A total of five colours of Steni rainscreen cladding panels, including four specials, were specified for student accommodation to meet planners’ requirements for a “quality” product.
Some 852sqm of Steni’s colour panels, in three special greens and a special yellow as well as a standard grey, have been used on the elevations of Falkland House, a seven-storey student complex in Islington, Liverpool.
The fibreglass reinforced polymer composite panels, with a smooth surface of 100% acrylic that is electron beam cured without the use of solvents, were specified by CTA Architects for the façade of the £3 million luxury, private-rent apartment block.
Falkland House, with three universities on its doorstep, comprises more than 100 larger-than average student en-suite cluster pods and studios and self-contained, one-bedroomed apartments originally available to investors from just £52,000.
A study hotel managed by Urban Student Life, it combines all the benefits of living in a hotel, such as 24-hour concierge and laundry service, with the freedom of living in student accommodation for first-year, undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The Steni cladding was installed on the part timber frame with pile foundations structure by specialist sub-contractor Highline Cladding for Liverpool-based main contractor PHD1 who are established partners with developers Pinnacle MC Global Network.
CTA’s brief was for a landmark building on one of the key entry points to Liverpool City Centre. Architect Peter Norton said: “We specified the Steni panels to meet the planning department’s aspirations of a quality product on this landmark building. It helps break up the mass of the building and gives it a vertical emphasis and rhythm.”
He added: “It gave us a reflective surface and when positioned beside the white render it gives a colourful and energetic building without being over the top. Having said that we consider it to be the building’s ‘bling’ element.”
