240 Blackfriars
This twenty-two storey building in Blackfriars Road south of the River Thames was completed by Scheldebouw BV for Mace Construction.
GA have installed the unitized curtain wall for the entire building as well the roof glazing. The roof glazing proved to be particularly challenging as due to the rigidity of the programme we were instructed to use the BMU to complete the roof glazing.
The rear of the building was unitized opaque glazing in front of a concrete core wall, which was installed via mast climber.
Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford
Designed by Herzog de Meuron this building is a definition of progressive architecture. Working under Waagner Biro GA installed a twin skin construction within stepped precast panel at the head and cill. The inner skin comprises of a full factory fabricated unitised glazed curtain wall.The outer skin is a single laminated glass pane approximately 700mm wide by up to 4250mm high at the highest level which is shuffle glazed into precast spandrel.
The project also included installation of roof lights and walkways between the inner and outer skin to the main façade. The architectural culmination point though has to be Blavatnik’s "Window to the World" – a single gigantic glass pane 10.7m x 3.2m, which boasts being the largest glazed pane in Europe. The glass units were laminated with a 1.52 mm thick PVB interlayer, processed into a double insulating glass and coated against glare and solar heat gains. To facilitate the installation, a stainless steel frame provided by the client had been bonded to the insulating glass unit. With a weight of 3.5 tonnes installing this was a feat in itself. The result though is impressive providing a panoramic view of Oxford through its 34 sq m area.
Doha Convention Centre
At 297m long by 132m wide the South & West elevation of the Doha Convention Centre presented a huge expanse of glazing. In 2012 when GA undertook the project we were relatively new to the Middle Eastern market and working in a desert climate meant we had a steep learning curve. Much of the work was carried out during the night to avoid the 50 degree daytime temperatures but we soon found that the intense heat meant measurements taken in the day could differ by up to 30mm in the night, and our engineer and installation team worked well to find solutions to these challenges.
Our client Permasteelisa Gartner Qatar LLC detailed a scope of works for the Convention Centre which included a façade of 8060m² of Cable Curtain Wall with Steel Fins located at the head and cill with tensioned Bow String Cable Connectors.
Horizontal cables are attached to the Bow Strings before the installation of the 47.5mm double glazed units.
In addition to the curtain wall we were also required to install a number of Entrance Vestibules assembled from Stainless Steel Elements.
The Place, London Bridge
Sitting directly below London’s iconic building The Shard, this twenty story office block is part of London Bridge Quarter with its more famous building neighbor. Owned by the Qatar Central Bank, both buildings were clad by Scheldebouw B.V. from the Netherlands.
The Place comprises over 16,500m² of Unitised Curtain Wall from Levels 3 to 18 with 1,500m² of Stick Curtain Wall to the Ground to 2nd floors. The unitised elements comprise of Standard Shard Panels, Fracture which enclose the featured corners and the Wing Walls which affix to extend beams and form a glass feature spanning the heights of the building in 9 locations.
One Tower Bridge, London
This luxury residential building is
comprised of a number of blocks clad
in unitised curtain wall with stone,
aluminium and high performance
glass.
GA block 3 plus the upper
levels to blocks 2 and 4 and the
atrium roof at the lower level.
The
works included typical external
units installed from launch tables
with a floor crane. Internal balcony
units were fitted via manipulation
for the sliding doors, balcony
balustrade, soffit cladding and sky
boxes.
Paddington Integrated Project
GA undertook the construction of this
172m long x 12m deep Canopy glazed
in blast resistant cold rolled
glass. The steel was delivered to
site in bar form and the frames to
the trusses were bolted together
before being lifted by mobile crane
to their fixing location on top of
steel “trees” installed by others.
After two trusses are installed
steel beams are installed between
and the process is repeated.
Glazing
T steel bars were then fitted before
the punch hole gaskets were
installed. The glass was then lifted
and bent into position from
operatives from MEWP’s. The
periphery was ornate with a bullnose
cladding and soffit in aluminium. GA
also undertook the L U Façade
comprising of ladders installed to
alternative bays and with transoms
installed between, finally a blast
resistant pattern glass was
installed.
QPD Tower 6, Doha, Qatar
This development for Qatar Petroleum
comprised of 9 towers of varying
heights for commercial purposes and
a hotel.
Working directly for
Bouyges Batiment International, GA
Installation and Maintenance (Qatar)
WLL completed the installation of
the unitized curtain wall and the
external feature screen to the 32
storey Tower 6.
GA Qatar also
supplied labour to install screens
and terracotta on Towers 4, 5, 8, 9
and are still providing labour on
site for the ground floor and other
outstanding works.
University of Sheffield “The Diamond”
This new engineering facility at the
University of Sheffield comprised of
8,000m2 unitised curtain wall with
external decorative lattice work to
create various sized diamonds.
The
unitised curtain wall was installed
externally with the use of spider
cranes on the floor slab. 10,500
pieces of external lattice were
installed from large MEWPs while the
internal lattice of 4,000 pieces was
fitted from the floors.
The east
and west Atrium walls are stick
construction curtain wall with
Eurolar louvers infills.
Snow Hill Birmingham Phase 2
Snow Hill, Birmingham, Phase 2 is a
15 storey office development in the
heart of England’s Second City.
The
Façade for the building was supplied
by Yuanda Europe Ltd and comprised
of a total just over 16,000m2 of
cladding. Unitised Curtain Wall from
Level 2 to 14 with Fins and Brise
Soleil are an integral feature of
the North and South Elevations. A
large Atrium with Glazed Elements
lies within the centre of the
Building. The Ground Floor to Level
3 was installed in stick
construction Curtain Wall.
With
approximately 1650m2 of aluminium
Soffits as well as Slot Windows in
stone, Atrium Roof, Canopies, Column
casings and the Winter Garden this
building is one of GA’s largest
completed projects.
Qatar Education City People Mover System
In 2016 GA were fortunate to be working on the first rail development in Qatar – the Qatar Education People Mover System. GA Qatar were contracted to provide complete installation of 17 stations.
This included installing the steel support structure for the glazed canopy roof and passenger waiting rooms. Challenges for our team during this project were the daily temperatures in excess of 50◦C as well as the high dust load with many of the stations situated within the desert.
Francis Crick Institute London
This iconic research facility took 5 years to construct and GA had the privilege of working on the middle section of the building incorporating both the glass atria either end of the construction and the glazed central roof.
The building incorporated a multitude if different claddings, fins and grids. The tall glass atria made extensive use of glass with the east side of the building using glass fins that had a dichroic film that reflects coloured rays of light into the atrium and refracts externally giving the building a multi-coloured façade on the atrium section.
