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Sureclad ceramic granite clads palatial building on 'Billionaires' Row'
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Ceramic granite ventilated cladding supplied by Shackerley has been used in an innovative manner to enhance the exterior elevations of Allingham Court, a prestigious complex of luxury apartments in The Bishops Avenue in East Finchley, often referred to as “London’s Billionaires’ Row”.
The award winning development, comprising 12 individual residences ranging from £4 million to over £11 million combines modernism with vernacular architecture. The outer envelope features a striking combination of red brick, terracotta tiling and large format white-grey ceramic granite facade panels, manufactured and sized to simulate Portland Stone in a contemporary idiom.
Lesley Lawson of Scurr & Partners in Redbourn, Hertfordshire was the project architect responsible for designing and delivering the original PKS Architects’ initial proposals for the palatial building. Explaining her specification for the outer envelope she said: “Whereas ceramic granite is predominantly used to create sleek monolithic rainscreens, we wanted to use this versatile material to create a different aesthetic. We’ve used the panels not only as a conventional cladding material but also to create distinct pilasters, boxes and columns which change the planarity of our elevations and deliver the appearance of stone but with a very contemporary twist.”
Lesley adds “We considered a number of different materials including limestone but from the outset ceramic granite cladding presented a very cost effective and practical alternative. It offers flawless consistency and strength and the panels are very durable and relatively lightweight compared with a naturally quarried stone.
“Shackerley have their own versatile Sureclad carrier system and in-house cutting and prefabrication services, so we could have almost any panel format we wanted. We worked closely with the company to determine the most appropriate panel sizes in terms of cutting requirements and ease of handling for our contractor, Baris. Our rather complex designs also gave rise to a large number of specially cut panels for use on the columns and as infill pieces. Shackerley prefabricated all the panels in their Lancashire production facility which enabled Baris to fast track their part of the project and complete the ceramic granite cladding installation in just two months.”
Lesley concluded: “We are incredibly pleased with the overall appearance of Allingham Court. It has been a very prestigious development to work on and we’ve delivered a stunning building. I’m now completely sold on the versatility and aesthetic and performance benefits of Shackerley’s ceramic granite and am planning to incorporate the material in conjunction with the Sureclad system on many projects in the future.”
