Kalzip clad new air traffic control tower

Edited by the Buildingtalk editorial team Jun 30, 2008

Kalzip's aluminium standing seam system has been used to clad Newcastle International Airport's new GBP8.2 million air traffic control tower.

Designed by 3D Reid Architects, this very distinctive 45 metre high vase-like structure boasts several cascading tiers of tapered Kalzip sheets with widths varying between 300mm and 450mm.

Installed by Teamkal contractor Lakesmere for main contractor Sir Robert McAlpine, the Kalzip system provides a cost effective, compact solution that serves to complete the striking geometry of this futuristic building.

Whilst the three tiers of Kalzip at the bottom of the tower were comparatively easy to complete, the most challenging part of the installation was the 50-tonne, 2-storey top module of the tower which had to be pre-assembled on site with the aid of a jig then lifted into place by a 500-tonne mobile crane.

The design incorporated some extra bracing around the parapets to minimise movement on the pre-clad frame during the lifting process which allowed the circular viewing tower to be lifted over and around the top of the main shaft to very fine tolerances and fixed into pre-formed pocket connections.

Between the two levels of Kalzip is a galvanised tubular hollow steel framework infilled with a stainless steel mesh that forms the concave sides of the structure.

No stranger to the use of Kalzip standing seam and the capabilities of the system, 3DReid's project architect Carl de Witt said: "The Kalzip forms a major part of the external envelope and interfaces smoothly between the other materials and elements".

"We researched various wall cladding products but the geometry of the building directed us to use the tapered standing seam as it suited the conical shape of the base building and external walls of the upper element".

"It ensured that the design concept of having a sculptural building could be realised." Bryan Bauld, project surveyor for Lakesmere, added: "It was a difficult and extremely challenging project".

"Not just because it was an exposed location on the edge of an active airfield but because the upper levels had to be built on the ground and then hoisted into the air." A key benefit to 3DReid's single sculptural design is that it contains all the associated components for the operation of the Air Traffic Control Tower, thus reducing the footprint of the building.