James & Taylor, the UK’s leading supplier of building facades, has won a contract to provide an innovative design for a £26m college project in Glasgow that uses an ‘invisible’ fixing system.

Catriona McReynolds, senior architect at RMJM said: “North Glasgow College is a new build facility in the Springburn area of the city. The 16,900m2 development will be home to a state-of-the-art learning resource centre, conference facilities and fully equipped sports hall, providing a new social heart for students and the surrounding community.

“For the main building we were looking for a robust rainscreen panel that would give a very crisp, flush, high gloss white finish, as well as be an affordable alternative to other rainscreen products on the market.”

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James & Taylor responded with a tailored, state-of-the-art design using Carea Acantha rainscreen, a large-format glazed concrete panel system with a secret weapon - its ‘invisible’ aluminium fixing system. Carea is a new product to the UK and James & Taylor is the sole supplier.

Instead of conventional, visible screw fixings, which tend to give this type of façade an industrial look, Carea panels are fitted from the base of the building upward on to a simple system of aluminium support rails. This provides a seamless finish. Most rainscreen systems need a 10mm open joint, which can expose an unsightly backing structure. The Carea rail provides a closed 3mm joint on the horizontal rail, adding to the flawless look. The horizontal rail has an angled flange in the joint to force water to escape down the front face of the panel.

Colin Henderson at James & Taylor Scotland said: “We believe our Carea design provided the perfect solution to the brief. It is a contemporary, highly waterproof facade with no visible means of support. It is also lightweight, and can be installed quickly and easily, which of course has a bearing on the supply and fixing costs.”

Work has begun on installing the façade for the project, which is due for completion early 2008.

(CD)