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Hope Street
Products used: MechSlip & Brick Slips - Capital Brown Multi Stock
Project location: Hope Street, Liverpool
Architects: Workman
Brickwork Contractor: Unite Construction
Project location: Hope Street, Liverpool
Architects: Workman
Brickwork Contractor: Unite Construction
Hope Street is an apartment complex situated in the heart of Liverpool, serving as accommodation for the cities three main universities. The development comprises four blocks, ranging from four to nine stories in height and arranged in a grid pattern around an open-air courtyard. In total, Hope Street contains 345 individual student residences.
Just four years after first opening its doors, the Hope Street accommodation block hit the headlines when its existing, bonded-brick cladding system began to peel away, causing individual bricks to fall onto the street below.
Not only did this pose a direct threat to pedestrians passing by underneath the building, it also compromised the safety of the structure itself – something which served as the key impetus behind installing a new cladding system onto the façade.
Unite Construction, a Yorkshire-based property development specialist, were brought on board by the accommodation’s owner to recommend – and ultimately implement – a new cladding system. After examining a number of solutions, Unite Construction found that only MechSlip was suitable in meeting the unique challenges presented by the building.
A primary factor behind the specification of MechSlip at Hope Street was its lightweight design. An initial analysis of the building found that it was only capable of taking a certain load, so MechSlip, which is more than fifty per cent lighter than traditional masonry, provided a robust and durable solution, without compromising the structural integrity of the building.
Situated on a busy street and with students coming and going throughout the day, Hope Street presented a unique logistical challenge to those working on site. Indeed, those considerations proved critical during the specification process. Delivering ultimate ease-of-install, the MechSlip system more than proved itself among the installers at Hope Street. Because the solution can be easily assembled off-site (enabling it to be seamlessly incorporated into modular construction work), installers were able to work to ‘just-in-time’ deliveries, ultimately ensuring they could complete the job as efficiently – and cost effectively – as possible.
With university accommodation back in the spotlight after the Grenfell Tower disaster, ensuring fire-safety of the cladding was a vital concern for the building’s owners. As MechSlip has now secured BBA fire accreditation (meaning it has been stringently tested in a real-world environment), owners and residents have absolute assurance that their building isn’t compromised on safety. What’s more, the durability of the MechSlip system means it is installed with a 25-year warranty as standard – something which provides further peace of mind for Hope Street’s owners.
Danny Mulqueen, Managing Director at Unite Construction said: “The development at Hope Street presented us with a series of unique challenges, not least issues with the structure itself which had caused the original cladding system to fail after just four years.Working in close partnership with planners, it soon became clear that MechSlip was the only solution which would meet the complex requirements of the build.The MechSlip system itself is fantastic. Adaptable, flexible and easy-to-install, MechSlip has clearly been designed with the needs of installers front of mind. What’s more, the fact it can be mixed with a wide variety of Ibstock brick slips means it packs genuine kerb appeal.I can think of so many projects where MechSlip would be able to add real value, and I’m looking forward to working with it – and realising even more of its potential – in the near future.”
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