Raines Court in London is one of the largest schemes to incorporate Technal’s new GXi aluminium sliding balcony door. Developed by the Peabody Trust, it is also the UK’s largest affordable housing project to be built in a factory and the first to be offered for sale.
Designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris and manufactured off-site in York by Yorkon, this mixed-use urban development provides a total of 61 apartments, including 8 live/work units. The main contractors were Wates Construction and the glazing fabricators, Securefront Systems.
Built to Housing Corporation standards, the apartments occupy the site of a former dairy in Stoke Newington. The scheme has pushed back the boundaries of modular technology and innovation in construction, in line with the Government’s Egan agenda.
The design ethos for the project was to use high quality, low maintenance materials and products, which are strong and highly durable to maximise longevity. Each apartment module incorporates an integral entrance ‘court’ for access and a balcony to the front elevation, which is glazed using Technal’s new GXi sliding balcony door.
GXi is a robust and high specification sliding window and balcony door, which has been developed by Technal for apartments and prestige office schemes. It was used at Raines Court to maximise natural light, giving each apartment a spacious feel, and to allow access to a private balcony.
Rigorously tested to 20,000 open and close cycles, GXi features clean, narrow 41mm sight lines, a 9mm flush polyamide thermal break for performance to meet the revised Building Regulations, and the option of flat-faced or curved profiles. A strong, unobtrusive track and roller system ensures a smooth sliding operation, even with the heaviest leaf sizes.
Externally, Raines Court has a chequerboard appearance, emphasised with the use of colour. Each apartment has its own colour for the entrance door and cladding panels, selected from a palette of shades of blue and green with splashes of yellow. This contrasts successfully with the dark grey GXi sliding doors and FXi46 casement windows.
Double glazed in clear glass, the windows from Technal’s FXi46 range were specified in a tilt/turn configuration where the units could not be cleaned from the outside. Top hung casements were used where the windows could be accessed from balconies or walkways. Both the windows and the balcony doors were pre-installed before the apartment modules left the factory.
FXi46 is part of Technal’s recently expanded and fully integrated FXi window suite. Available in a wide choice of configurations and three module sizes – 46mm, 52mm and 65mm, FXi uses a highly efficient flush polyamide thermal break to deliver enhanced thermal performance to meet the current Building Regulations. The system can be inserted into curtain walling or used as punched hole, composite or ribbon windows.
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