Trent Concrete barges its way to completion
For the first time ever, Trent Concrete has fixed its precast panels by working on water from a river barge. Part of a £1.9m contract to clad a stunning rotunda arts and office development, Trent pulled out all the stops to deliver on time.
Bound on two sides by the Regents Canal, Kings Place, on York Way in London's Kings Cross/St Pancras area posed one rather wet logistical problem. In order to move the precast panels to the waterside edges of the build, they needed a boat. Posing the perfect solution, the panels were taken from the lorry delivering them and transported by barge to the build site. From there they were lifted out and fixed to the building using a crane.
David Walker, Managing Director of Trent Concrete, said: "This was a very interesting job to work on with Sir Robert McAlpine, the main contractor. Architecturally it is a stunning build, but from a production perspective it was incredibly demanding working with curved Jura Limestone to a high quality specification and on site we were working on water."
Water-based travel dominated this contract. For its aesthetic beauty, Dixon Jones, the project's architect, specified Jura limestone. To meet this specification, the unique, curved precast panels were shipped over from Germany.
Trent's contract covered an enormous 4000 square metres of Jura limestone faced precast units to all external elevations, with an additional 300 square metres of handset Jura limestone at the lower levels. The spandrel and mullion cladding scheme included 300 individual units, with typical spandrel panels measuring 8m long by 1.2m high and typical mullion panels measuring 2m wide by 3m high. The panel arrangement formed double height apertures with curtain walling infill panels in glazed and solid sections.
As well as office space and retail units, Kings Place incorporates a concert hall that is home to the London Sinfonietta and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Editorial contact: David Walker
Tel: 0115 987 9747
Email: lmason@trentconcrete.co.uk
Trent Concrete Limited - e-mail: quality@trentconcrete.co.uk