Rainscreen Cladding Systems

EBI’s Technical Hub in Cambridgeshire is a state-of-the-art facility for computer-based Genome research. The facility also houses a bioinformatics translational suite, to allow collaborative working between researchers, and training facilities. The complex façade design and construction was a key element of the project. The design of the building was by Abell Nepp, with the working drawings by Barber Casanova Ruffles, included anodised curved rainscreen panels for the façade of EBI’s Technical Hub. This design required a truly bespoke solution.

Flat Roofing

Rainscreen Cladding Systems

With a new building filling an existing car parking site, a new multi-storey car park was required, to be built on the rural edge of the campus. The design of this car park had to cause as little disruption to the natural surroundings as possible, while still maintaining the robust ‘green travel plan’ on site. ADP Architecture took up the challenge to create a multi-storey like no other. Knowing they would need a supplier that had the technical expertise required for the task, ADP brought Bailey Total Building Envelope on board to build a car park utilitarian in purpose but conscious in its design.

It was evident from the start that several factors would need to be taken into account when it came to the design of this project. First, the architectural evolution of a campus university like Sussex had to be considered. Built-in the 1960s, Sussex University follows its own campus university archetype, exposed concrete, red brick and knapped flint are just three of the architectural features seen across the breadth of the university. At the same time, the placement of the car park at the edge of the South Downs National Park called for a sensitive solution so as not to disrupt bat commuter pathways and the surrounding mature trees.