Beak Street

40 Beak Street is a prestigious new build project in the heart of Soho, London.

NES were given the opportunity of providing the Section 106 Public Art works for the facade.
This was on a design, manufacture and installation basis.

This encompassed an angled coping to the top line of the building and a large 'goal post' window reveal in the pitch of the corner.
The cladding material is 40mm thick cast aluminium. To the top a powder coated flashing has been included to seamlessly frame the angled casting.

There was an extensive design team on the project. This included the initial visual design from leading London architecture practice Stiff & Trevillion Architects.
NES have previously enjoyed working with S&T on 20 Eastbourne Terrace and 201 Borough High Street.

In conjunction with the client the public art specialist Lee Simmons was awarded the commission. Lee has previously worked in a number of Standout Commissions in central London. Lee bought a wealth of expertise with cast metals and three dimensional sculptural objects. The 3D CAD file for the "pattern" tooling was provided by Lee. This allowed for an exact reproduction in aluminium of the digital file as it was directly transposed. Throughout the process Lee was central to the process. This ensured that the assorted joint gaps, finishes and lacquers were in line with the visual intent. One of the key elements of the castings was for the nosing’s of the grooves to be grount back with a linear brushing. The grooves were left in their glass bead blasted rough state. This creates a surface contrast between the nosing’s and the grooves on the casting.

Veretec were responsible for the detailed design on the project. For such a small building the level of design detailing was incredible. Veretec's attention to detail and insistence not only the right way but the best way was a rewarding challenge.
During the design process the question of how to protect the aluminium came up. Cast aluminium if left in free air will create a white oxide deposit on the surface. While this is not terminal to the performance of the aluminium it does look patchy and unappealing. The original intent had been for a clear 2 part wet spray epoxy lacquer to be used to create a seal on the surface of the aluminium. Unfortunately the lifetime of this product only holds a warranty for pre-etched and undercoated aluminium. This is partly due to the face cast aluminium has air pockets and is porous. The lifetime and aesthetic limitations were found with 3 other alternatives in the wet spay PVDF and powder coating clear lacquer space. The best finish from a warranty perspective was to accept you were going to lose the actual aluminium colour and powder coat an anthracite or metallic silver onto the casting. This would enable a 25 year external warranty. In the end a cutting edge new technology using clear matt nano lacquer was used. This is a ceramic based lacquer that forms a covalent bond with the surface of the aluminium. The lacquer has an organic element allowing it to expand with the thermal movement of the castings. Also following a maintenance regime it can be maintained in situ.

On the mechanics side NES manufactured a grade 316 stainless steel bracket system. This allows for any of the panels on the building to be individually removed for maintenance or replacement.

Project details:
Lead Contractor: Henry Construction
FaçadeContractor: Datum
Concept architect: Stiff + Trevillion Architects
Project Architect: Veretec Architects
Public Artist: Lee Simmons

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Station Square

This exciting new residential build in Colchester has recently been completed with cladding from NES Architectural.

Station Square enjoys a prime location directly opposite the main Colchester North Station.

Stanley Brag Architects provided a radical new look for the existing tired commercial "Equity House" 1980's insurance office block.

Scope:
This involved a new penthouse level. This is a wood frame construction with insulation faced off with sheathing board.
Also a new set of feature windows along the front with "portico" window surrounds.
A new feature wall on the facade was included. This has extruded aluminium box section with differing powder coated colours to the different facets.
Also in the centre the clock is fabricated out of an backlit LED Light Box.
These were all fixed with an invisible fix hook on system.

NES manufactured and installed the build-up text signage for the canopy with internal illumination.

The developer Crown House Homes worked closely with NES from an early stage in the project.
This allowed NES to assist in engineering a facade solution.
NES offered a range of different materials and fixing systems. The chosen finishes include 2mm AlMg3 pre painted aluminium. This has a PVDF paint in both Ral 9010 white and Anthracite Grey. This product holds a BBA certificate as non-flammable. Also the paint has a 20
year warranty, with a 40 year expected lifetime.

Project details:
Client: Crown House Homes
Architect: Stanley Brag Architects
Product: Aluminium Cladding, Window Cladding, Feature Facade, Built Up Text, LED Light Box 'clock'.

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Moore House, Millfields Road

This new build features a brand new block of luxury residential apartments in the heart of Clapton E5.

Project features:
Powder coated aluminium rain screen cladding.
In order to maximised the value for money a number of different techniques were employed on this job:
Bronze ‘anodised effect’‘ polyester powder coated aluminium.
Top floor: Through face fix system. This features rectangular unfolded sheets riveted into aluminium t section. This helping hand system allowed for the insulation to be fitted between the brackets. Over size holes were used to limit the deflection caused via thermal expansion.
Ground floor: Invisible fix hook on system. The additional folds bring strength to the panels. The panels were also rolled to follow the architecture of the building on both ground and 3rd floor levels. On the ground floor there is a secondary powder coating colour added. This was an upgrade on the original perforated design. The benefits are that with a solid panel no secondary panel or risk of litter or entrapment is caused.

Project features:
Scope: 200 sq. m polyester powder coated aluminium rain screen cladding.
Client: Northill Properties Ltd
Lead Contractor: West 4 Construction LTD
Architect: City Architecture Office
Cost Consultancy: Thomas Consult Ltd

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WONDERPASS Baker Street

This project celebrates the rich history of Marylebone and Baker Street. The walkway links under the Marylebone Road at the busy Baker Street junction.
The world’s first tube line (The Metropolitan Line) ran from Baker Street in 1863. The theatrical Victorian sense of exhibition and adventure is the theme for the underpass.
The short walk takes visitors though a nostalgic flashback of the time.
This exciting job involved the full suite of NES' capability: 3D design, welding of sub frames, cladding panel manufacture, wide format digital printing, anti-graffiti nano lacquer and installation.

In order to deal with the complexities of the stairs and an existing construction site a 3D digital point cloud survey was taken. This was then converted into a digital vector map of the unclad underpass. The architects drawings were then redrawn in CAD. The structure was built away from the wall. This was important to enclose the cabling and ducting behind the cladding. Antti rattle EPDM pads were added to the back of the cladding hanging brackets. This is to reduce the risk of panels vibrating or being dented by members of the public.

The "Curiosity Units" are fabricated from steel structures cantilevered away from the walls. These were then clad in the digitally printed and lacquered aluminium. The windows and peep holes are fabricated from toughened low iron glass to ensure they can withstand scratching and graffiti. As the underpass is cleaned on a daily basis the internally illuminated units has the be sealed to protect the interesting contents.
NES has wide format direct to media UV digital printers. NES can print at up to 2.4 meters in width and 6 meters in length. The head on the printers can be raised to 50mm above the face of the bed. This allows us to print formed and powder coated panels directly on the bed. The adhesion to the base layer is something we have refined over the years. This results in a high density, high resolution print that is strongly adhered to the face of the material. A solution on this job would have been to clad the underpass and then laminate digitally printed vinyl to the panels as a post manufacture process. The difference in the direct to media approach is the long term performance of a powder coated aluminium over vinyl. The digital printed has 16 separate heads that simultaneously print and are cured.

The Nano lacquer uses the latest technological developments to deliver superior performance in this hi impact environment. The lacquer provides a clear matt finish that does not alter the digital print or powder coated aluminium. In addition to this the 9H surface hardness makes scratching the digitally printed cladding difficult even with steel bag clasps. On the external areas the Nano lacquer also has anti UV protective capabilities. Graffiti from spray cans or permanent marker pens can easily be wiped off with soapy water. With a traditional anti-graffiti lacquer or laminate at the end of the guaranteed lifetime the product yellows, cracks and slowly flakes off. With our Nano lacquer it can be replaced in situ.

Project details:
Completetion date: 01.01.2015
Client: TFL
Lead Contractor: FM Conway
Scope: Design, manufacture and installation
Scale: 250 sq. m

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