Acorn Aluminium highlights how modern methods of construction are increasingly integral to the successful delivery of technically complex building projects such as Manchester city centre’s striking Island development.
As contractors continue to struggle with manual labour shortages, intense schedules, rising quality standards, higher costs and tighter regulations, offsite construction practices are increasingly providing a credible solution to many of these challenges.
Offsite pre-assembly processes were key to Acorn Aluminium’s delivery of the glazed façade at Bowmer and Kirkland Ltds landmark ‘Island’ development, a 100,000ft2 Net Zero Carbon workspace in central Manchester.
Acorn designed, supplied and installed 2,500m2 of windows, doors and striking curved curtain walling utilising Senior Architectural Systems’ SF52 and SPW600 platforms, with much of the installation completed at the factory of offsite construction specialist, Techrete UK & Ireland. Laser-cut panels were also integrated into the building’s facade to create a distinctive perforated aesthetic.
“There’s a lot of technical complexity to this project and our successful delivery – within the design specification and in line with the architect’s intent – demonstrates Acorn’s competence in tackling ambitious schemes of this calibre,” explains Craig Key, Operations Manager at Acorn Aluminium.
“In terms of working on a city-centre site, this project didn’t pose too many issues for us because 90% of the build was done offsite, at Techrete’s concrete facility.
“We only came on site to do the ground floor curtain walling areas, and the rest was all brought in on the back of a truck,” Craig explains.
As well as reducing the amount of manual work required on a constrained city-centre site, assembling the building’s facade in a controlled factory environment ensures better accuracy, consistency and less chance of defects compared to on-site installation. Tighter tolerances – a key aspect of the building facade’s curved corner features – are also easier to achieve offsite.
While factory-based pre-assembly also reduces health and safety risks, site congestion and reliance on skilled labour availability, careful planning and coordination between factory, design and site teams is essential.
Successful delivery relies on strong communication between design, manufacturing and installation teams to ensure that components arrive on site, ready for installation, in the correct order, and that systems integrate correctly when in situ.
“The main challenge of the Island project, for us, was the curved aspect at each corner of the building facade,” says Craig.
“If we got the curve of the profile, or the glass, wrong, none of it would have gone together, and we would have had to start again, which would have been costly.
“There are a lot of interfaces to get right. There are different radii between glass, profile, caps… There are flush elements and non-flush elements, so coordination with all of our technical teams, to ensure that what we were sourcing was accurate and would go in the building first time, was absolutely essential.
“If we don’t communicate effectively with the supply chain and vice versa, it’s not going to go well,” he adds.
But, when well-executed, the benefits of an off-site approach for Acorn’s clients include faster installation, reduced risk of delays, reworks and the associated costs, and ultimately, a higher-quality façade.
“If you’re looking for someone to partner with on a challenging scheme, our work at the Island really demonstrates what we are capable of at Acorn,” concludes Craig.
“Our achievement here is underpinned by an offsite installation process, which shows what fantastic results modern methods of construction can deliver, if you choose the right team.”
For more about Acorn Aluminium, please call 0115 928 2166, email [email protected], or visit www.acornaluminium.com.