Glass & Glazing on to the two balconies and for the main entrance into the building.
Natural ventilation
Clean aesthetics Aluminium curtain walling and casement window systems from Technal have contributed to a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating and a high level of energy efficiency for a flagship primary care centre in Swansea.
D
esigned by B3 Architects and built by Dawnus Construction, the state-of-the-art Beacon Centre for Health is now one of the largest primary care facilities in Wales, catering for up to 3000 patients a day. The 3150m2 scheme accommodates a host of primary care functions, including the Harbourside Health Centre, SA1 Medical Centre, Eastside Dental, ABM University Health Board, Swansea University and a pharmacy.
A rise in demand The design brief for the project was to create a modern, light and spacious community health centre to increase capacity for a range of NHS services, which would normally be provided in a hospital setting. The growing population in east Swansea has led to a rise in demand for primary care services putting pressure on existing facilities and resulting in thousands of patients having to travel to busy hospital sites for treatment. The building is designed around a central four-storey atrium which has large spans of Technal’s GEODE-MX Visible Grid curtain walling to deliver high levels of natural light. This, together with a palette of natural
34
finishes and subtle use of colour, provides a welcoming and bright environment for patients and staff. The contemporary design of the building envelope features semi-glazed black-faced brickwork, zinc rainscreen cladding, and areas of green render. The solidity of the brickwork is offset by the lightness of glazing and the zinc cladding, which has a diamond pattern to reflect the form of the building. Fabricated and installed by Vision 2000, Technal’s GEODE-MX Visible Grid curtain walling was used throughout the ground floor spanning up to three storeys and for two recessed areas set into the black brickwork for the upper terraced balconies. The curtain walling had to be sufficiently robust to carry large spans of glass, up to 2.5m in some areas. GEODE-MX top hung concealed vents and FXi65 casement windows were inserted into the facade system for natural ventilation. FXi65 projecting side hung casement windows feature as ‘punched hole’ configurations on all elevations. These are split frame configurations, all internally glazed, with adjacent opening and fixed lights. Technal’s CD doors provide access
Find this issue plus much more on the fc&a app and fca-magazine.com
■
The design brief for the project was to create a modern, light and spacious community health centre
Commenting on the glazing requirements for the project, Bruce Massie, Project Architect at B3 Architects, says: “Technal’s facade systems provide a clean modern aesthetic for the project, whilst achieving low U values and the project’s security criteria, in accordance with our specification requirements. “The curtain walling is designed to minimise sight lines and it spans vertically between floors filling the building with light on the front elevation.To maintain as much transparency as possible, we developed an innovative structural solution with Burroughs engineers, which included bracing the atrium glazing back to concrete bridge structure for the walkway to reduce the number of structural members behind the glazing. The facade system also had to incorporate opening lights for natural ventilation and was sufficiently robust to support vertically hung solar shading. “The curtain walling and the windows allowed finishes in dual colours, enabling improved visual comfort internally. We are pleased to report all Technal’s systems are performing well.”
www.technal.co.uk
Technal’s facade systems provide a clean modern aesthetic for the project, whilst achieving low U values