First Street Manchester
2nd May 2017

Elements of all the architectural glazing systems portfolio from KAWNEER have been used on a range of applications in the £500 million First Street Manchester.

The manufacturer’s AA100 mullion-drained curtain walling, swing doors and AA541 top-hung casement windows for high levels of natural ventilation have been used on the 279 individual luxury studios of the 11-storey VITA student accommodation from Select Property Group.

This features blocks of colour within the glazing that complement the geometric building design and includes a 5,400ft2 student hub offering a reception, lounge, games area, gym, movie room and group study space.

Kawneer’s AA100 curtain walling has been used again, alongside fixed lights, on the mixed-use elements comprising a pair of retail units, 700-space multi-storey car park, and four-star, 208-bed hotel – the first “Innside” hotel in the UK from Melia Hotels International - also in First Street North.

The retail units and lobby to the 11-storey hotel featured reverse slope glazing by Kawneer which gave the design team some great internal atrium space, the glass roof giving a much sharper and cleaner line to the outside of the building. Solar gain was controlled using metal solar shading blades fitted to the curtain wall as well as high performance neutral glazing units.

The hotel design allowed for high levels of acoustic insulation and barrier loadings while maintaining the floor to ceiling glass which gives the occupants high levels of natural light and great views of the city. The Kawneer windows were designed and installed to accommodate live load floor slab deflections while still giving the vertical linear design intent.

Stretching out over 20 acres of city centre heartland, the 2 million ft2 of First Street Manchester was the first piece of the city designed to connect artistic creativity with business and enterprise in a joint venture partnership between Ask Developments and the city council.

The glazing by Kawneer, part of the Arconic group, was installed over a year by Bennett Architectural Aluminium for main contractor Carillion.