An eye-catching rainscreen façade solution from Sto created the focal point for a major £12million refurbishment project in London.
StoVentec glass was used to remodel the exterior of a 1960s office building, which was converted into a 163-room Premier Inn hotel in the largest UK glass rainscreen project that Sto has ever completed.
The refurbished building is located on London’s Archway Road. “This is a key approach road into London and so we wanted to create something that was particularly high profile and dramatic,” says Alex Bailey of Axiom Architects.
“The prominent location also meant that planning requirements were understandably stringent, and we invested considerable time and effort in arriving at a solution that would satisfy these demands and also allow us to realize our design concepts.”
This led to the selection of StoVentec Glass for the impressive new building façade. StoVentec panels offer many different size and RAL colour options, plus bespoke size, shape and screen-printed possibilities.
“The range of colours available was a major boost to this project and Sto certainly helped us to navigate the planning process by supplying whatever colour samples we needed at every stage.” adds Alex Bailey.
“The new building envelope now features StoVentec panels in various shades of blue, helping meet the planners’ requirements for a crystalline façade that mimics the skyline. Adding aluminium channels to the design also helped break up the building’s previous monolithic shape."
“We were asked to become involved at a very early stage and engineer a suitable solution,” adds Mark Wiggins of Clarke Façades, who installed the StoVentec rainscreen façade.
“Apart from the appearance requirements, there were also very tight specifications for the acoustic performance of the rainscreen cladding system. This was especially important as Premier Inn promote their hotels by guaranteeing that guests will get a good night’s sleep,”
StoVentec Glass provides many different benefits for a project such as this. Apart from the ability to create this type of bespoke glass panel finish and bring design ideas to life, it creates a ventilated cavity which keeps the wall dry and allows it to breathe, while also delivering highly efficient insulation performance.
The fully adjustable nature of the supporting sub-construction can accommodate uneven substrates, and this allows the prefabricated panels to be installed quickly and easily without any need for wet trade involvement.
