Façade Focus turns the spotlight on Life Sciences

On October 23rd we hosted our ninth Façade Focus event at Mapei World Specification Centre in Clerkenwell, London.

This time we looked at the challenges that are presented when designing and engineering the façade of a life science development, using our Cambridge Westbrook project as a case study.

Anri Doda and Patrick Ryan of PRA were joined on the panel by Lisa Liu, Associate with the project developer Reef Origin who gave an overview of the vision of the development and John Roberton, Project Director from Design Development Unit (part of Scott Brownrigg), who covered the architectural aspects through RIBA Stages 3 & 4.

Photo Credits: Christie Photography

Anri went on to present some of the technical challenges and façade choices, many of which are unique to this type of scheme. These included:

• The use of Ultra-High Performance Fibre Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) without current British Standards
• What are the pros and cons of using Precast
• Façade Options around Precast brick, Traditional Handset Brick or Brick Slip GRC on SFS backing

A summary article will be available to download on our website in the coming weeks.