Project Spotlight
Animate Preston
Specified by: Leach Rhodes Walker
Project Overview
Developed by Maple Grove Developments (part of the Eric Wright Group) on behalf of Preston City Council, Animate Preston is a £45 million showpiece leisure destination constructed on the site of the former Preston market. The development incorporates an eight-screen cinema, a 16-lane bowling alley, and five restaurants. The Shackerley SureClad® façade for the new building was specified with two variants of our porcelain stone, along with a large area of our SureClad® quarried stone. Installed by Lester Cladding North West, the façade was named the ‘Best use of a Rainscreen using Glass, Ceramic or Stone’ in the Façade Awards 2025.
Design Requirements
Animate Preston is a showpiece development for the city constructed in a prominent location, so it was important that the façade would deliver a high-end aesthetic that will retain its attractive appearance over time and offer a low-maintenance solution for the local authority.
The architects wanted to achieve variation in the façade and using the Shackerley SureClad® system in a mix of porcelain stone and quarried stone materials, including a variety of complementary colourways and finishes achieved this design intent while enabling a partnership with Shackerley as the single façade specialist. This meant that we were able to co-ordinate prefabrication of all installation-ready cladding panels aligned to the façade design and the installation schedule.
The varied Shackerley SureClad® materials used enabled the architectural team to develop a façade design that complements the surrounding built and natural environments. Our innovative wood-effect porcelain façade material provides the appearance of a timber clad building, along with the advantages of our SureClad® porcelain stone material. Unlike timber, the Shackerley SureClad® porcelain stone façade panels will not degrade due to weathering and will provide excellent, low-maintenance performance over an extended service life, while adding depth and texture to the façade design.
Materials Used
We supplied our SureClad® cladding systems for a total façade area of 629m2.
For the porcelain stone façade areas, we supplied 1198 x 297mm installation-ready wood-effect porcelain stone SureClad® panels in a natural timber brown colourway for an area totalling 343m2, along with large format 1198 x 598mm SureClad® porcelain stone façade panels in a complementary beige colourway for an 89m2 area. We also prefabricated installation-ready SureClad® quarried stone panels in a beige colourway with a honed finish for a 196m2 area of the facade.
We prefabricated all the façade panels to order as installation-ready panels in our ISO 9001 certified Lancashire factories, aligned to the requirements of ISO TS17830-3, with all precision cutting and drilling completed in our quality assured factory environment, and all undercut anchors and brackets pre-fitted.
The Shackerley SureClad® system was installed using our SureClad Hang On system.
