Managing Director of Staticus UK, Paulius Gurksnys, explained:
“Staticus specialises in sustainable aluminium glass façades,
which is what we used in this development. For this project, we
used terracotta tiles as a rainscreen cladding on top of the unitised
panels.”
“All the materials were prefabricated at our factory in Lithuania and
then installed on site by our team. One of the biggest challenges
with this project was the transport of the heavy tiles from Lithuania
to London by road - I’m very proud that we delivered all the tiles to
the site undamaged.”
MJP Architects is an award-winning architectural practice, best
known for the BBC building in central London. Student housing is
the firm’s forte and the team has worked extensively in Oxford and
Cambridge with the colleges and has recently completed several
projects in Birmingham and Warwick. Aspire Point was the firm’s
first tower design.
Russell Clayton, Associate at MJP Architects, commented: “Aspire
Point was a long time in gestation. It took us three and a half years
to get to site. It was a difficult site on Stratford High Street, keeping
the planners happy and delivering something of high quality.
“The key thing with this particular building, was trying to
achieve something of solidity and gravitas. There’s a lot of rather
lightweight looking buildings on Stratford High Street, and for us,
the plan was to raise the design bar and produce something that
was heavyweight and looked like it was going to stand up for 100
years. The challenge was being able to deliver that with a factory-
made lightweight system that could be put up in a reasonable
timeframe.
“We went through a number of different contractors to try and
deliver the project and a number of different schemes for the
construction logistics, before HG Construction appointed Staticus
and we were able to take the project forward.
“It was a very positive experience working with Staticus. It was a
collaborative effort, exchanging ideas by email and proactively
problem solving as a team. Part of the process was a visit to
Staticus’ factory in Vilnius, Lithuania, to see drawings and 3D
models the team had designed and to investigate how they would
fabricate and deliver the façade. That was a really important part
of the process.
ASPIRE POINT WAS A LONG TIME IN
GESTATION. IT TOOK US THREE AND A
HALF YEARS TO GET TO SITE.