Morello II
2021-2023, working for Sir Robert McAlpine
Architects: Make
Balconies, soffits, roof gantries, link bridges
All the balconies on two huge 24-storey residential buildings, as well as a second 7-storey social housing project, needed steel balustrades with laser cut patterned perforated sheet infills and side screens. They also had to be fully soffited with aluminium sheet metalwork, interacting with all the services. All this work was installed without any scaffolding on leading edge using counterweighted lifting techniques. This was a highly demanding project that totalled over £4.5million of metalwork that was executed on time over two years, including roof gantries and general metalwork throughout the blocks.
Broadwick Street Hotel
2020-2022, working for Broadwick Developers
Architects : Reardon Smith Architecture
Steel balustrades and glazed screens to a Soho hotel.
Soon to be one of the most prestigious, London hotel social venues, this building has been developed with no cost spared to provide an opulent and unique experience of hotel and new London architecture combined.
We were engaged to supply very finally finished art deco style balustrades with oriental twist, so that every single weld and every joint was perfectly formed, and the impression is one of finely cast metal work of an earlier epoque. The finishing is all hot zinc sprayed and bronze anodic powder coated, and this building stands proudly at the junction of Berwick Street and Broadwick in the heart of Soho.
Imperial War Museum
2018 Lend Lease working for the IWM
Architects: Foster and Partners
Staircases and balustrades
Tall feature staircases were panelled with a hand-finished zinc sprayed coated panels specially shaped and fabricated with ribbed stiffeners to allow them to be carefully handled and lifted into position and invisibly fixed. The finish is intended to look like a military specification and yet be beautiful and architecturally pleasing. The design logistics of making and installing these 5m x 1.5m panels and securing them in and amongst all the exhibits, was highly demanding, as was the geometric challenge of making them fit exactly to tolerances on structural steel stairs. This museum is a delight to visit and a good way to understand our capabilities on a large and varied £1.5m package of metalwork, which included stairs, glass balustrades, lift cladding and panelling
Kings Cross, London
2017-2019, Argent, over £7m of work
Architects : Various
Stairs, cladding, balconies, screens
Over a period of about eight years, we undertook the Metalwork requirements for six different buildings in the Kings Cross development, varying from ambitious restorations of the Gasometer ‘Triplets’ into huge apartment blocks, to the conversion of old railway sheds into commercial buildings. All this work was done with very diverse finishes and King’s Cross is a joyful mix of adventurous, architectural Metalwork design, that gives the area it’s unique feel, combining all of the workmanship tradition of the industrial revolution with the buzzing feel of Metropolitan modern London. Our customers came back to us over and over again to use us for high quality work of freat importance.
Bayside building, Worthing
2020-2022, working for Westbrook Developers
Architects : Allies and Morrison
Curved, steel & aluminium glass infill balustrades, and fascias
We provided over £4m of metalwork to this exposed, prestigious landmark building on Worthing seafront. The railings and associated fascias are multi-material in aluminium, glass and hot zinc sprayed and powder coated steel, and have had to be rigorously finished and controlled in every detail to minimise and avoid the highly aggressive salt corrosion of the seafront environment. All these flats were sold very early on and still highly sought after.
Proton Therapy Building, University College London Hospital
2020-2022, working for Bouygues Construction
Architects : Scott Tallon Walker
We designed, made and installed this very ambitious feature staircase in the proton therapy department of University College Hospital in London. The stair has very limited structural support and to slender, stainless steel columns support, a huge steel plate construction, with seamless joints, producing a very striking visible feature in the atrium of this hospital department. Soffits, lights and other services are integrated into the design, and the striking white look of the atrium is carried through into the staircase design. This was £1m of work.
Dorsett Hotel, Shepherds Bush
Architects : Flanagan Lawrence
2018 working for Ardmore
Lift cladding, glass, balustrade, specialised black stainless column cladding and internal feature screens
This hotel is a cinema conversion in the centre of Shepherd’s Bush. The finish requirements were very high and the architecture was bold and experimental, including using unusual and rare finishes. The feature screens appear to be curving in two planes and are finished in a sprayed gold, Ardenbrite, specialised paint. All the work in this project attracts comment and is a good example of the diversity of work we can do, working to close tolerances in demanding environments. This was £0.75m of work.
Brighton Rox
Architects Coveburgess
2020 working for Astoria Brighton LLP
Panelled balconies, feature grilles, internal bridges and roof balustrades
This converted Cinema of the 1930s has been sympathetically restored into a beautiful apartment block in central Brighton overseeing the Cathedral gardens. We undertook a complex package of Metalwork worth approximately £750,000 and included art deco style grilles, that how to be suitably constructed and finished to withstand the aggressive sea air whilst being curved on plan, maintaining the pattern of bars. This is a landmark building in central Brighton
The Hub, Victoria, London
Architects : Morrow Lorraine
2022-23 working for Mclaren
Panelled balustrades, canopies and bridge metalwork
The colonaded building opposite Victoria Station, once the HQ of Salomon Bros, Merchant Bankers, is now a busy commercial, multi use facility right in the heart of the West End. We are installing all the feature canopies in glass, steel and aluminium, as well as bridge metalwork, with mesh and steel cladding, providing an architectural and functional protection for the servics below. All around this, and on all of the ramps and staircases are heavy, stout and elegant panelled steel balustrades with specialised finishes on them to mimic the Corten style of ‘rusty’ finish. There is no real rust on this job of course, due to the hot zinc spray substrate and the aluminium panelling. This is a very attractive building where we have done a lot of work in a £1.5 million package including restoring parts of the original 1980s curtain wall aluminium beams.
Lucent Building, Denman Street, London
Architects : Fletcher Priest
2021-2023, Wates Group
Roof grilles, general metalwork and aluminium flashings
We carried out a very complicated design exercise on the flashing elements to various areas of this unique and complicated roof structure where the geometry was highly challenging and the visual importance of the finished result critical to the client. In at £0.5m package of specialist work, we worked closely with architect and contractor to achieve the results they needed. This job is in progress with more photos to follow soon.
150 Holborn, London
Architects : Coveburgess
2021-2022, working for McLaren Construction
Staircase balustrades, Atrium Glass screens and anodised, aluminium cladding to corridors
The building is a highly visible and very important development on the corner of High Holborn and Grays Inn Road. As well as elegant powder, coated and stainless steel balustrades to all the big staircases our £1.5m package of Metalwork included delicate and difficult anodised aluminium cladding to corridors and lift areas and glazed fire proof screens to the atrium.
BAPE, Conduit Street
A Hong Kong developer engaged us to produce an elaborate and very elegant, stainless steel staircase with part mild steel painted plate, panels, stainless steel treads, and stainless steel handrails. It was complex geometrically, but is now the major feature of a retail development in the West End.
More projects coming soon…
In the meantime, if you have any projects you’d like to discuss, or questions to ask, please use the box below or give us a call!
Southdown Construction (Metalwork) Ltd 