‘Cap-less fire-rated curtain wall’
5th February 2019

A cap-less fire rated curtain wall system has been completed on a refurbishment development in Manchester in what Aluprof believes is a first for the industry.

The project, known as ‘The Core’ at 24-30 Brown Street in the city centre, uses the ‘MB-SR50N EI efekt’ developed by the company.

The building, also formerly known as St James’s Court, has been given an £8 million overhaul to replace the facade and re-fit the internals. The Core comprises 48,000 sq.ft of office space over six floors including a new 7,500 sq.ft roof-top extension.  This new upper floor proved a challenge for architects PRP as planners insisted parts of the new facade would need to be fire rated due to the proximity of other buildings and future developments.

A fire rating of EI60 was required on part of the new cap-less, curved glass facade on the top floor. Aluprof’s new MB-SR50N EI efekt, enabled the architect to have a cap-less fire rated system while at the same time blending in with areas which did not require a fire rating. Dan Holden of facade installer Caseu Consulto explained: “We were going down the route of a steel system for this project until we were introduced to this new system by Aluprof.  To achieve a cap-less fire rated curtain wall system is a big development for the industry, but to be able to have the fire rated system on one side of a mullion and non-fire rated on the other side in a seamless transition is truly impressive.”

The project team for the refurbishment, managed by OBI, included PRP Architects, Russells Construction, Tier Consult as structural engineer, and REDS, M&E advisor.

www.aluprof.co.uk