With our 50th car park completion fast approaching, we’ve taken a look at our most significant car park projects so far.
ADDENBROOKES HOSPITAL CAR PARK (2008)
We couldn’t talk about Maple’s milestone car parks without bringing up Addenbrookes Hospital car park. This project marked our first venture into the car park façade industry and 16 years later we have cemented ourselves as industry leaders and have even changed our company name to reflect this. The project involved the installation of solid aluminium panels, powder coated in different shades of blue and green to match the interior décor of the hospital building. Early collaboration on the project enabled us to agree the design and manufacturing process with Devereux Architects and RG Carter Construction from an early stage which avoided delays in procuring materials and meant that we could complete the façade in just 15 weeks.
It even appeared in the list of NCP’s Top 20 car parks which is an impressive feat for our first car park!
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VICTORIA GATE CAR PARK (2017)
Victoria Gate Car Park features on our list of milestone car parks due to the innovation and ingenuity put into the design of the spiral fins. Each of the fins featured various degrees of twists in order to create a stunning diamond effect façade, although to turn this design into a practical reality, Maple undertook extensive research to determine the optimum ‘twist’ and maximum tolerances. As cars enter and leave the car park, the weight of the cars causes the car park to move so these intricate spiral fins needed to be able to withstand various loads. To overcome this, Maple fitted springs during installation to absorb movement and prevent the fins from bending or breaking.
Victoria Gate marks a great achievement for Maple as it showcased our ability to use innovative solutions to create landmark structures. It also caught the attention of the Royal Institute of British Architects who awarded it ‘Yorkshire Building of the Year’, “It uses contemporary methods from design development to production and extends the architectural discourse in the digital age."
BIRMINGHAM CITY HOSPITAL CAR PARK (2022)
Birmingham City Hospital was Maple’s 30th car park installation and was completed 2 years ago, demonstrating our rapid growth as a façade contractor as our 50th car park is already nearing completion. The façade comprises a combination of perforated panels and expanded mesh which were manufactured with a 70mm return on each side to create a subtle ‘wave’ effect and add visual intrigue.
Our in-house capability and technology had clearly advanced from our first car park as we designed specialist brackets to attach the 745 panels which achieved the exact free area specified by the architect.
VICTORIA SQUARE CAR PARK (2022)
Victoria Square Car Park remains our largest car park installation to date with more than 30 miles of vertical fins being fixed to a new car park in Woking. In fact, if you were to place all 500 of our fins on top of each other, it would be half the distance to outer space!
The large number of fins to install posed a risk of spending lots of time working at height. Therefore, Maple implemented modern methods of construction by preassembling the fins as cassettes to make the installation process more efficient.
As well as the fins, we supplied and installed rainscreen cladding to the stair core, perforated panels on a bridge linking the car park to a neighbouring hotel, and ferruled mesh panels across the project.
salford a2 car park (2018)
Salford A2 car park was a major milestone for Maple due to our pre-construction team’s success in turning a paper model into a buildable design. The process involved close collaboration to create samples which were then reviewed and perfected in our factory HQ to avoid potential costs and delays on site.
Our team even went the extra mile by producing identical laser-cut jigs to accommodate for the unique shape of the panels and simplify the installation process. Additionally, we sent them to manufacturers and to site to reduce the scope for human error and facilitate effective coordination.
As a result of our forward thinking, we were able to complete the project ahead of schedule.
