Prestigious Business Centre Gets Optimo Update

A 19th Century former industrial building in south London has been transformed into a striking modern centre for business and light industry, with the addition of a sleek facade solution from Kingspan Insulated Panels.

The £800,000 re-development, led by Concentra Ltd, has involved the addition of a 40,000 sq ft single storey, steel-frame and pre-cast concrete rooftop pavilion. Designers FSP Architects, chose Kingspan Optimo insulated panels in Metallic Silver, renowned for their ultra-flat appearance and low air leakage, for the wall envelope of the new construction. Sean McDougall of FSP explained why: "We used Kingspan cladding panels on Canterbury Court but devised our own head and sole details to achieve the look we wanted. This worked well for us and our client on this project, and through this experience we now know that it is possible to tweak the product to achieve the desired aesthetic. This flexibility is of course desirable and a great selling feature for the panels.”

John Smith, whose company, MW Contracts (Roofing) Ltd, installed the panels at Canterbury Court added: “This wasn’t our first experience of working with Optimo and we have always found the panels easy to fit. Consequently, the build was fairly straight forward. The advantages of working with these panels are: speed, ease of installation and the fact that they are aesthetically pleasing.”

Kingspan Optimo’s appeal is its signature, ultra-flat finish, which is the result of an ingenious hidden joint system that conceals fasteners from view to create the maximum visual impact.

The panels are available in three different widths - 600, 900 and 1,000mm - and come in a choice of solid and metallic colours. A range of accessories allows designers further flexibility to create architecturally beautiful buildings – in the case of Canterbury Court, a modern third floor in Metallic Silver that perfectly complements the older brick-built structure.

Beneath the panels’ eye-catching profile however, lies high-performance functionality providing real practical benefits. The fully-compliant system offers low maintenance performance with air permeability efficiencies of 5m³/hr/m² and a U-value as low as 0.15 W/m²K; and it is lightweight, making it a good choice for buildings such as Canterbury Court where additions are made to an already existing structure.

Kingspan Optimo has an ECOsafe insulation core, containing no CFC’s or HCFC’s with a low global warming potential, achieves an “A+” rating according to the Green Guide to Specification and is available in FIREsafe LPCB insurer-approved form for assured fire performance. It is also fibre-free, removing the risk of loose fibres being released and causing irritation.

Canterbury Court is owned by the Workspace Group, which is situated near Oval tube station in SW9, and is already proving popular with small businesses. The building now includes an on-site café/restaurant and provides simple and flexible accommodation for a range of other users in offices, studios, workshops and rehearsal spaces, some of which surround a central atrium to the front of the property. There is a roof-top garden to the rear of the development and many of the new offices on the second floor have panoramic London views including the Gherkin, The London Eye and St Paul’s Cathedral.