Horbury Facades, part of the Rotherham-based Horbury Group, has won the facades package to install an inspirational new terracotta tiled façade, featuring stone stair towers with complementary granite at ground level, to the new Bridge Street car park in Warrington, part of the £107m Bridge Street Quarter Regeneration Scheme.
Working on behalf of main contractor I&H Brown and alongside Muse Developments, Horbury Facades’ skilled team is installing an intricate rain screen backing rail system to stepped light steel vertical cassette panels and then carrying out the complex task of installing individually coloured terracotta tiles to meet the architects’ design specification and colour aspirations.
Designed by architects Leach Rhodes Walker, the facade features an intricate design with tiles supplied by Taylor Maxwell in four colours: pearl white, basalt, gold and black.
The tiles are installed on the main entrance and rear elevation of the car-park and were complemented by an inset cassette. Compared to assembling multiple panels on site, the cassette system allowed the terracotta tiles to be installed up to 50% faster. Horbury Facades is also installing a feature Bullnose aluminium capping at the roofline to all three stair cores for enhanced aesthetics and weather performance.
At ground level, Horbury Facades is supplying and installing a granite rain screen façade system, as well as adding a full height attractive exterior of natural sand stone to the three stair cores. Stone supplied by Tiles International Ltd complements the same façade of the new town hall which is a ‘stone’s throw from the car-park. The company also installed feature panels, again using the cassette system, to the front and rear of the building. The whole project is being completed within a 20 week period.
Paul Rowley, project manager for I&H Brown Ltd, said: “This was a major redevelopment, involving the complex removal of an existing car park building and construction of a much larger eight storey structure on the same site, with an attractive new aesthetic that fitted in with the larger regeneration project.
Adrian Storey, general manager at Horbury Facades, said: “This was quite a complex project involving a number of different construction techniques and a variety of materials. It is testament to the skills of our team that we were able to execute it to meet the deadline and achieve the architect’s vision for what will undoubtedly be one of the most iconic buildings in Warrington town centre.”
The Bridge Street project is being delivered by Warrington & Co on behalf of Warrington Council. It consists of a 300,000 sq ft retail and leisure regeneration scheme with a 13 screen multiplex cinema and a new 42,000 sq ft market hall, a number of family restaurants, 100,000 sq ft council offices, retail units and a public square.
