Photos courtesy of Pyroguard by CGI International

The striking new £27 million paddock and pit complex at the legendary Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire features a range of Ash & Lacy facade solutions.

Known as The Silverstone Wing, in reference to its radical angles and elevations, the complex is the culmination of a series of enhancements to the iconic race track, bringing it up to the latest Grand Prix standards.

Offering competitors the last word in up-to-the-minute motorsport facilities, the 390 metre-long building includes a totally new pit-lane area, with 41 new garages and a surface area covering 6,200m2, spectator and hospitality zones, a 2,780m2 Media Centre and a new race control tower.

It has been designed for multi-purpose operation, boasting a conference hall, auditorium, two exhibition halls, a banqueting hall and additional breakout rooms for fully flexible use. There is 4000m2 of space to host events for just a few or thousands of people.

AshTech™ rainscreen cladding panels form a stunning frontispiece along the entire length of the pits and the amazing angular structure that forms a backdrop to the winner’s podium. Panels were made in three 1.2mm polyester powder-coated steel finishes – Metallic Silver (RAL 9006), Anthracite Grey (RAL 7016) and a small quantity of Graphite Grey (RAL 2074).

AshTech™ creates a completely flat surface and shallow profile, giving the specifier the opportunity to develop an attractive, low-maintenance facade, whilst attaining long term performance at an economic whole-life cost.

Ash & Lacy AshFab™ double-curved bullnose gutter flashings were selected to form the perimeter of the ever changing roofline, in 3mm polyester powder coated steel in Hamlet finish (RAL 9002).

The double-curved bullnose at Silverstone is an excellent example of what can be achieved with AshFab™ standard, bespoke and architectural fabrication and flashing solutions.

Ash & Lacy’s extensive plant and machinery provides complete flexibility for the precision manufacture of any building perimeter component, made by a team of experienced and skilled professionals to achieve the most exacting standards.

Positioned directly underneath the bullnose feature is a red AshScreen™ mesh grille, providing an attractive colour accent feature above the entire pit straight.

The AshScreen™ range of expanded meshes and perforated screens is proving an exceptionally popular choice with specifiers. AshScreen™ provides a fully-engineered, lightweight solution, improving the aesthetics of any structure, as well as providing permanent and impenetrable barriers.

Built as part of the NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) initiative and located in the heart of Hull, Wilberforce Health Centre provides an impressive setting for an NHS Medical Practice and Walk-In Centre, offering a wide range of services for both registered and unregistered patients.

The £16.5 million, multi-purpose project was designed, developed and delivered by Hull Citycare Ltd and its partners, on behalf of NHS Hull. It has been built on the site of a derelict office building and is seen as a beacon for ongoing regeneration in the surrounding area. The Centre also includes a café and ambulance services. Wilberforce Health Centre has been designed as an integration between the community and its urban environment, optimising functionality, sustainability and views to and from the site.

AshScreen™ perforated screens and supports from Ash & Lacy have been installed in a captivating arrangement of varying height, width and colour - a key design feature contributing to an attractive, welcoming facade for patients, staff and visitors.

AshScreen™ is the perfect, fully engineered, fast-track solution for enhancing or enclosing open spaces.Available in solid, perforated and expanded configurations, this architecturally-flexible system can be specified in a variety of attractive materials, patterns and finishes, transforming the structure.

Panels may be straight or curved, to suit any requirement. Contrasting panel types and finishes can be integrated in the same elevation, creating visually engaging features.

Ash & Lacy have formed a close partnership with Halcyon Building Systems, the cladding installation contractor at Wilberforce Health Centre. The two companies collaborated to deliver a solution that met both aesthetic and practical requirements.

The AshScreen™ perforated panels feature a purpose-designed hanging system, retrofitted to the substructure, which protrudes through the wall cladding.

The panels were fabricated in powder-coated aluminium trays in contrasting red and silver finishes, to create a stunning visual effect. 3mm gauge perforations were formed in a bespoke pattern.

The project is covered under Ash & Lacy’s AWM Protector Warranty scheme. This protects the client against defective workmanship and materials.

Under the scheme, cover is provided for 25 years following Practical Completion, subject to the independent inspections of the installation and sign off by AWM Ltd.

Quality control of the workmanship and material throughout any project has the largest impact on the life expectancy of a building and thus is key to long term investment potential. An independent auditing and inspection is the best assurance of obtaining the highest quality construction and finishing, which will underpin life expectancy, reduce maintenance costs and benefit the whole life costs of the building. The AWM Protector Warranty is available free of charge on projects specifying Ash & Lacy products and systems.

Reflecting on the very attractive completed building, Austin Ford, Director of Halycon Building Systems, commented: “The project went extremely well and was delivered on time and on budget. Ash & Lacy co-ordinated material deliveries exactly when they were needed. What initially appeared to be a very difficult task went as smoothly as it possibly could."

Ash & Lacy Building Systems has proved invaluable to several ambulance stations in Yorkshire that have all undergone refurbishments or re-roofing projects. Stations from the Yorkshire Ambulance service in Halifax, Longley and Rotherham all decided Ash & Lacy’s AshJack™ flat to pitched roofing system would be the perfect solution to eradicate the long term water ingress problems that were affecting all the sites.

Abbey Construction Consultants worked alongside Yorkshire Ambulance Service on the stations, all of which are flat-roofed and all comprising of a large garage and offices. The stations were typical of flat-roofed buildings with inherent water seepage problems including degradation of brickwork.

Typically the garages are around 400 square metres and the offices between 200 square metres and 400 square metres. All required an over-roof conversion system to address the problems. Ash & Lacy’s AshJack™ was specified by Abbey CCL following their research into other comparable systems which proved Ash & Lacy to be superior and the best solution for all of the projects, despite their slightly differing requirements. AshJack™ provides a permanent weather-tight solution for a wide range of failed flat roofs. Furthermore, AshJack™ is highly cost effective and comes into its own when meeting the very tight budgets of refurbishment projects, whether for the public or private sector. In this case it allowed remedial work to be carried out rather than incurring the costs of a completely new roof.

The ambulance stations also benefited from the AWM 25 year warranty as part of the Ash & Lacy service which met the warranty specified by the client. The insurance backed warranty is independently audited and provides on-site inspections at key stages to ensure peace of mind. This warranty is invaluable for projects that are already experiencing budget cuts and reduces ongoing maintenance costs.

Graham Holden, Director of Abbey CCL comments: ‘AshJack™ provided the perfect solution for all of these projects and thanks to Ash & Lacy’s ongoing guarantee with the AWM warranty our client was more than reassured about the product’s sustainability. Furthermore, the AshJack system means minimal disruption to the occupants of the building; so much so that two of the stations remained fully operational throughout the works’.

Ray Harriman, Director of Ash & Lacy comments: ‘AshJack™ has been used extensively on refurbishment and re-roofing projects since we first introduced it to the UK in 1991. Since then we have constantly innovated the system to ensure it remains undefeated and the best solution for a wide range of failed flat roofs’.

• Can be installed on failing fragile flat roofs.
• Achieves weathertightness, transforms appearance and facilitates upgrading of thermal/acoustic insulation.
• Lightweight structural systems, supporting a wide range of real/metal tile and standing seam/pierce fixed sheets/composite panels.
• Zero/minimal occupant disruption.

Ash & Lacy Building Systems has supplied its curved, perforated AshTech™ panels for a fantastic new office development to house some of the UK’s National Sports Governing Bodies, in Loughborough. Owned by Loughborough University and located on a gateway site to the University campus, SportPark plays host to various sporting organisations in 3 pavilions, over 4 storeys.

Managed by Baggaley Construction Ltd, the project was designed by David Morley Architects and the external envelope materials strike a balance between life span, low maintenance requirements and aesthetics. Bringing the fire escape stairwells to the exterior of the building was a part of this specification – a move which required a carefully considered aesthetic solution. Ash & Lacy’s AshTech™ was able to meet all expectations in terms of structural capabilities, quality and appearance. Manufactured at Ash & Lacy’s West Bromwich facility, AshTech™ was delivered onsite to AshTech™-approved installers William Cooper Ltd, pre-curved, sized and ready for installation.

The benefits of using perforated AshTech™ around areas such as fire escapes, is the additional shelter from the elements it provides, creating a safe and dry fire escape route, while also allowing adequate ventilation. As well as the product itself being a low-maintenance solution, it also cuts costs further by allowing natural light to illuminate the stairwells in daylight hours, as opposed to fitting extensive lighting. Providing a perfectly flat solution which can be curved easily and polyester powder-coated or anodised to match any colour, Ashtech provides the most cost-effective, aesthetically pleasing finish.

AshTech™ itself requires no additional framework to support the panels, reinforcing the transparent appearance specified by the architects, reducing the visual bulk whilst still retaining form. This also allowed a smooth installation process. Michael Friel, David Morley Architects, commented, “Ash & Lacy’s AshTech™ helped us to achieve our design vision simply and economically. We are all delighted with the result.”

Office space at SportPark is occupied by prestigious sporting organisations such as The Amateur Swimming Association, Youth Sport Associations and the Wheelchair Basketball Association, to name but a few. Collaborating high-profile sporting associations in this manner allows them to work together and share ideas in the hope of yielding improved medal results for the Olympic Games. 

• ACM and aluminium rainscreens renowned for their beauty, simplicity and speed of installation.
• Wide choice of finishes for panels, screens & facades.
• Perfectly flat or curved profiles available.
• Technical support throughout the life of your project.

• Recycled materials used wherever possible
• Nationwide distribution network for shorter delivery journeys
• Proven expertise in green roof solutions
• Reduced CO2 delivery option

Tuke School is a brand new remedial secondary school in Peckham, which has unveiled a state of the art building to accommodate its students. Ash & Lacy Building Systems worked alongside Emprose Cladding and Balfour Beatty on the build with Haverstock Associates who designed the impressive special needs school incorporating a green roof. The new purpose-built school opened its doors in September 2010, providing specialist features for students with profound and complex learning needs.

The school, in Daniel Gardens, South London, is the first project to be delivered by Southwark Council’s local education partnership, 4 Futures, and is designed to be ‘sensory’ through the use of texture, sound and light to aide students’ independence. All elements of the school, from the one-storey design, to the external cladding and materials used are tactile and chosen to assist students and improve their experience at the school.

Emprose worked in close proximity with Ash & Lacy from the beginning of the project and the schedule for the build remained on track, despite difficulties imposed by treacherous weather conditions. In total, 4000 square metres of metal deck was supplied by Ash & Lacy, of which 2400 square metres was used under the flat roof and remaining 1600 square metres was used under the standing seam element.

Tuke School features a Green Roof – an area where Ash & Lacy have particular expertise having supplied the roof for the award-winning Adnams Distribution Centre in Southwold. One of the factors that led Ash & Lacy to be specified for the project was due, in part, to the company’s ‘green credentials’. Ash & Lacy are able, upon request, to offer AshZip manufactured with a high recycled content of aluminium, which complements the sustainable design requirement of sedum roofs and as such the school’s green technology aspirations were exceeded.

AshZip has a green rating of A+ in accordance with the BRE green guide ref 812550034 and many of Ash & Lacy’s suppliers operate to ISO14001 EMS (Environmental Management Systems).

Tuke School’s mission statement is ‘Learning Everywhere, Inspiring Everyone’ and the school building needed to embrace this sentiment. The teaming of Ash & Lacy’s AshZip standing seam system, together with the greenroof technology, allowed the school to remain true to its aim to be sustainable. Trevor Leach of Emprose Specialist Cladding comments: ‘The Ash and Lacy standing seam and green roof system went together like a meccano kit as the whole team took on board the special requirements advised by Ash & Lacy at the outset of the project’.

Headteacher Heidi Tulley comments: ‘Not only have levels of challenging behaviour from the students reduced since moving to the new building, staff are using the space much more frequently out of school hours. As well as work related activities, they are meeting for coffee and setting up swimming and fitness clubs after school. We feel this is because the school was planned with the students and staff in mind and as such the new building meets their needs completely. The space fulfils our mission statement and inspires everyone, students and staff alike’.

AshTech™ rainscreen cladding has been increasingly specified on a number of car park projects across the UK over the last few years. The combination of aesthetic qualities, ease of use and versatility makes AshTech™ the ideal solution to meet both the technical and visual requirements of a car park building.

Ash & Lacy’s in-house design team can produce bespoke size and shape panels and even develop special extrusions to meet the project specifications.

This was the case with Eastside Car Park, part of ‘Birmingham’s Big City Plan’regeneration scheme, is currently being constructed adjacent to Birmingham’s Millennium Point and illustrates another aspect of design innovation which can be achieved using AshTech™ panels.

Designed by Urban Design – Birmingham City Council’s in-house design team and managed by Thomas Vale Construction Ltd, approximately 1900m2 of AshTech™ panels have been used in a 3D geometric layout.

Because of limited space at Eastside,the framework and panels were prefabricated at Ash & Lacy’s own facility in West Bromwich and supplied to site pre-assembled and ready to be fitted by façade and barrier contractors, Berry Systems.

The car park demonstrates one of the many design possibilities which can be achieved using AshTech™. Ash & Lacy’s technical support team can assist specifiers from concept stages right the way through to installation.

AshTech™ panels are available in a variety of colours and finishes,horizontal or vertical joint arrangements and can be supplied curved or flat. The addition of the Ashcolit Suite of linear support systems to Ash & Lacy’s portfolio has now opened up a new world of even more innovative rainscreen cladding options.

AshTech™ rainscreen cladding has been increasingly specified on a number of car park projects across the UK over the last few years. The combination of aesthetic qualities, ease of use and versatility makes AshTech™ the ideal solution to meet both the technical and visual requirements of a car park building.

Ash & Lacy’s in-house design team can produce bespoke size and shape panels and even develop special extrusions to meet the project specifications.

This was the case with a recent multi-storey car park project in Luton for National Rail Networks. Specified by Seymour Harris Architecture and installed by Gable (UK) Ltd, Ash & Lacy provided perforated AshTech™ for a unique specification which required Ash & Lacy to design a special extrusion for the panels.

The perforated panels meet the required standards for car park ventilation while still maintaining a degree of rain screening. The overall exterior finish provides an aesthetically pleasing package.

The car park demonstrates one of the many design possibilities which can be achieved using AshTech™. Ash & Lacy’s technical support team can assist specifiers from concept stages right the way through to installation.

AshTech™ panels are available in a variety of colours and finishes,horizontal or vertical joint arrangements and can be supplied curved or flat. The addition of the Ashcolit Suite of linear support systems to Ash & Lacy’s portfolio has now opened up a new world of even more innovative rainscreen cladding options.

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In 2005 as part of the Decent Homes Government Initiative, a number of high rise blocks within Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council were placed on a programme for refurbishment. One such block was Lancaster House, situated in Oldbury, West Midlands, on a main through road and very visible from the M5 motorway.

Lancaster House is a ten storey block containing 112 flats. At ground level there are 15 shop units and adjoining the block is a community building serving the wider public. Because of its location, and the size of the block, it was felt that a complete external refurbishment was required. This view became necessary following extensive structural surveys that showed degradation to brickwork and concrete elements of the block and inherent flat roof problems. There is a basement-level approached from the rear of the block which contains storage areas and refuse rooms.

As the main entrance to the block was approached from the main road frontage there was severe congestion between residents, shopkeepers and delivery vehicles and it was felt that forming a new main entrance to the block at the rear would alleviate the problems. To the rear of the block, external garages and a residents’ community room were demolished to form a car parking area and a three storey atrium was built to form the new rear entrance.

In order to overcome flat roof problems, the decision was taken to form a steel frame over the existing, finished with aluminium sheeting. Within the steel frame eight new flat were constructed complete with balconies.

The existing lift and staircases were extended to serve the new flats which necessitated raising the existing lift shaft and motor room. This was clad with aluminium profiled sheeting from Ash and Lacy with the roof over having a curved profile. The material used for the main roof sheeting, the lift motor room and the atrium roof was Ash and Lacy AshZip system.

This material has been used very successfully on other blocks being very versatile, lightweight and, perhaps more importantly, sustainable.

Because the sheeting material is lightweight but strong, due mainly to the AshZip jointing technique, the steel frame sections forming the new roof structure could be reduced in size which greatly assisted in reducing the overall loadings imposed to the existing building. The material can be cut and formed on site which was a great advantage when working with a building that was built in the 1960’s where uniformity did not seem to matter unduly.

The curve of the new lift motor room roof presented no problems with the AshZip sheeting and provided the exact appearance that we were looking for. The pity is that, being eleven storeys up, no one else can see how well it performs.

Sandwell MBC strongly supports local businesses and with Ash and Lacy based in Oldbury only three miles from the site not only is the product excellent but the service and delivery can be very much relied upon.

This project, which was designed by the Council’s own architects, is a striking addition to the existing secondary school. The design incorporated a sweeping curve detail to the mono-ridge lines in different radii. The implications of which needed a lot of thought and planning to enable the material to be fitted safely and enable a welded joint to be formed out of sight at the top of the curve. The AshZip sheets were formed both on site and at the factory depending on both the length and size of the radius required.

The roof and rear wall construction consisted of a structural deck which was perforated in some areas where sound absorption was important and solid in others. The perforated areas were covered with an acoustic slab and the whole roof and wall area was then covered in a fully sealed AshFlex vapour control layer. Full height thermal halters were fixed via top hat spacer stools before laying 300mm thick Factoryclad 40 fibreglass insulation which was subsequently covered and compressed with the mechanically seamed AshZip 400 standing seam roofing sheets in 0.9mm stucco embossed mill finished aluminium. The overall construction was designed to achieve a 0.16W/m2K ‘U’ value.

The cladding work commenced in November 2009 which continued through some heavy snow in January/February and completion was achieved at the beginning of summer 2010.

On completion of the roof and wall cladding ‘feature turrets’ were formed over roof fans designed to hide the fans and incorporate a opening leaf for access to maintain the fans. The ‘turrets’ were made up of segments which were supplied loose by Ash & Lacy in powder coated aluminium and then fixed to steel frame on the ground. The whole structure was then craned into position. These features once fitted were then lit from below with blue light to accentuate them.

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Metropolitan Works is London’s first Creative Industries Centre, offering digital manufacturing services, IT suites, training and workspace to local creative business and designers.

It is housed in a stunning new £4.5 million building designed by Cartwright Pickard Architects in the East End of London.

Echoing the form making processes undertaken at the Centre, the building was conceived as a series of interlocking volumes unified with a perforated aluminium cladding. On the ground floor level a dramatic frieze by local artist Tom Price has been laser cut into the anodized aluminium panels to give the facade a sense of movement and life.

A double height workshop on ground level contains state of the art rapid prototyping and digital manufacturing equipment. Above ground, 4 storeys of office accommodation were manufactured off site in modular units to overcome issues with site access.

The centre achieves a BREEAM rating of ‘very good’. Sustainability features include green sedum roofs, rainwater harvesting and solar power contributing to hot water provision.

“The new Centre is extraordinary in both its design and purpose. It is the only industrial resource in the middle of London, combining a bureau service, CAD training, and superb Pay and Go project workspace. Metropolitan Works is ultimately modern, understanding the light, flexible, and multidisciplinary working practices of contemporary architecture and design companies. It is the place for realising ideas.”
Matthew Lewis, Manager of Metropolitan Works.

We believe the finished building successfully reflects this world-class Centre of excellence for design and production – and it demonstrates how good, imaginative design can be combined with innovative methods of construction. In addition to the benefit of speed, off-site construction helps to improve the quality of finish and the thermal performance of the building because it is manufactured in a factory environment. This was also a very constrained site with little storage and handling space for materials, which lent itself to the modular building method.”
James Pickard, Director of Cartwright Pickard Architects.