Billed as a ‘New London’, a ‘blank slate’ and an ‘almost island’ opportunity to create a completely different urban environment, the Greenwich Peninsula masterplan is possibly the most ambitious regeneration project the UK has ever seen.
Delivering 15,720 new homes across seven neighbourhoods, each with their own distinct personality and design focus, the project from entrepreneurial urban developer, Knight Dragon emphasises community, lifestyle and the water-side location.
The ‘Lower Riverside’ neighbourhood of the Greenwich Peninsula has been designed as a laid back, tranquil neighbourhood. Amongst the properties constructed as part of Lower Riverside is ‘The Lighterman’, a 223 unit apartment building with interiors designed by the world-renowned Conran + Partners and a three-storey glazed cube on the roof that will glow at night.
The building has been designed by CJCT architects and façade engineer, Buro Happold, was involved in decision making to ensure that the scheme’s cladding specification meets the demands of the design brief, both now and in the future.
Explains Rob Foster from CJCT: “The final design for The Lighterman is quite different from the original planning consent because Knight Dragon was keen to step beyond the homogenous residential tower to create distinct communities at Greenwich Peninsula that are connected by form and materiality.
“The cladding strategy for The Lighterman had to deliver those goals by creating a prestige finish at eye level that will stand the test of time and complement the aesthetic and colour palette of the lower Riverside community. Buro Happold’s comparative study of various façade materials confirmed that Shackerley’s SureClad ceramic granite system would achieve the required finish and maintain its appearance and durability over time.”
Shackerley’s SureClad ceramic granite was selected to complement the colour palette for the Lower Riverside community, creating synergy with surrounding new build developments.The natural finish of the material also gives it texture and sheen, creating subtle variations in the building’s appearance depending on the level of natural sunlight, the time or day and reflections from the water.
It was clear from the comparative tests that the SureClad ceramic granite façade system from Shackerley was by far the most robust to resist weathering and contaminants over time and maintain both its integrity and appearance.”
Comparatively lightweight and robust with none of the natural fissures and imperfections associated with quarried stone, Shackerley’s ceramic granite is ideally suited to residential towers like The Lighterman. An impermeable material, ceramic granite will not fade or degrade over time and will resist algae growth and graffiti. The material provides exceptional durability in all climatic extremes, offering excellent freeze/thaw resistance. It is also non-combustible, meeting Class 0 standards.
The Queen’s Award winning SureClad Access system used to install the large format ceramic granite enables rapid and non-sequential installation of façade panels, allowing cladding works to be scheduled around other site-based activities during the critical final stages of the build.
Shackerley prefabricated all the 1190 x 1990 SureClad panels for the project at the company’s ISO 9001 quality-assured production facility in Lancashire, along with a number of specially-designed bracketed sections to simplify cladding of the beam details. All installation-ready panels were delivered to site on a just in time basis to avoid storage requirements on the constricted site.