Objective
Springfield Properties approached us, tasking our design team to create a visually striking, low maintenance brise soleil system for the first floor glazing covering two sides of the Hanover Care Home, Dementia Unit in Elgin. The most challenging aspect of the solar shading system design was definitely the critical requirement for the system to withstand the extreme weather conditions often found in the town of Elgin. Located over 200 miles from the Scottish Borders, Elgin’s weather can range from glorious sunshine in summer to some of the harshest and bitter winters known in the UK. Our brise soleil system needed to be robust and durable enough to endure anything the unforgiving, rural environment could throw at it, without compromising the overall finish or sustainability of the façade.
Product
Our Designers certainly didn’t disappoint, creating a Medera solar shading system, comprising of 9 screens with timber blades each stretching approximately 1500mm in length. The responsibly sourced, FSC certified Western Red Cedar timber selected specifically for Hanover Care Home’s facade was an obvious choice for our experienced Designers. The timber being notoriously stable, durable, yet surprisingly lightweight made it the perfect material for such a sustainable brise soleil system that needed to remain firmly in place, looking fresh and contemporary through any length of time.
Aesthetically the Western Red Cedar doesn’t fall short either. The timbers’ warm, autumn tones and unique grain markings, harmonising the building envelope with its natural surroundings on the borders of the Scottish Highlands. The shadings components comprising of heavy duty stainless steel fixings and mullions provide an anti-corrosive, sturdy and visually enticing contrast to the natural timber blades found within.supplying and installing circular louvres to another location on the project.
Installation
The emphasis on Elgin’s extreme weather conditions related to the specification of this project highlighted at a very early stage the potential health & safety issues our installations team could be exposed to during the install of the system, including work at height from access in less than ideal weather conditions. Having identified this risk pre-design, our Designers quickly stepped in with a solution, limiting hazardous exposure to the elements by designing out the need to work at height for extended periods of time.
The solution, simple yet extremely innovative and resourceful, dramatically reducing on-site install times by manufacturing pre-fabricated CNC precision mullions prior to commencement of on-site installation. These pre-fabricated mullions were lovingly wrapped and transported carefully to site by our team in preparation for installation, ensuring nothing but the finest quality materials were at out our Installers fingertips on the first day of install at Hanover Care Home.
The proactive and savvy design of Hanover Care Home’s extraordinary solar shading system allowed a small, 2 person team to whip the system up, covering an entire 2 sides of the building in only 4 days, whilst keeping installation costs to a minimum for our client at the same time as increasing our installers safety. Once the pre-fabricated mullions were firmly in place, the only task remaining was slotting the beautiful Western Red Cedar blades into place to create an awe-inspiring brise soleil system.
The Finish
Strong and practical are words rarely associated with things of beauty, however we can proudly say that regardless of the restrictive design specifications the Hanover Care Home project presented, our design team rose to the challenge as always and created an incredible brise soleil system that not only met our clients specification, but also went above and beyond to defy all expectations of just how elegant and beautiful something so strong and practical could be.
We are delighted that residents of this care home in Elgin, residing in such a stunning, untouched, rural location can enjoy all the benefits of our exquisite solar shading system for many years to come, whatever the weather.
Gallery