Stormframe II Commercial Door

The University of Birmingham School was the first academy free secondary school to be assigned to a particular university. This is a new model of education, bringing together the best of university research and teaching with best practice in secondary education. 

The school's success was supported by the university's estates team and the school's preopening team working closely with the Interim Director of Operations for the school. Wilmott Dixon, TECHNAL UK and Associated Architects also collaborated to ensure a high standard of building design to complement the equally high teaching methods. As a result, the school has been used as a standard since opening in 2015.

TECHNAL Dualframe 75 Si Casement windows were specified for this project in a 210mm high module to achieve the required available air flow and light transmission. This is the ideal solution for education, healthcare and commerical applications due to the combination of good ventilation with practical features like easy operation and large span openings (with separate safety restrictors) all whilst remaining cost-effective. 

Stormframe STII Commercial Doors were specified to achieve robustness and increased thermal insulation. Elegance 52 ST Curtain Walling was also used to deliver more natural light into the project without sacrificing weather performance, thermal insulation and ease of fabrication. 

Dean Sherwood, Project Consultant at TECHNAL commented on his involvement saying, "With pupils and teachers in mind, it was important to acheive robust and safe operation and the anti-finger trap stiles and stronger profiles do this whilst maintaining elegant design."

Eastside Locks is a 17-storey student accomodation block located in the heart of Birmingham. High-performance windows and doors from Technal have been incorporated into the off-site, modular design. 

This £30 million construction at No. 1 City Locks is on what was a brownfield site alongside the Digbeth Branch Canal and forms part of the city's long-awaited Eastside Regeneration Project. Working in co-operation with Sisk Construction, Glenn Howells Architects and Elite Aluminium Systems Ltd, Technal won this project by 'value engineering' the original curtain wall design. 

By re-evaluating the project's technical, logistical and budgetry challenges, a Dualframe 75Si window wall specification provides a cost-effective solution which could be pre-fitted into the precast concrete modules that make up the building's elevations. This solution also enables any replacement glazing and maintenance to be done from inside, which isn't possible when using conventional curtain walling. This project also features the use of Technal Elegance 52 ST curtain walling to enclose the stair towers, and STII thermally broken commercial doors for main access routes.   

 

Project Architect David Hickman commented: “We are really pleased with the building overall, while the windows work really well both in terms of their colour and their proportions in the tower. We opted to go for the full height frames which means as soon as you enter into the student rooms they give a really good connection between the inside and outside of the building; and great views over the city.

“We have worked with Technal previously, including the student and wider residential market. In this instance the idea of a modular solution and installing the Dualframe assemblies at the precast plant evolved during the tender submission process, and proved very effective.”

Selected for their weather, thermal and security performance, TECHNAL aluminium curtain walling, windows and doors was specified and installed at Ysgol Penyfford - a £7 million-pound primary school located in the Flintshire villlage of Penyfford in Wales. This project has been constructed to BREEAM Excellent standards.