For over four decades, Maple have been making their mark on the Manchester skyline.
Over the last 40 years, our projects have been taking us all over the globe; from the UK to Africa and most recently to the USA. As exciting as these projects have been it is always an honour to see how our products make an architectural impact on our home soil. In this article, we will be providing our top 10 projects within Greater Manchester.
Back in 2020, Maple were a part of a development that brought together architecture and nature at RHS Bridgewater. Large vertical and horizontal blades formed from Siberian larch from our brise soleil range were installed onto the welcome centre to alleviate solar glare.
Folded aluminium sheets created a striking concertina effect on a new car park only three miles from our headquarters in Stockport. The façade consisted of welded steel mesh panels and perforated aluminium sheets supplied by Maple and a living wall façade supplied by
Viritopia UK.
Four years ago, we installed folded perforated panels onto a 16-storey building as part of the £750m Circle Square development in Manchester city centre. The folded panels create a 3D diamond effect on the top half of the building and even appear to change colour as the sun hits them from different angles.
NMGH car park is one of our latest project completions in Greater Manchester, having only just been completed at the end of last year. The perforated façade comprises a pseudo-random pattern of triangular panels which have been fixed to all elevations. The north and south elevations also feature mesh panels which were installed in sawtooth and zig-zag formations to further add visual intrigue.
In 2022, 12 miles of our timber cladding was installed onto a new car park for the Christie Hospital. Timber fins mask the multi-storey’s elevations alongside folded aluminium panels and living walls. The fins underwent a special treatment process that involved impregnating them with a blend of preservatives and Brunnea pigment to protect against insects and fungal decay.
A decade ago, Maple were instrumental in designing, supplying and installing an architectural façade for New Bailey car park in Salford. The innovative design of the façade gives the impression of the multi-storey being wrapped in a series of ribbons that echoes the lattice patterns seen on nearby Victorian bridges. The car park subsequently won the award for ‘Best Architectural Achievement Award’ at the 2016 British Parking Awards.
Our work for the School of Digital Arts (SoDA) marks one of our most dazzling projects to date. In 2022, more than 3,000 sqm of rainscreen cladding was installed onto Manchester Metropolitan University’s new digital hub for budding filmmakers, designers and artists. Maple liaised with specialist lighting designers to produce perforated panels that can accommodate LED lighting meaning that the five-storey building makes an impact during the day and night. The project also won the prestigious RIBA North West Award for 2023 and was opened by Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle.
Oxygen Towers still remains our highest project ever at a staggering 109m tall. A combination of Maple products were used to provide practical and visual benefits for the residential block as our rainscreen cladding panels create a weathertight building envelope and our expanded mesh provides texture and visual intrigue. The mammoth project required lots of early collaboration to consider the impact of wind loads and the risks of working at such a colossal height.
Our project at Salford Royal’s Greater Manchester Major Trauma Hospital featured a façade with a difference. Gold vertical fins were installed onto the hospital's elevations as well as a new helipad. On the north elevation, horizontal carrier arms were fixed to gold vertical posts to support gold fins that sit away from the building. This feature required 3D visualisation to help us conceptualise a solution for supporting the offset fins.
In 2018, Maple designed and installed an array of 3D hexagons for Salford’s Stanley Street car park. The most intriguing aspect of this project was that the original design had only been tested on paper, so Maple had the challenge of turning the concept into a working design for a car park façade. Our technical design team worked hard to make this vision a reality long before work began onsite, as prototypes were created, reviewed and refined in our factory to avoid the costs and delays of making changes on site. Our approach proved successful as we completed our programme ahead of schedule while remaining true to the architect’s intent.