Next to Canada Water station, Plot A1 will transform into a vibrant urban centre in southeast London, featuring retail spaces, flexible work areas and a 35-storey residential tower.

BREEAM Outstanding anticipated

Situated next to Canada Water station, Plot A1 is a constituent of Allies & Morrison’s wider 21 hectare Canada Water masterplan, which is guiding the development of a new urban centre in southeast London. The plot’s development will create a mix of uses for businesses and the local community, including ground floor retail units, a five-storey podium of flexible workspaces and a 35-storey residential tower above.

The residential tower actually consists of three interconnected volumes, which reach different heights (29, 32 and 35-storeys). The tower’s facade consists of a unitised curtain wall system with glazed panels and aluminium cladding that differs in colour for each volume. The commercial section of the development consists of three blocks of six-storey office buildings interconnected by a common central area. This facade consists of hand laid brickwork cladding with glazed curtain walls with incorporated windows and glazed curtain wall infills between each block, and between the office and tower buildings. At ground floor, the facades of the retail bays and office entrances consist of curtain wall systems, canopies and rainscreen cladding.

Our Facades Group has been engaged by the contractor for the project at Stage 4 to review the designs, identify opportunities for further development and carry out a value engineering exercise that provides a solution meeting both the needs of the contractor and those of the original architectural vision. We are also coordinating with the other consultants on the project to ensure optimum facade performance and that the facade is compliant with all fire requirements.

One of the challenges was to achieve the value engineering items agreed with the contractor while maintaining the architectural intent approved by Planning. For the tower, the PCSA stage included assisting, reviewing and commenting on the facade contractor’s design proposals regarding performance, durability and ease of maintenance. For the office blocks, we produced Stage 4 hand sketches detailing facade principles and design development, coordinated facade performance with other consultants to produce a cohesive Stage 4 design and assisted the architect in developing facade details compliant with AD B for fire performance, with input from the fire consultant and Building Control body. The commercial area also includes four curtain walls between each block and a window system.

Additionally, we developed a tower BMU access and maintenance strategy and prepared a comprehensive brickwork and blockwork report with detailed calculations for wind posts, blockwork, tie quantities, movement joints and supporting strategy mark-ups. At first sight, it may seem like a simple tower and office blocks, but behind it lies many complexities.

Location
London, UK

Client
Wates

Architect
Allies & Morrison