James & Taylor Lands Major Eyetech Contract For Greater Manchester Police HQ
Tuesday, 20 April, 2010
Cladding experts James & Taylor have landed a major contract to put the face on Greater Manchester Police’s new multi-million pounds headquarters.
The company will engineer and supply 1500m2 of eyetech expanded mesh in clear anodised aluminium for the car park at the new £63m HQ in Central Park, east Manchester. It was designed by Aedas Architects.
James & Taylor developed the eyetech system in partnership with The Expanded Metal Company, the originators of the metal expanding process. James & Taylor have already used the material to clad a number of major buildings around the world – including New York’s Museum of Contemporary Art, MediaCityUK in Manchester and the Stephen Lawrence Centre in London.
eyetech was first conceived as a car park cladding material. It is ideal for multi-storeys, providing natural ventilation and enhancing security as well as providing a visually substantial surface.
Andrew Barstow of James & Taylor’s Manchester office explained: “Aedas wants to create a landmark building to replace GMP’s existing headquarters in Old Trafford. Our design team has worked very closely with them to create a facade using both conventionally aligned and inverted eyetech panels, which will give a unique and very exciting visual appearance. This is the first project to use the panels in this format. We are delighted to be working on such an important building in an area of Manchester that has seen massive regeneration in recent years.”
Geoff Goodman of Aedas Architects said: “We’ve successfully worked with James & Taylor locally on several high quality projects due to their ability to offer innovative and exciting cladding materials that stand out from the more standard treatments. With a car park on such a prominent site it was important to carry through the main building’s quality of finish and visual interest into the deck façade. The use of quality materials such as white precast concrete panels and the eyetech in their varied configurations will draw from the palette used on the main building for continuity, but the mesh will further enliven the car park façade in its own right.”
The police HQ is due to be completed in 2011.
For further information on James & Taylor visit http://www.jamesandtaylor.co.uk
