Aluminium windows by
leading UK manufacturer Kawneer are at the heart of a striking patterned façade
to one of Birmingham's
latest new hotels.
The Holiday
Inn Express in the city centre features sets of three of Kawneer's AA®540
windows as fixed lights designed in L-shapes within checks of
multi-coloured rainscreen cladding by KKA Architecture.
The façade of the
hotel in Birmingham city centre's enterprise zone also uses Kawneer's AA®110
zone-drained curtain walling with 65mm sightlines and series 190 heavy-duty
commercial entrance doors.
The Kawneer systems
were installed over 20 months by APiC UK for main contractor John Sisk and Son
who were awarded the contract following their successful completion of the
Holiday Inn Express Manchester Hotel for the same client (DRPT Birmingham).
The
£16.3 million hotel comprises 250 bedrooms, restaurant, reception and meeting
room facilities over 17 storeys, with three lifts and CCTV and PA to all areas.
It forms part of the new 1.2 million ft2 Arena Central
mixed-use development currently under construction on nine acres of adjoining
land.
Construction was
steel frame to levels one and two and to transfer decks, with floors three to
17 in precast crosswall construction. The façade is rainscreen to all
elevations with the Kawneer windows as inset glazing that looks as impressive
from the interior as it does the exterior.
APiC director Andrew
Stapleton said: "An unusual aspect of this project is the pattern on the
L-shaped windows which provide an interesting feature in this impressive
precast structure. This visually striking hotel is a great new addition to APiC
UK's growing portfolio of hotel installations and the ever-evolving Birmingham
city skyline."
