Q. Stone or powder coating? A. Almost everything you can see is coated in 'Kilkenny stone' powder coating - apart from the brickwork in the foreground and some darker panels
A building’s exterior impacts those who work within
Overview
100 Avebury Boulevard in Central Milton Keynes is a landmark building, designed and built to supply Grade A office space and retail units on eight floors. It is a sustainable and low energy BREEM accredited building occupying 140,000 sq ft with a multi-storey car park attached.
Project criteria
The priorities for the developers were comfort, wellbeing and cost efficiency. Amongst other things, wellbeing in a workspace context relates to a building’s airiness, quantity of light and its immediate surroundings. Also important is appearance for the people who walk past it every day, and those who work within it. Attractive, well-designed buildings have a positive uplifting influence and they benefit a community. The designers were keen to use the solid, durable and timeless appearance of stone on the exterior, adding interest and distinction from other buildings in the vicinity but, as a building material, stone would be expensive and too heavy for some of the features.
The Solution
Powder coated aluminium would solve the issues of weight and expense and is also low maintenance. The designers were impressed with Powdertech’s Landscape™ ‘Stone’ range which replicates the colour and random markings of different natural stones. ‘Kilkenny Stone’ was the shade chosen, a Qualicoat Class 2 powder with high performance corrosion protection, weather resistance and colour stability. Over 3500sq metres of aluminium cladding panels, window reveals, column casings and soffit panels were coated.
Benefits of Landscape™ powder coatings
- The range of shades comprises nine different groups :- coastal, terrain, urban, industrial, lowland, upland, sky, space and stone
- High performance corrosion protection and weather resistance
- Excellent durability and colour stability
- Low maintenance – wash down with water and a mild detergent, every 18 months in a non-industrial inland environment.
- Conform to ISO 12206 and Qualicoat specifications
