Technal used for £4.2M system package at new garden quarter

Demanding regulation standards and the sheer scale of a residential housing project like East London’s New Garden Quarter, have seen aluminium building systems supplier Technal and installer Ravenworth work together to deliver this £4.2m scope of work for Telford Homes. This includes windows, patio and entrance doors as well as curtain walling.
 
Telford Homes’ New Garden Quarter is part of a masterplan prepared by London-based practice Pollard Thomas Edwards and takes in some of the Olympic Legacy land in Stratford. The development, which sits next to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, features one, two and three-bedroom apartments, villas and sky villas set around a landscaped two-acre garden square.
 
Project architect, Pollard Thomas Edwards Associate, Eleana Kontou explains: “The brick built eight-storey blocks feature uniform frontages broken down into a varied set of neighbouring buildings.
 
“The facade systems and materials generally have been selected to give the space a calm and civic character, whilst acting as a backdrop to the dramatic square’s landscape. The whole development has been designed to a high specification to ensure the best use of natural light. Facing the main square, the facades are punctuated by inset and Juliette balconies featuring Technal DF 75 Si Tilt-Before-Turn windows and C125 patio doors. The top two floors are setback duplex penthouses with private roof terraces. 
 
Specified by Telford Homes, Technal worked with installer Ravenworth and Telford Homes at the detailing stage to understand exactly how the systems interface, intelligently adding value whilst avoiding any compromise to quality and safety. Telford Homes Technical Coordinator, Martin Conroy, said: “One example of this collaborative approach was the large 4m2 panes of glass on the balconies. To ease installation and maintenance, the spans were split with a transom and installed in line with the balcony itself so that the glass still looks like one pane.”
 
He added: “Technal offers a full range of tested products that allowed us to achieve the look we wanted across the whole scheme and at the same time meet the project’s extensive performance requirements. 
 
“Secured by Design-licensed installer Ravenworth is also a Technal Commercial Dealer and with both companies a Telford Homes supplier from the outset – we know we work well together as a team to get projects delivered.”
 
Oscar Webb, Commercial Director at Barking-based fabricator Ravenworth Ltd explains more about the installation: “The first phase of the development comprises eight blocks. In real terms this means a total of 6,500 sealed units with 2,500 windows and doors installed, finished in 8019 grey brown internally and externally. The installation started off especially fast with four blocks going up simultaneously - the systems being fitted in phases, level by level via scaffolding.”
 
The Technal aluminium façade systems selected met a host of regulatory requirements. These included the Building Control Body and National Housebuilding Council (NHBC), Lifetime Homes and London Housing Design Guide compliance, as well as Secured by Design (SBD) for the main entrance doors at the client’s request.
 
Thermal performance was also a priority with the overall U-value for all windows set at 1.4 w/m2k. Manufactured as floor to ceiling windows by Ravenworth using Dualframe 75 Si TBT, these aluminium tilt-before-turn windows are an ideal solution for this type of application, combining ventilation with easy cleaning and the capacity for large span openings.
 
Acoustic performance has been addressed too, specifically for the balcony situations that face a railway track. To achieve the 38 dB RW+Ctr value specified by the acoustic consultant, an acoustic glazed coating was incorporated along with glazed-in acoustic trickle vents on the monorail patio doors. These are Technal’s thermally insulated C125 patio doors, which are built in to the floor to achieve a low threshold for easy access. Realising the architect’s vision, in addition they satisfied the client’s requirement for a monorail configuration that is SBD compliant.
 
Also, meeting the requirement for PAS 24, Technal’s Dualframe 75mm Dualsecure doors have been installed on the terraces and balconies throughout the New Garden Quarter development, whilst Technal’s STII doors create automated entrance openers for easy access to each block.
 
At ground floor level, Technal’s E52 curtain walling has been used to create the shopfronts for this mixed-use development, which incorporates retail and leisure facilities as well as services such as a children’s nursery. Likewise, the stairwell facades have been installed using E52 in different spans, up to seven floors.
 
Technal is part of the Hydro Group, a world leader in aluminium solutions. Through its globally renowned Hydro Technology Hubs, the group is shaping a sustainable future, with innovative products that satisfy and surpass customer expectations, in line with demands of CSR and increasing environmental regulations.
 
For more information, please visit: www.technal.com/en/uk.