A package of products from Sto has been used to redesign a prominent building in London and create a major new retail and commercial facility. StoDeco façade panels and StoColor Maxicryl façade paint were used to achieve a new character which blends the refurbished Sussex House with its surroundings in Covent Garden. Sussex House is owned by Longmartin Properties, a joint venture between Shaftesbury and the Mercers’ Company.
“The building occupies a very prominent position at a large road junction, and so we were looking to create a fresh appearance which reflected the character and history of the area,” explains Gordon Talbot of Ian Ritchie Architects. “We felt we could achieve this by incorporating individual fruit and flower artworks into the south façade panels. The StoDeco solution offered us the type of detailed appearance we were looking for in a lightweight and reliable system.”
Sto worked closely with the architects, and with NA Curtain Walling who installed the panels, to develop an effective and visually striking solution which met the project requirements. “Our StoDeco panels and profiles are available in a wide range of standard designs and can be used to create ledges, cornices, pillars or any other sort of architectural detailing,” adds Sto’s Mark Shepherd.
“They can also be sculpted and cut with great accuracy at the manufacturing stage, using state-of-the-art CNC milling machines to create custom-made profiles and shapes which accommodate individual requirements and create a unique appearance.
“This allowed us to take the architect’s original vision and translate it into a practical solution, and because the panels offer great resistance to damage and the effects of weathering, the building will retain its attractive appearance well into the future.”
Being manufactured from Verolith makes the panels extremely lightweight, and easy to work, shape and install, while still offering great resistance to impacts and compressive forces.
“We created a series of vertical glazed window ribbons for the building and installed the StoDeco panels onto cement particle boards which were fixed to the same steel rail system being used for the glazing,” explains Craig Baker from NA Curtain Walling. “This helped to simplify the installation process and speed things along.”
StoDeco profiles were also used to add detailing at the building’s parapet level. These were fixed to StoVentec carrier boards, which had a reinforcing coat of StoArmat Classic applied, and reinforcing mesh embedded into the reinforcing coat to provide extra protection.
To reflect the architect’s vision for the redesigned building, the appearance of the StoDeco panels was required to match the look of Portland Stone as closely as possible. To achieve this, the panels were finished with StoColor Maxicryl façade paint. This environmentally-friendly solution offers excellent surface coverage plus a high level of colour-fastness, and with a range of 800 colours available it gives architects and designers maximum freedom to achieve the look they require. It can be used on a variety of surfaces including masonry, brickwork, blockwork and synthetic render substrates.
