The 2012 Olympics created the highest set of demands for modern facade design, requiring architectural merit and a ‘must achieve’ deadline, providing a legacy for the future, all constructed to an extremely tight budget in recessionary times.
The eyes of the world were focused on the UK for the duration of the highly successful London 2012 Olympic Games with the coverage being channelled by 20,000 international broadcasters of the world.
Accommodating the media was the Main Press Centre (MPC), also known as the International Broadcast Centre (IBC), situated in Olympic Park. The 5-storey facility consisted of 29,000sqm of office space for the world’s broadcasters, photographers and journalists; innovatively designed to be adapted as a business space following the end of the games, generating thousands of new jobs.
The building’s strikingly colourful exterior was a fusion of aluminium panels, Brise Soleil, and colourful and patterned walls.
One of the key factors in being able to achieve the cost constraints on the project required the innovative application of relatively standard products to deliver a building with architectural merit. Wintech were appointed by contractors Carillion, working in conjunction with Allies and Morrison, to undertake consultancy services for the facade of the building.
The consultancy package included design audits, QA/QC services, site monitoring, witnessing offsite testing and onsite water testing through Wintech Engineering, the Group’s test laboratory.