Trent Proves That Concrete Is A Thing of Beauty
Stunning, state-of-the-art architectural stone cladding, designed, manufactured off-site and installed by Trent Concrete, is taking pride of place at the new Barton Square development at Manchester's thriving £70million Trafford Centre.
A true work of art, the bespoke pre-cast concrete cladding is bringing the cluster of buildings at Barton Square to life - giving them a classical appearance and delivering innate strength and durability.
Barton Square, the latest phase of the development, comprises four "L" shaped blocks that form a central square, mall and colonnade. Trent's unique reconstructed stone cladding is tailor-made to the architects and clients' specifications, as part of a £6.4 million contract.
Working to the architectural drawings, the design concept for Barton Square was easily turned into a reality by specialist contractor, Trent Concrete. The result is a series of magnificent and commanding buff coloured pilasters, up to 8 metres high, with accompanying cornice units, band course and plinth.
Each unit, some weighing up to 24 tonnes, is handcrafted at Trent's Nottingham-based manufacturing plant. Cast in a buff reconstructed stone mix, with an acid-etched finish, the pre-cast cladding was chosen to blend with similar stone architecture at the existing Trafford Centre - visited last year by more than 30 million shoppers.
Shop fronts inside the Barton Square mall will feature double part, brick faced pilaster/cornice units and support beams, while the colonnade will be formed out of seven metre high, tapered circular columns. The central feature in the mall will be a coliseum constructed from square, seven metre high columns faced with granite and a curved cornice.
Delivered to site on a just in time basis, every concrete unit is carefully craned into place. Being manufactured off-site means that time on site is reduced, avoiding any disruptions or delays - and ensuring that overall quality is enhanced.
Trent Concrete Managing Director David Walker said: "We are committed to producing pre-cast concrete cladding that's tailor made to suit individual architectural specifications. As well as delivering greater cost and speed efficiencies with off-site construction methods, we are at the cutting edge of pre-cast concrete design and take great pride in delivering a true work of art with every project."
Trent Concrete products offer a number of benefits over traditional stone cladding, from cost effectiveness to speed of construction and durability. The company has also undertaken a sustainability review of all aspects of its work to ensure minimum environmental impact and carbon footprint.
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For further information contact Colin Felton at CFA Marketing Communications on 01622 754295
Company Details
Trent Concrete is a specialist precast concrete contractor, producing high quality bespoke architectural cladding and structures. Providing a complete solution from detailed design development through skills-based manufacture to on-site erection using its own teams, Trent Concrete partners with leading developers and specifiers to ensure that their projects gain maximum benefit from prefabrication. Trent Concrete's precast solutions make a major contribution to improved quality, certainty, sustainability, safety and efficiency in the UK construction industry today.
The company has worked on some of the most prestigious projects of recent years, including The Scottish Office and the Toyota GB Plc and Thames Water headquarters buildings, and the quality of its work is consistently recognised in the form of industry awards. Trent Concrete was founded in 1917 and is based in Nottingham, where it employs more than 200 people.