MCRMA - Metal in Action - Dramatic Riverside Entrance For Corus Building Systems

The Metal Cladding and Roofing Manufacturers Association

Home | Contact Us | Sitemap | Links

Dramatic Riverside Entrance For Corus Building Systems

The dramatic new Albion Riverside development by Hutchison Whampoa, which stands majestically on the south bank of the Thames in London, has been equipped with one the most complex Kalzip roofs ever designed.

The main residential building - an impressive eleven storey curvilinear structure faced in glass and aluminium - contains 183 apartments and 13 duplex penthouses as well as a leisure facility and 20 metre swimming pool. The ground floor of the complex offers retail and business accommodation, cafés and restaurants.

Designed by architects Foster and Partners, with construction management by Exterior International, the development boasts a sweeping roof made from a total of 3,000 square metres of smooth curved tapered Kalzip sheets. Kalzip was the only system that could achieve the highly challenging requirements of the roof, with each and every sheet having different maximum and minimum widths to allow for the curve in section to a radii varying from 24 metres to 18 metres and then back again.

Because of the complex geometry of the roof, the Kalzip technical team worked closely with the architects and approved Teamkal contractor, Prater Ltd to rigorously test and prove the buildability of the design, which needed to combine high acoustic performance and aesthetics.

A 45mm deep galvanised Kalzip structural deck, which was pre-curved along its length and curved across its width to achieve the various radii, was supported on circular hollow section tubular steel. To minimise the effects of external noise in the residential areas, and achieve the very high acoustic requirement for the roof, Kalzip incorporated two layers of high density acoustic insulation and 1.0 mm thick pre-curved and tapered Kalzip standing seam sheets.

The Kalzip system, which boasts unique clad aluminium alloy for outstanding durability, allowed for the twist along the length of the sheet. Virtually every one of the 1400 Kalzip sheets used on the roof had to be custom made with less than 10 per cent of them being identical.

To achieve total consistency in material, appearance and performance right across the roof, Kalzip's bespoke fabrication service provided a series of products, including curved, welded fabricated Kalzip tapers, clad-aluminium stucco embossed soaker flashings, curved and straight closure flashings, and a polyester post-coated coping system.

Prater Ltd recently won the Roofing Specialist of the Year award in this year's Specialist Contractor of the Year awards. The company has gained much recognition in the industry from working on prestigious developments like GCHQ and Albion Riverside, both of which utilise the Kalzip system.

Credit Nigel Young / Foster and Partners

Completed Projects