Client: Manor CE School
Type of works: supplied 700m² of 595mm x 595mm squares of Steni Colour panels in a total of seven colours.

Steni’s unique ability to factory-cut panels to size has won over yet another architectural practice after it specified Steni’s Colour rainscreen cladding range for a multi-million pound school project in York.

Architects Morgan Lloyd Jones were unaware of Steni’s cut to size capability when they involved the company in a review of rainscreen cladding materials. It was the sheer size of Steni’s colour range, 44 standard colours and three gloss levels, that originally impressed them.

But this off-site capability has come into its own on a current Morgan Lloyd Jones project at one of York’s oldest secondary schools, the Manor CE (MCE) School which is converting to a £18 million cutting-edge Church of England Academy and 900-place performing arts college.

Here, some 700m² of 595mm x 595mm squares of Steni Colour panels in a total of seven colours are being screw fixed in a stunning diagonal design on a creative media centre by specialist sub-contractor Farracrest for main contractor Hobson & Porter.

Steni’s cut to size capability means that panel sizes from 850mm to 3,500mm can be cut automatically to length at no extra cost and in section widths at a nominal charge, a facility which is believed to be unique to Steni. All contractors need to do then is attach the panels to the fixing system, either by screws or structural adhesive.

Will Jones, of Morgan Lloyd Jones, said: “Steni’s ability to cut the panels in the factory is an ideal scenario for a multitude of reasons and was certainly one of the contributory reasons why we specified Steni.
“Not only does it minimise waste and time on site, which is something all contractors are trying to achieve, but from our point of view, this cutting facility provides quality reassurance knowing it has been accurately manufactured in the factory under controlled conditions.”

He added: “It would have been impossible, given the number of different colours we are using at the creative media centre, MCE, for the panels to have been cut anywhere but the factory due to the sheer scale of the operation and the accuracy required to achieve our design requirements.”

Specifiers are embracing Steni’s Modern Methods of Construction capability to not only minimise waste on site and installation time but to also maximise quality control as the panels are precisely cut in Steni’s factories including its UK one at Wrexham in North Wales.