Personal choice

Architectural aluminium systems by Kawneer were specified for a construction company’s regional office.

Kawneer’s AA100 zone-drained curtain walling with 50mm sightlines was used for high-level ribbon windows in the east masonry elevation of main contractor Kier Construction Eastern’s £6.5 million new headquarters, Building 3000, on a greenfield site on Cambridge Research Park.

This was complemented by Kawneer’s AA540 fixed lights on the ground and first floors of the east elevation and by Kawneer’s AA110 zone-drained curtain walling with 65mm sightlines for three-storey screens between terracotta-tiled facades on the western facade. Also by AA720FR (fire-rated) doors and series 190 heavy-duty commercial entrance doors.

Designed by RHP architects to a design code identified within the outline planning permission for Cambridge Research Park, the steel-framed building is occupied by Kier on the first and second floors, with the ground floor available for let.

Briefed to provide a 3,000m2 Grade A office block that could be sub-let in 1,000m2 lets if required, RHP designed Building 3000 to complement the existing structures on the research park, with a buff brick and terracotta palette. It is also BREEAM ‘Very good’ rated.

Benjamin Adams, design manager for Kier Construction Eastern, said: “Curtain walling plays an integral part in the architectural features of the building. Natural light within an office space is fundamental to a good working environment which is why a sizeable portion of the external facade is glazed. The specification of glazing was also important to issues of overheating as a result of solar gain.”