Project Overview:
Banbury Gateway is a newly developed £80M shopping park, funded by the Crown Estate. It covers 285,000 sq ft running alongside the M40 and houses premium retail and restaurant units including M&S, Next, Primark, McDonalds and Starbucks. The park is designed to be a welcoming and prestigious environment, with attractive well-maintained shops.
The architect's design included feature solar shading aerofoils screening the shop fronts of the retails outlets and restaurants. From an aesthetic point of view wood is a pleasing material but impractical requiring weather-proofing and regular maintenance.
The Solution:
Powdertech Wood Finish enables designers to combine the look of wood with the strength and practicality of metal. At the same time, this high performance finish compliments the durability of metal and preserves its appearance for many years. PWF replicates wood with variation in colour, grain density and grain pattern. Instead of depleting timber resources, highly abundant and recyclable aluminium can be used. This is a far better material for forming the finely angled aerofoil blades for solar shading. Powdertech (Corby) Ltd coated over 1000 linear metres of aluminium solar shading panels in PWF032 Western Red Cedar and delivered them to the site near Banbury, ready for installation.
Benefits:
- PWF has the appearance of wood with the fabrication flexibility of metal .
- PWF imparts a warmth and "feel" to metal substrates
- PWF has excellent resistance to abrasion and corrosion
- PWF adapts to curved surfaces and can be cut and drilled for fabrication.
- PWF is available in over 35 shades in smooth or textured finish.
- PWF is low maintenance
