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Blinds & screens
Cambridge Glasshouse brings shade to Littlewoods’ unique, new Shop Direct Group HQ
Cambridge Glasshouse Company, best known as a leading UK manufacturer of commercial glasshouses, has completed a very unusual and challenging project for Littlewoods Property Holdings Ltd.
Littlewoods has just relocated its Home Shopping division to a listed hangar building at the former Speke aerodrome complex in Merseyside. The huge hangar has been converted to provide 100,000 sq ft of high quality office space. Its dramatic, 16 metre high, lamella roof structure is a striking feature, but presented Littlewoods Property Holdings with a major challenge – the sunlight pouring in through its huge central skylight would present a heat and reflection problem for those working below.
The hangar’s listed status meant that standard approaches to shading, such as external louvres and reflective treatments, could not be used. Instead Cambridge Glasshouse designed a remote controlled, motor operated blind system, which is linked into the building management system so that blinds can be opened and closed across the 77 metre long, six metre wide skylight with a single command.
The scale of the project was immense, involving 20 sections of blind, which operate in unison on a wire system, to cover an area of 462 sqm. A pelmet fitted on both sides of the skylight along the full 77 metres allows an air gap to be created between the blind and the glass without letting light in. The white Huesker shade screen material is fire retardant, provides 70 per cent shading and a potential energy saving of 56 per cent.
Due to the hangar’s Grade 2* listing, Cambridge Glasshouse Company had to develop an innovative approach to fixing the blind system in place — drilling into the protected structure was not permitted — and it worked closely with the structural engineer to ensure that the installation did not affect the integrity of the lamella framework.
The skylight’s height, walkways running across the central gap between the three floors that open into the central atrium and large structural braces made access difficult. Cambridge Glasshouse Company’s four-strong installation team also had to operate around other work taking place below as well as taking care not to damage an oak sprung floor that had already been laid.
Littlewoods’ Home Shopping division moved into the stunning new office space in October. Commenting on the blind system, Bob Hamblyn, Project Director for Littlewoods Property Holdings, said, “Discovering an effective method to reduce glare which at the same time fitted in and complied with the restrictions placed by the listed status of the building, imposing minimal loads on the lightweight roof structure and keeping within the budget, eluded our design team for a considerable time. A shopping visit by one of the wider project team to his local nursery provided a clue and the inspiration which led to use of the Cambridge Glasshouse system. Like all the best solutions, it is simplicity itself, very cost effective, fast to install and with a low maintenance requirement. We are absolutely delighted with the result.”
Louise Shields, Cambridge Glasshouse Company’s project manager, said, “This was a very interesting and challenging project for us. The hangar’s listed status, the height of the skylight and the internal structure added to the complexity of the task, but we hope that we have developed a system that not only looks great, but also provides Littlewoods with the effective and easy to use solution they were looking for.”
Cambridge Glasshouse Company designs and installs innovative shade systems for a wide range of applications where the structure incorporates large areas of glass, including retail centres and office complexes. The systems can be designed to compliment a wide range of architectural and interior styles and to conserve heat to reduce energy consumption. Cambridge Glasshouse Company can also incorporate technology to enable the shade system to be programmed to react automatically to external weather conditions.
Littlewoods Home Shopping Limited is the UK’s second largest home shopping business, giving consumers great value and choice in home shopping. Its ‘Skyways’ development at Speke, which includes two new office and warehouse buildings as well as the hangar, will be the base for some 1,200 employees. The company has been congratulated by the Northwest Regional Development Agency for bringing this well-known listed building back into productive use