Kawneer Architectural aluminium windows Architectural aluminium systems Aluminium windows News 130411

	Subscribe to newsletter
	Submit Article

Editors Note: Kawneer provide:

Architectural aluminium windows
Architectural aluminium systems
Aluminium windows

	Home
	Advertise Here
	Request Quote
	CPD Seminar

	Advertise Job
	Terms & Conditions
	Contact Building Design
	e-mail Building Design

Request Product Information

	Facilities / Interiors
	Architectural External
	Architectural Internal
	Mechanical / HVAC
	Electrical Services

- Building Design - Services & Construction Products Index

	Request Information
	Links Page

KAWNEER Provides A Window To The Soul Of A Unique Refurbishment

Hundreds of windows by leading architectural aluminium systems supplier Kawneer feature on the recently completed first phase of the £146million refurbishment of Europe’s largest listed building.

Kawneer’s AA®3110 horizontal sliding windows complement multi-coloured feature aluminium infill panels on the new-look apartments on the 13-storey, west-facing flank of Park Hill (www.kawneer.co.uk/pr/phf) – the 1950s solution to Sheffield slum clearance which itself fell foul of current-day social issues and was on a downward spiral to demolition.

Then Urban Splash were selected as preferred development partner through a public sector selection process in 2004 and working with architects Hawkins Brown and Studio Egret West are transforming the once notorious council estate into almost 1,000 apartments as well as 140,000²ft of offices and retail and leisure facilities.

This has involved stripping the Grade II listed structure high on a hillside behind Sheffield station back to the bone, a job made even more difficult because the concrete frame could not bear the weight of demolition plant so the work had to be done by hand.

The cladding was transformed by replacing the original brickwork with anodised aluminium panels that replicate and exaggerate the subtle beige, ochre and plum coloured banding of the brickwork.

The Kawneer AA®3110 windows being installed by approved specialist sub-contractor SG Aluminium were designed to maximise ventilation and safety without detriment to smooth operation. They are substantially larger than their predecessors and are glazed with a single pane compared to the multi-paned originals.

They have been enlarged from one third to two thirds of each panel of the concrete frame grid to allow more light into the spacious one-, two- and three-bedroomed apartments which will offer stunning views over the city.

These are complemented by the anodised aluminium panels in a range of colours that should look different depending on the light, angle and distance from which they are seen.

The developer, architects and planners all agreed the building needed to look conspicuously transformed and this new colourful cladding is the most obvious manifestation of this. The façade will also feature a large entrance area and there will be new lifts and helical stairs.

When it was built in 1961, Park Hill was the first successful slum clearance scheme of an entire community in Britain after the war, and radically modern. It replaced row upon row of dilapidated back-to-back terraces and tenements with shiny new flats complete with indoor toilets and central heating for 2,500 people.

Architects Ivor Smith and Jack Lynn had been inspired by Le Corbusier’s Unite d’Habitation which resulted in innovations including the “streets in the sky” – access decks wide enough for milk floats that were intended to replace the community feel of streets on the ground.

But by the 1980s the estate had become a byword for all that was wrong with local authority housing and many people prayed the council would knock it down. Instead, in 1998, English Heritage gave it a Grade II listing, making it the largest listed building in Europe.

Hawkins Brown’s project director David Bickle said: “Our collaborative vision for Park Hill is to create somewhere very special which provokes opinion and debate aesthetically and culturally, that connects it back with the city and ultimately helps to persuade the rest of Sheffield to fall in love with the place once more.

“The unveiling of the façade, with its carefully repaired concrete and colourful cladding panels and windows, is helping to do this through giving everyone a tantalising glimpse of the building’s transformation and future potential.”