PROJECT SPOTLIGHT: Grand Central Square Offices, Leicester
Specified by: Stephen George and Partners
Project Overview
Leicester-based property investment and development group, Charles Street Buildings, has redeveloped a prime city centre site in Leicester, which was formerly occupied by the Grand Central Station.
The developer wanted to create a legacy project that would showcase their quality approach. The resulting mixed-use scheme comprises prestigious office accommodation, two hotels and a leisure destination within the refurbished former station building, set within pedestrianised public realm improvements.
Shackerley’s SureClad® Ceramic Granite ventilated facade system enabled Charles Street Buildings to specify various colourways and finishes for the office development and two hotels from a single supplier. Not only did this bring variation to the project, balancing synergy with differentiation, it also offered project planning and co-ordination advantages, buildability benefits and confidence in a facade that will stand the test of time.
Design Requirements
The high specification office development, designed by Stephen George and Partners, needed to complement the materiality of the hotels while having a distinctive style of its own. Specification of Shackerley’s SureClad® Ceramic Granite system delivered this design objective and provided a robust and prestige facade for the building.
The reduced maintenance offered by the SureClad® Ceramic Granite System’s resistance to graffiti and algae growth were also key considerations in the specification, along with the panels’ resistance to discolouration due to U/V or pollution, which provided reassurance that the office building will retain its high-quality appearance over time.
As part of the specification process, the Charles Street Buildings team visited Shackerley’s ISO 9001 production plant and the material supplier in Italy before making a final decision. Shackerley worked with the architects across both the office and hotel elements of the project to deliver a cohesive supply chain partnership for the whole development.
Gretta Murphy director of Charles Street Buildings commented: “The facade is the first thing a visitor sees when arriving at a development so it’s important to get it right. The site visits to Italy and Shackerley’s headquarters in Lancashire provided us with reassurance of a quality product and a reliable supply chain. Using a system that was fabricated in the UK was a big plus for us and the specification process gave us confidence that Shackerley’s SureClad® system would provide buildability, aesthetics and durability benefits, along with a smooth-running programme.”
Materials Used
Shackerley’s SureClad® Ceramic Granite system was specified in the ‘Lunar’ colourway; a pale grey with a mid-grey fleck, in a pearl finish. This colour and finish contrasts with SureClad® ‘Antigua’ ceramic granite red/brown panels in a natural finish.
Further contrast was achieved with variation in the panel sizes. The Lunar panels were installed in a standard 1196mm x 596mm size while the Antigua panels were supplied as large format 3150mm x 1440mm x 12mm panels.
The SureClad® Access installation system allowed the Lunar panels to be installed non-sequentially, while the SureClad® Hang On system was used for the larger format Antigua panels.
