KAWNEER CLADS AN AWARD-WINNING ANCHOR
Curtain walling, windows and doors from architectural aluminium systems supplier Kawneer clad the new John Lewis store that is the principal anchor of the £1 billion award-winning Liverpool One project in Liverpool’s Capital of Culture.
Designed by John McAslan and Partners, larger panels of the AA®100 curtain walling, some weighing 300kg each, were installed using mobile platforms and a crane on the roof because of the restrictions of the site as part of a major 42-acre masterplan scheme by BDP Architects for developers Grosvenor.
The technical complexity of the building at the corner of Canning Place and Paradise Street, with its differential deflection, interface with two bridges, and balustrading and hand railing, meant that Kawneer were heavily involved in helping the architects find a suitable design solution.
The materials palette is warm - brick, terracotta, sandstone, glass and steel - to complement the listed buildings on neighbouring Hanover Street. Kawneer’s curtain walling features on the ground to third floors of the three main sides of the building as well as the fourth floor atrium – large, vertical panels on the ground floor and contrasting smaller, horizontal panels on the upper floors.
A large percentage of the panels feature solid or perforated frets which helped to keep the flow of transparency when the architects were not allowed to use windows which would have restricted shelving space.
Kawneer’s curtain walling also features alongside vertical strips of Kawneer windows on the first to fifth levels of the terracotta support block and around the bridge that joins the multi-storey car park to the store. Kawneer doors feature on the ground floor as manual exits and on the roof terraces.
A concrete-framed construction, with a layered façade comprising sandstone panels, full height glazing, articulated fins and cornice elements, the Paradise Street elevation is curved on plan to a radius of 20 metres and the dock entrance is facetted. This curvilinear form follows the natural geometries of the surrounding streets, providing cafes and public areas and wonderful views of the remodelled Chavasse Park and waterfront.
John Lewis has traded in Liverpool for more than 60 years, as George Henry Lee until it moved to the new store which represents the next generation of this High Street retail giant’s stores and at 22,000m² will be the largest shop in the region
Liverpool One contains more than 30 individual buildings, designed by 26 different architects in five distinct districts, all built around the existing streets of Liverpool and each with a different character, offer and design.
It won BDP Architects a MIPIM Future Projects Award commendation 2008. It was also recently named the Mixed-Use Project of the Year as well as being awarded Best Use of Planning in Regeneration in Regeneration and Renewal magazine’s annual awards.
In total, it comprises 160 shops with 1.4 millionft² of retail space, a 14-screen Odeon cinema, 230,000ft² of restaurants, cafes and bars, 500 new apartments, two hotels, offices; a revitalised five-acre park, new public transport interchange and more than 3,000 car parking spaces.
