Fentrade and LEB Construction have worked together on a new Mondrian-inspired façade at Aberporth Primary on the Ceredigion coast.
Chris Reeks, managing director at Fentrade, said: “The design, size and timescale on this project were all extremely demanding, but we were more than up for the challenge.”
The project began when LEB Construction approached Fentrade for its support. LEB Construction had worked with Fentrade on previous projects.
It involved replacing almost 400m2 of original steel single-glazed screens with AluK’s SL52 capped curtain walling system. It also featured a design from architect Mathew Tench involving primary-coloured aluminium-faced panels in irregular rectangular shapes, inspired by abstract artist Piet Mondrian.
Fentrade worked with AluK’s design team to recommend a switch from the original casement windows within the curtain walling to tilt and turn windows in AluK’s 58BW HI system to accommodate the larger sizes required. Fentrade also recommended replacing the double doors in the design with wider single doors in AluK’s GT55 system to “achieve higher levels of security” while still providing the necessary fire escape access.
The primary-coloured aluminium-faced panels needed to fit alongside the windows and doors within the same curtain walling sections. A statement said that unlike conventional stick curtain walling with regular ladder-type sections, these panels were required to run across the mullions to achieve the Mondrian-style look.
Fentrade and AluK’s technical teams calculated that the noses of the mullion caps in the SL52 system could be machined sufficiently to allow the panels to cross over without negatively impacting on the performance of the curtain walling screens.
Chris added: “Each cap was calculated by hand across the four façades to ensure a correct fit on site – and then machined, batched and clearly labelled to make installation straightforward. It represented many months of work, and we were incredibly proud to deliver on time and on budget.”
The aluminium powder coating was finished to a marine-grade finish to ensure “durability, longevity and low maintenance”, it noted, even in Aberporth’s coastal location.
