An ambitious £90m project developed by Stanhope and funded by British Land will provide Hereford with 300,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space in keeping with the city’s distinctive character.
Along with the considered choices over material use and the associated aesthetics, the design concept favoured flexible, easy to install building systems. This lead to the specification of Kalzip’s unique FC rainscreen system as it is a fast-to-install, lightweight and a highly non-penetrative façade rainscreen panel.
The Old Market development is the only major new retail and leisure scheme in the UK due to open in 2014 and the first major retail development in Hereford for over 25 years.
“Old Market has been designed to sympathetically extend the urban structure of Hereford city centre, with two new streets and spaces enclosed by buildings of a sensitive scale and composition - their architectural vernacular and materials directly informed by the historic city’s urban fabric,” comments Andy Dowding, Associate at Allies and Morrison.
One interesting element of the development is the frontage for the large department store that combines the rough brick texture in crimson shades, with the warmth of timber, earthy cladding composite panels and the metallic sleek and smooth lines of the Kalzip FC rainscreen system, creating an altogether eye catching amalgam.
Within the Old Market development, 700m2 of the Kalzip FC rainscreen was specified for the façade in 30/300, 1.0 mm gauge Aluminium silver finish.
“The south elevation of the department store has been designed to form a strong edge to the roundabout. The lower elevation is composed of a brick facade, designed to enclose the street edge and make reference to the historic city wall opposite”, explains Andy.
“The upper elevation makes reference to the asymmetrical roofscape of the former livestock buildings and is designed to slide behind the brick. The use of Kalzip makes reference to the agricultural materiality of the former livestock market and provides a durable and sympathetic material treatment to complement the Hereford, orange coloured brick. The use of Kalzip aluminium standing seam on the returning gable roof, allows the roof to appear secondary to the heavier brick bottom. This feature combined with the Kalzip FC rainscreen system specified for the façade areas, therefore forms a visually strong and coherent relationship with the brick facade and offers a durable treatment to a difficult condition.”
Kalzip’s FC rainscreen system is a non-penetrative façade system that incorporates a fast-to-install lightweight flat rainscreen panel, highly suitable for this new build application as well as for refurbishment projects.
One of the main features of the system is its flexibility that allows the installation of the profiles to be carried out in two directions, either from the top down or from the bottom up. Featuring a novel click system, the rainscreen panels only need to be hooked and clicked into place - their position secured into either proprietary individual clips or continuous modular rails, which feature polyamide inlays that lock the panels securely into place. The individual mono-click brackets can also be used for creating special details.
This means not only an easier and faster installation for contractors at the Hereford development compared to conventional panel systems, but also allowed for scaffolding and subsequent construction work to be coordinated independently from the installation process.
This variable installation means that in areas where the FC panels cannot be installed directly due to scaffolding, missing panels or other reasons, these can be installed later with no additional expenditure. The building progress is therefore not hindered and additional costs due to longer scaffolding times are avoided – ideal for a project such as Old Market.
Stanhope is committed to delivering sustainable developments and was one of the founding members of the UK Green Building Council. As a result, Old Market is on track to be one of only a few shopping developments in the UK to achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent”, across the main build and the retailer fit-out.