INCA Case Study: Cortland, Broad Street, Birmingham


 

Cortland, Broad Street, Birmingham


Project Type: New Build

Building Type: High Rise, Residential

Architect: Corstorphine & Wright

System Designer: Aliva UK

Installer: PIC Construction Group

System & Finish: Aliva UK’s Termok8 Minerale Modular D clay slip

U-Value After: 0.15W/m²K

Highest Aliva brick slip cladding project

Cortland Broad St is a flagship new-build 440 apartment development in Birmingham for BTR operator Cortland featuring two parts, a 35 storey and a six storey element.

At 105.5m, it marks the highest brick slip cladding project by Aliva UK, with its Termok8 Minerale Modular D clay slip installed.

Aliva’s A1 EWI clay brick slip system can be installed without height restriction, making this solution the optimum MMC choice for a building of this height, with a facade product volume of 11,000sqm installed.

The slip colourway/texture was smooth red, meeting the Birmingham planning officer’s specification to complement this part of the city’s industrial heritage/existing traditional red brick aesthetic.

The system was chosen for its thermal value, commercial benefit and for its ability to achieve the architectural design intent.

Repetition, reliability, realisation

The system realised the architect’s design intent with repetition and reliability. It created a consistent line and level up the full height of the 35 storey project, any variations would have been highly noticeable.

It also created design flair, with a repeating chamfer detailing as the ‘basketweave’ reveal on the sides of windows running up the entire height of the 35 storey elevation, as well as a recessed detailing to windows of the lower block.

Sustainability and thermal value

This system complemented the project’s sustainability credentials, given the thermal efficiency benefits that the EWI brick slip yield.

The project had several detail interfaces, however, the U-Value achieved was 0.15W/m2k, inputted into the final thermal calculations for the entire building.

The system reduced material and weight on the project plus brick slip production requires approximately 85% less energy than conventional brick production, adding to the NZC contribution.

Installation

INCA member PIC Construction Group was the installation contractor. The system was installed over a light weight steel frame with a 12mm cement particle board to the outer face. The light weight studs were infilled with mineral wool and finished internally with a Vapour Control membrane and 2 layers of gypsum plasterboard.

The Aliva system was directly fixed using specified mechanical fixings, with the insulation layer installed board-by-board, including a cementitious levelling layer to the rear of the insulation. This allows any tolerances within the frame to be adjusted and a vertically level face provided for the subsequent layers.

The required number of fixings were installed, calculated using engineered wind calculations which are bespoke to each particular project.

Once the boards are installed the reinforced cement basecoat layers are applied. The first layer allows the insertion of a reinforcing mesh, which is lapped to create a monolithic covering across the entire facade. This mesh is also mechanically fixed with stainless steel fixings and washers to comply with fire requirements. Once the final layer of basecoat is applied and smoothed the basecoat is allowed to cure.

Once the basecoat has cured, the cement based bedding mortar is applied to the surface and the 15mm clay slips are installed by embedding the slips into the bedding mortar. Full embedment is achieved. This continues to achieve the brick facade. The slips are then pointed with an Aliva pointing grout and struck to achieve the final finish.

 Design intent

At the heart of the design was the desire to reinforce the geometry of a 3mx3m grid. It is this simple logic that defines the elevations and which the system complements.

Tony Mead, Director at Corstorphine & Wright, said:

“The design concept was created to incorporate various principles of brick cladding to ensure a high-quality appearance utilising a repeating facade system. Specifically, the chamfered reveal window design is offset at intervals to create an interwoven basketweave effect that dramatically enhances the visual depth of the external fabric.

“Aliva came forward with their external wall insulation system, which effectively met the challenge and allowed us to achieve the original design intent across the different facade designs.

“In addition, the system offers a high level of thermal efficiency and airtightness, meeting rigorous fire safety standards with the flexibility to be applied to different wall profiles and reveal details.

“Upon completion, the building closely resembled the initial visuals and sketches created during the design process, which is a significant achievement with the scale of the building. As design-focused architects, we are delighted with how the Aliva facade system has responded to the challenges of this landmark project and helped to bring our vision to life.”

Client Cortland

Colin Rae, Director of Pre‑construction at Cortland, joint venture property owner and operator of Cortland Broad St, said:

“Aliva UK’s EWI clay brick slip solution has created a signature finish for a flagship addition to our portfolio, marking one of our tallest developments to date. One that has created an iconic addition to Birmingham city’s skyline and a new visual gateway to its Broad Street area.

“At 35 storeys, the smooth red brick slip facade has created a staggering aesthetic, with the chamfered detailing in the brick slip deployment that runs the full height of the building. This has created design flair that is representative of the quality of our global brand’s apartment-community lifestyle-living objective, to provide ‘Better Living on Every Level’.

“The facade system is not just about aesthetics, there is functionality, the system achieved a consistent line and level, which was critical to the detail given the height of the project. The system brought sustainability benefit to our project too, with the thermal efficiencies of an EWI and slip system contributing to the building’s 0.15W/m2k U-Value. A beautiful addition to our portfolio and to the Birmingham skyline.”

New visual gateway

Cortland Broad St. has formed a new visual gateway from Fiveways/the Fiveways roundabout, integrating into a cluster of tall buildings at one of the highest land points in Birmingham. The design is a landscape-led solution, also responsive to the Birmingham Big City Plan and Tall Buildings Development Plan.

As design-focused architects, we are delighted with how the Aliva facade system has responded to the challenges of this landmark project and helped to bring our vision to life

Tony Mead

Director, Corstorphine & Wright

INCA Case Studies – view all INCA project case studies: