Cortland Broad St, Birmingham

Cortland Broad St, Birmingham

Project: Cortland Broad St, Birmingham
Client: Cortland
Main Contractor: RG Group
Installer: Pic Construction Group
Architect: Corstorphine & Wright
Products: Aliva UK’s Termok8 Minerale Modular D Clay slip system

The brief
The facade on this flagship 105.5m new-build 440 apartment development in Birmingham city centre for Cortland includes two parts, a 35 storey and a six storey element.

Aliva’s A1-rated Kiwa BDA accredited External Wall Insulation and clay brick slip system can be installed without height restriction, making this solution the optimum Modern Method of Construction choice for a building of this height, with a facade product volume of 11,000sqm installed.

The slip colourway/texture was smooth red, meeting the Birmingham planning officer’s specification to complement this part of the city’s industrial heritage/existing traditional red brick aesthetic.

What Aliva UK did
The facade system realised the architect’s design intent, with repetition and reliability. It created a consistent line and level up the full height of the 35 storey project, any variations would have been highly noticeable.

The facade product also allowed design flair to be realised, the project features a repeating chamfer detailing as the ‘basketweave’ reveal element to the sides of windows running up the entire height of the 35 storey element of the building, as well as a recessed detailing feature to windows of the lower block.

The system was a complement to the project’s sustainability credentials, given the thermal efficiency benefits that the EWI (mineral wool) and brick slips yield.

It reduced material and weight on the project plus brick slip production requires approximately 85% less energy than conventional brick production, adding to the NZC contribution.

The project had several detail interfaces, however the U-Value achieved was 0.15W/m2k, inputted into the final thermal calculations for the entire building.

What the architect said:

Tony Mead, Director at Corstorphine & Wright, said: “Cortland Broad St. features a predominantly red smooth brick exterior with a charcoal base and distinctive detailing, chosen to reflect the history and heritage of this historically industrial area of Birmingham.

“The design concept was created to incorporate various principles of brick cladding to ensure a high-quality appearance utilising a repeating facade system. Specifically, the chamfered reveal window design is offset at intervals to create an interwoven basketweave effect that dramatically enhances the visual depth of the external fabric.

“Aliva came forward with their external wall insulation system, which effectively met the challenge and allowed us to achieve the original design intent across the different facade designs.

“In addition, the system offers a high level of thermal efficiency and airtightness, meeting rigorous fire safety standards with the flexibility to be applied to different wall profiles and reveal details.

“Upon completion, the building closely resembled the initial visuals and sketches created during the design process, which is a significant achievement with the scale of the building.

“As design-focused architects, we are delighted with how the Aliva facade system has responded to the challenges of this landmark project and helped to bring our vision to life.”

What the client said:

Colin Rae, Director of Pre‑construction at Cortland, joint venture property owner and operator of Cortland Broad St, said:

“Aliva UK’s EWI and clay brick slip solution has created a signature finish for a flagship addition to our portfolio, marking one of our tallest developments to date. One that has created an iconic addition to Birmingham city’s skyline and a new visual gateway to its Broad Street area.

“At 35 storeys, the smooth red brick slip facade has created a staggering aesthetic, with the chamfered detailing in the brick slip deployment that runs the full height of the building. This has created design flair that is representative of the quality of our global brand’s apartment-community lifestyle-living objective, to provide ‘Better Living on Every Level’.

“The facade system is not just about aesthetics, there is functionality, the system achieved a consistent line and level, which was critical to the detail given the height of the project. The system brought sustainability benefit to our project too, with the thermal efficiencies of an EWI and slip system contributing to the building’s 0.15W/m2k U-Value.

“With thanks to architect Corstorphine & Wright for the design vision and to facade manufacturer Aliva UK, main contractor RG Group and installer PIC Construction Group for delivering a successful, stunning and signature project to realise that vision. A beautiful addition to our portfolio and to the Birmingham skyline at Cortland Broad St.”

New visual gateway
Cortland Broad St. has formed a new visual gateway from Fiveways/the Fiveways roundabout, integrating into a cluster of tall buildings at one of the highest land points in Birmingham. The design is a landscape-led solution, also responsive to the Birmingham Big City Plan and Tall Buildings Development Plan.

It has delivered 440 new homes in a split of 46% one-bedroom and 54% two-bedroom apartments. It provides unrivalled levels of communal space to support residents’ health and wellbeing.

About Cortland
Cortland was founded in 2005 in Atlanta and broke into the UK apartment living market in 2017. Its UK business has expanded into the property management sector with a commitment to deliver their proven US resident-focused management expertise and services to UK residents. Cortland is one of the largest property management providers in the UK. It prides itself on delivering apartment communities, experiences and property management solutions beyond expectations.

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Aliva UK

Aliva UK

Aliva UK’s award-winning architectural solutions are cladding some of the most prestigious new builds, retrofits and historic projects across the UK and internationally.

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