Vision Tameside is an ambitious three-phase development that will transform further education provision and local authority services in the Greater Manchester Metropolitan Borough of Tameside.
The Phase 2 project combines a new advanced skills centre for Tameside College with a Joint Services Centre for Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council and its partners, within a striking contemporary development. The scheme incorporates an existing Grade II listed façade and references the architectural context of this existing building.
The new V-shaped building combines glazed elevations with Shackerley SureClad® Ceramic Granite.
Design Requirements
The goal was to preserve and reference the traditional civic inheritance of the location’s rich industrial past, while creating a distinctly modern building that leverages contemporary design and materials to reflect the progressive partnership between the College and the Local Authority.
A polished, highly-reflective white ceramic granite references the local built environment, while allowing the building to change appearance throughout the day and across the seasons. The white ceramic granite has also been chosen to help manage the building’s solar gain, contributing to reduced energy consumption, while SureClad® Ceramic Granite’s A1 fire safety classification to BS EN 13501-1 underpins safety for the public building.
A number of interfaces with windows, glazed lower elevations and an overhanging soffit creates a narrow fin effect surrounding the glazed façade of each ‘V’-end, which meant that a high number of bespoke details were required within the scope of the façade design. The specification also had to take account of potential deflection due to the design of the building.
Material Used
The SureClad® Ceramic Granite ventilated façade system was installed on a total area of 4200m2. The main ventilated cladding elevations were installed using standard 1200 x 600mm SureClad® Ceramic panels in high gloss ‘Arctic White’, and a high number of bespoke details were also custom-made for the project.
Rather than an 8mm tolerance between panels, the deflection requirements called for a 14mm tolerance and the SureClad® system provided flexibility to achieve this whilst delivering a high end, seamless finish to the façades.
The façade was installed using the SureClad® Access installation system.
