Kawneer Helps Give Alsop The WOW Factor
Alsop High School, Liverpool
11 March, 2011
Curtain walling, windows and doors from leading architectural aluminium systems supplier Kawneer have helped the first in Liverpool’s £500million Building Schools for the Future programme meet a host of criteria not least of which was WOW factor.
Kawneer’s AA®100 curtain walling, AA®601, AA®602 and AA®603 windows, and series 190 and 350 doors were specified by architects 2020 Liverpool for a new teaching and activities block at Alsop High School, Liverpool’s largest secondary school with 1,750 pupils.
The block comprises classrooms with retractable walls, a dance studio, areas for dining and socialising, and bright, open atriums but the £21million project also includes the refurbishment of six other buildings on site, some of which date back to the 1920s.
2020’s brief from Liverpool City Council was to provide an exemplar BSF secondary school with a BREEAM “Very good” rating that would set a precedent regionally and nationally and to accommodate teaching facilities previously housed in more than 30 mobile classrooms.
But there were many challenges – the specialist technology and vocational college, which had been the subject of some expansion since 2002 when the nearby Queen Mary High School closed, had to remain operational and it was on a tight site on the edge of a Conservation Area surrounded by houses.
The 31,000²m, three-storey build by main contractor Morgan Sindall comprises steel frame, precast concrete floor slabs, a curved rendered brick and block façade and standing seam roof, naturally ventilated.
Kawneer’s 50mm AA®100 zone-drained curtain walling, AA®601 top-hung casement, AA®602 pivot and AA®603 tilt slide windows, and series 190 heavy-duty and 350 severe-duty commercial entrance doors were installed throughout the new block over six months by approved local specialist sub-contractor Anaco Systems.
2020 are frequent specifiers of Kawneer’s systems. Architect Martin Shutt said: “Kawneer has an outstanding reputation. Their products are competitively priced against other manufacturers and can always be relied upon to achieve. We also have an excellent working relationship with the local representative who has good knowledge of the products and their ability.”
The Kawneer systems have played a particularly “vital” role in the school’s natural ventilation strategy, with most of the classrooms window units incorporating heating and cooling louvres with actuators controlled by the BMS system that opens and closes them automatically according to the weather.
“Achieving the curved façade was the biggest accomplishment but Kawneer have always performed exceptionally when specified,” said Martin Shutt. “The glazed elements, especially the curtain walling, play a key factor in creating the WOW factor we aimed to achieve.
“The products had to have a stylish contemporary appearance to match the style and ethos of the scheme and the Kawneer products fully fit the specification in this. Aluminium products are also generally specified since they can be easily fully recycled.”
For further information, please contact:
Jane Ashley
Marketing Executive
Kawneer UK Ltd
Tel: +44 (0) 1928 502500
Fax: +44 (0) 1928 502501
Email
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Architectural Services Team
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