Aluprof was chosen as system provider for the three separate towers of 32, 16 and ten storeys that make up the £85m Oxygen Tower with 372 apartments and 12 street level townhouses in Manchester’s ‘New Islington’ district, designed by 5 Plus Architects and built by Russell Construction
The sliding door specified is a ‘lift and slide’ arrangement which offers a low threshold with high levels of air and watertightness. The MB-77HS system offers a maximum Class 4 air tightness when tested to BS EN 12207 and a Class 9A (600Pa) for watertightness when tested to BS EN 12208. The MB-77HS system can offer a thermal insulation capability of up to 0.84 W/(m2K).
Whilst these standards are well accepted performance levels for doors and windows in normal use, balcony doors at 32 storeys high could be subject to much harsher weather conditions common to the North West. It was decided that the specific door configuration on the project should be tested to meet the much more onerous testing that curtain walling is often tested to by testing to CWCT standards. The main difference is that the normal window and door tests take place within a cabinet, whereas weather testing to CWCT is applied externally.
