Maple have completed work on a new home for Northamptonshire Police.
Unlike the traditional view of police buildings and custody centres being featureless and utilitarian, the new police hub is attractive and modern. Part of that comes from Maple’s role in creating solar shading and climate façades that were both functional and aesthetically appealing.
The architects (Pick Everard) specified products that would shield the buildings from direct sunlight and other elements, but also contribute to the overall design,” said Maple’s Projects Director, Jay McGrath. “We worked closely with the architects and main contractors Bowmer & Kirkland - on site and at our factory - to guarantee the very best results.”
A linear climate façade has been installed to the three-storey office building, while our modular Strata Corona brise soleil system (ideal for longer, continuous spans of louvres) is used on the new custody block.
The whole project required us to achieve tolerances of less than 2mm but the installation of the brise soleil system presented particular challenges. We had to manufacture pre-fabricated welded corners, which were installed to an inclined steel column on one side and returned onto a vertical column to create a compound corner with three fixed vertical fixing points.
“The complete system has been designed and installed to provide a seamless brise soleil system that forms clean lines across the whole elevation,” added Jay.