Poole Bus Station

Combining rain screen cladding and high resolution UV printing to produce the largest mural in the UK.

Working with Penson Architects NES developed a process of manufacture that allowed us to print direct to the aluminium composite material (ACM) panels, laminate with a UV protective film and then fabricate into a cladding system. When installed this produced a seamless graphic of over 500 panels well over 1000 sq. m.

Designed, manufactured and installed by NES, we suggested ACM as a solution. The advantage with the materials is that we were able to print directly to the surface and guarantee the finish for a minimum of 12 years.

Completed in just 12 weeks, the scheme features the UK’s biggest outdoor mural which adorns the underside of the station’s canopy at the entrance to Dolphin Shopping Centre in the Dorset resort.

Practice chief executive officer Lee Penson said: ‘The design was the opposite to previous solutions that did not succeed in that rather than focussing on the pavings, the seating or items at ground level, we focussed upon the underside of the canopy.

‘[Yet] this was a very tricky scheme to deliver…phasing a fully operable bus station full of businesses and members of public all moving from A to B was a mission that at times seemed impossible.’