Facade design for Waterman Tower, a new 32-storey residential tower on Greenwich Peninsula in London’s Docklands.

2018 Planning Award — Best Housing Scheme

Eckersley O’Callaghan supported the main contractor Wates from tender of the facade package through to construction of Waterman Tower, a 32-storey tower and seven-storey podium. We contributed to the development of the facade from a built-up wall system with punch windows to a unitised curtain wall.

This approach had many advantages for programme, quality and constructability but meant iterative development of the bespoke curtain wall design into a system that met performance requirements. This change in intent involved careful reconsideration of the employer’s needs, which we helped facilitate through workshops and provision of thermal analysis to coordinate the facade and internal linings package.

The main challenges included incorporating multiple balconies with sliding door elements, provision of deep external window reveals, and integration of aluminium, terracotta and GFRC facing elements into the curtain wall.

We performed design reviews of the contractor’s proposals throughout the trade contractor design period to identify potential issues and risks, workshopping anything that required clarification or resolution.

Location
London, UK

Client
Knight Dragon

Architect
Pilbrow and Partners