Imperial Wharf – Seventh heaven
The Imperial Wharf residential development is set in its own idyllic riverside park on one of the most sought after stretches of the River Thames adjacent to fashionable Chelsea Harbour and near the King's Road and Sloane Square,
This award winning development by St George Plc provides a range of two, three and four bedroom apartments and penthouses with spectacular panoramas of the river itself and beyond. Its tree-lined boulevard also offers its residents and visitors a selection of stylish shops, bars and haute-cuisine restaurants to enjoy.
Designed by Broadway Maylan Architects, the Imperial Wharf development is being constructed in a number of phases. Significantly, the majority of its buildings feature the use of architectural precast concrete with reconstructed stone finished and terracotta tile faced wall cladding panels.
When the current phase of the development is completed shortly, The Marble Mosaic Co Ltd’s run of seven precast cladding work packages at Imperial Wharf will have included the casting of more than 6,000 units, totalling close to £8M in value. The first phase was completed for Bilfinger Berger Ltd on a supply and fix basis in 2005. The next three phases were completed for Carillion Plc during 2005 and 2006 and included the provision of the precast concrete wall cladding panels and structural balcony units. The precast cladding panels for the fifth and sixth phases were provided on a “detail design and supply only” basis for J Reddington Ltd’s main contracting division. Commenced in December 2009, the latest phase is being built by Ardmore Ltd and includes the requirement for 560 reconstructed stone finished precast concrete cladding panels weighing up to 5T each which are being designed, manufactured, delivered and installed by The Marble Mosaic Co Ltd.
The majority of the precast cladding panels for each phase are storey-height units that span between the floor slabs, thereby avoiding the need for secondary backing structure for their vertical support or lateral restraint. The other cladding panel types include spandrel units that face the edges of the structural floor slabs and balconies. All the panels were designed to avoid the need for an external scaffold for their safe and efficient installation.
The reconstructed stone finished precast cladding panels are typically 150mm thick and match the appearance of Portland limestones. Their colour has been achieved without the need for any pigmentation using a special mix of crushed Derbyshire limestone aggregate with white cement. Their seen surfaces have been lightly textured using a controlled technique developed by The Marble Mosaic Co Ltd to achieve a notably consistent overall appearance. All the precast cladding panels have been manufactured with carbon steel reinforcement and fixed using stainless steel fittings. The joints between them have been pointed with a two-stage silicone-based sealant. Incidentally, given that the panels are cast using grade 45 concrete mixes, they provide a robust and durable cladding material that is inherently non-combustible and fire resistant with valuable sound-controlling properties. Their manufacture in a low energy, resource efficient and low waste production facility also serves to enhance their environmental and sustainability credentials.