The brief

To provide a signature finish for Unite Students’ new student flagship property, located on the Middlesex Street Gyratory in the heart of Central London. Hayloft Point is the first in a succession of Aliva UK’s projects with RG Group.

The site of a former 16th century Shakespearean-era playhouse, these 920 purpose-built much needed homes for students are in one of central London’s most popular areas, close to King’s College London.

The L-shaped building has a mix of 24-storey, 16-storey and 8-storey elements, with the tallest section occupying the southern part of the site. The accommodation also includes a performance and exhibition area, a cinema room, and common rooms with study facilities.

Driven by the layout, location and heritage of the site, the architect’s brief required a modern, neat finish complementary to the neighbouring area for this tall landmark building.

Aliva UK supply

Aliva UK worked with the architect Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson Ltd along with RG Group’s design team, to create a high-quality bespoke facade for the student accommodation that was mindful of surroundings but also provided a modern aesthetic.

The design incorporated clay brick slips in a mix of colours and contrasting textures to envelope the two tallest elevations, using Aliva’s high performance External Wall Insulation system. It required the use of various thicknesses on Mineral Wool insulation, which was both mechanically and adhesively fixed to the substrate. The insulation then wrapped in a reinforced polymer modified basecoat layer, which the mesh layer mechanically fixed to the substrate, thus pinning the basecoat to the substrate.

Around 9,000m2 of textured cream, brown and red multi slips, in 15mm and 25mm thicknesses, were used in total to achieve the required finish.

The system was installed by Aliva approved installation contractor, S D Samuels (Special Projects) Ltd off a series of mast climbers and was finished on programme and within budget.

Technical Aspects

The Aliva UK Termok8 Minerale (Mineral Wool) clay brick slip system has been tested to EN 13501-1 and achieves A1 fire classification, with all components being classed as non-combustible. This allows the system to be used on buildings with no height or boundary restriction and gives piece of mind to the client and the occupants.

Aliva UK manufacture many of the components that form the system and used both external test houses and their own test facility to obtain data required for Certification.

Deliveries of materials and systems also had to be co-ordinated and planned carefully, as the Central London location meant contending with logistical challenges.