From pool hall to Providence
Architectural glazing systems by Kawneer were specified for a hat-trick of reasons for the first development in Ipswich town centre for many years.
Barber Casanovas Ruffles selected Kawneer for a new £8 million BREEAM ‘Very Good’ headquarters building, Providence House.
The ground floor of the 55,000ft2 building office screens comprise Kawneer’s AA100 zone-drained curtain walling with series 190 heavy-duty entrance doors and fixed lights with 200mm feature face caps in a mixture of metallic silver and anodised bronze.
The AA100 curtain walling also features on the Chalon Street facade as zone and mullion-drained and with a framing system incorporating spandrel panels as well as on a gable end with clear glass fixed back to a concrete staircase and separately, with louvre panels and a pair of series 190 doors.
Built over 16 months on the one-acre site of a former car park and Riley’s pool hall by main contractor SEH French for specialist commercial property developer Churchmanor Estates, the building has enabled Birketts solicitors, one of the largest office employers in the town, to bring hundreds of its staff under one roof from disparate buildings. Providence House, which is constructed of steel frame with traditional masonry and part brick facade, had to be elevated as it was built in a flood zone.
Barber Casanovas Ruffles said: “The glazing design responds to the building orientation, aesthetic and function behind the internal space and the Kawneer systems play an important part in the design to each facade. All products used on the building were considered for the overall sustainability of the building long-term.”
The Kawneer systems were installed over four months by a team of up to eight operatives from approved dealer Elliston Steady and Hawes (Aluminium). The mullions of the curtain walling at the main entrance had to be reinforced with steel so it could span the ground to second floor levels without intermediate support.
