which they developed a clean, sophisticated glazed facade of floor-to-ceiling curtain walling with glass-to-glass detailing.

The facade design was influenced by several factors including the Scottish Building Standards Part 6 energy requirements that drove the selection of glass coatings and fritting, and site-specific issues, which moved the curtain walling away from a more conventional stick system towards a unitised solution.

Capella is surrounded on three sides by basement structures that would not take the load of the 10-storey scaffold required to construct a stick curtain walling system, while cantilevering the scaffold from upper floors would have extended the construction programme, thereby increasing costs.

Design and build contractor Balfour Beatty and Kawneer-approved sub-contractor Charles Henshaw proposed Kawneer's AA201 unitised curtain walling system as the pre-glazed units can be fixed from within the building without the need for scaffolding.

This method of placement reduces the safety risks associated with erecting and working from scaffolding.

BDP's architect director Bruce Kennedy said: "The decision to use unitised curtain walling in this particular project was made for some specific and quite interesting reasons.

For us, the unitised system offers the advantage of a floor-to-floor unit that does not require face caps, delivering the clean, large-scale glazing panels required by the design intent.

"Kawneer's slim mullions generate excellent sightlines, and the factory assembly of pre-glazed units is expected to result in a high level of quality control and is independent of inclement weather compared to the on-site glazing required for a stick system.".

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