Jennens Court Student Accommodation, Birmingham
Overview
Jennens Court, Birmingham is a 13-storey Unite Students university accommodation which is home to 596 students every year. Just a five-minute walk from the city centre and nearby to the city’s multiple universities, the development holds a prominent position in the surrounding streetscape with its striking facade. SBS Cladding worked with TSL to replace the existing cladding on the university halls with Rockpanel mineral fibre cladding and Vitradual metal cladding, which hold A2 and A1 fire ratings respectively. Alongside the two rainscreen cladding systems, SBS Cladding supplied a helping hand framing system and colour matched rivets to the project.
Concept to completion
There were tight planning constraints on this project, meaning that there was no requirement or option to change the visual appearance of the building. When the design team considered the different cladding options available, Rockpanel and Vitradual provided the perfect solution due to their visual likeness to the existing cladding and their quick installation times. Rockpanel Woods in Gold and Merbau, along with Vitradual in Basalt Grey were specified by the design team and SBS Cladding contacted to supply the cladding materials.
Once the cladding materials were selected, SBS Cladding were able to assist with product optimisation, ensuring that as little product was wasted as possible when cutting the boards to the specific sizes that were needed for the design. Once cutting was complete, the boards were delivered on site, safely wrapped and with individual panels labelled. When installed, the panels were fixed with colour matched rivets, also supplied by SBS, which ensured that the rivets blended into the facade.
Due to the accommodation remaining occupied by students throughout the recladding works, it was important that as little disruption was caused as possible. The quick installation times of both cladding products assisted the construction team in completing the project quickly and with as little disruption as possible, so as not to impact the residents working towards their university degrees.
To find out more about Rockpanel cladding, click here.
To find out more about Vitradual cladding, click here.
