Shackerley ceramic granite makes an impact

Sleek black Sureclad ceramic granite ventilated rainscreen from Shackerley has helped transform a new build development.

With a sleek black Sureclad ceramic granite ventilated rainscreen, Shackerley has helped architects in Glasgow transform a new build development of urban 'crash pads' and apartments into a landmark building at the centre of Scotland's biggest ever regeneration project.

Capitol Park, designed by RMJM for their client, Forrestgate Developments, is a residential 36-unit development on the Clyde waterfront, adjacent to Festival Park, the Media Village and the iconic 'Clyde Arc' bridge leading to Glasgow's city centre.

RMJM set out to design a building which would respond to its rapidly changing surroundings and the contemporary architecture emerging along the waterfront, whilst maintaining sympathy with the Clyde's rich industrial history and heritage.

Accordingly, one street-facing elevation is finished in red brick, connecting with the appearance and character of neighbouring warehouses.

Shackerley's black, imposing ceramic granite rainscreen facade completely clads the other, making a clear visual reference to the new riverfront buildings and the contemporary offices and studios of the nearby media quarter.

In creating the dark ceramic granite 'screen' to one elevation and by incorporating a lantern at the point where it meets the contrasting red brick, RMJM has also paid homage to an old cinema, which was demolished to make way for Capitol Park and other new developments in the vicinity.

RMJM Architect Craig Thomson commented that the use of ceramic granite was critical to the aesthetic design of the outer envelope: "The sleek polished appearance of the facade has the dramatic visual impact we wanted to achieve, and the large format panels with their reflective surface provide a perfect contrast to the grain, colours and standard unit size of the red brick".

"It has made the building connect with its environment in a highly contemporary way".

The rainscreen facade was installed using Shackerley's Sureclad carrier support system, a framework of high grade aluminium vertical and horizontal rails to which the ceramic granite panels were mechanically fixed using the manufacturer's patented undercut anchors.

Designed for maximum versatility, Sureclad offers various combinations of profiles, rails and flexible or load bearing brackets to cater for different applications, site conditions, building designs and cladding materials.

In this instance the framework was successfully installed on a timber kit building structure with adjustments made to cater for long term kit settlement and the spread of fire.

By working closely with Shackerley and cladding installation specialists RIG Construction Elements , the architects designed the layout of the rainscreen and specified window and balcony door sizes to correspond to the standard 1200mm x 600mm format of the ceramic granite panels.

The Sureclad carrier system allowed RMJM to create a perfectly flat facade with all the windows set back.

"We wanted them to look as though they had been 'punched' in," said Craig Thomson, Simple colour matched metal flashings to the windows and edges of the facade completed the installation.

As Dougie McCallum of RIG commented, "The attention to detail and close cooperation of all parties at the planning stage made our role more straightforward, minimising the number of panels requiring special cuts and reducing wastage and overall assembly time".

"Although our team have never worked with Shackerley's Sureclad system before we found it very flexible and had no problems achieving the exact aesthetic design envisaged by the architects." Craig Thomson concluded: "The ceramic granite elevation has proved a great success and the Sureclad system has translated perfectly from the detail to an urban scale, delivering exactly what we set out to achieve for Forrestgate Developments".

"In an overcrowded residential market place Capitol Park definitely stands out from the crowd and our clients are delighted with the finished results".

"We are now considering using the system for a number of other projects that we have in development.".

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