Over-cladding - Parsons House Edgware Road W9

We were asked by the City of Westminster to replace the windows in this tower block, as they were decayed and falling out, having been too exposed for their construction. We were expected to replace these with modern airtight double glazed windows, which would have reduced the ventilation, increased the temperature and resulted in serious condensation. In addition we were expected to arrange for this to be done from scaffolding, which would have been a threat to privacy as well as security.

By applying insulation to the outside of the building and hanging the new windows over the existing ones from rising platforms we were able to avoid all these problems while giving the dated building a new look and improving the performance significantly. By informing the residents with the aid of the housing department we were able to initiate a neighbourhood watch and involve them in the decisions choices etc. Finally when the new cladding was in place the contractors were able to remove the old windows from inside so that residents were subjected to the minimum of inconvenience.

We chose to make all the components of aluminium to avoid rusting and wood because to this day it performs better than metal. The wood was protected from the elements by aluminium all of which was powder coated. The structure was picked out in red and the rest was coated pale grey. Red was chosen because it continues to look good even when not cleaned in addition to which the whole system was designed to be self-cleansing.

Finally the building that looked like an extrusion before was given a top by adding a maintenance cradle rail and a bottom by vandal proof tiling so that it now looks like a complete building.